Classic Folk/Black Metal goes progressive! First time on vinyl! Deluxe 180 grams gatefold LP. It seems some were lost when Vintersorg took his brief foray into progressive territory in “Visi-ons from the Spiral Generator” and “The Focusing Blur”. While “Jordpuls” was a bit of a “back to the roots” album. “Jordpuls” is undeniable folk metal in a similar vein as his early records, and well done at that, but it didn’t seem like he was actually 100% comfortable in it. While some progressive qualities remained (as do they here), I got the feeling his spirit yearned to delve deeper into the progressive complexities that were semi-abandoned in that record. “Orkan” is in the same vein as “Jordpuls”, but Mr. Vintersorg finally seems at home in his folk metal roots again. What makes “Orkan” stand out is its consistency. While “Solens Rötter” and “Jordpuls” are great albums, each one had a glaringly excellent high-light that made the rest of the album seem a bit weaker by comparison. “Orkan” embodies folk metal as it should be, in our opinion. Vintersorg has a true knack for forging catchy vocal lines - even in his progressive era, there are vocal hooks galore, and “Orkan” contains no shortage of them. “Orkan” rains down one of the catchiest choruses in Vintersorg’s history with competitively catchy verses. The folk melodies are also catchy and embody the persona of forests and oceans, as they should - not just in the title track, but the entire album. While I believe the folk metal instrumentation has really been kicked up on “Orkan” when com-pared to some of his previous albums. The vocals are so excellent, it’s official: Andreas Hedlund can seriously sing. Furthermore the solos are always superb. Songs like “Istid” and “Polarnatten” have nothing less but solos of the highest quality; there’s a folky aura to them that beckon the energies of the hurricane in themselves. It is also worth noting that though this album is predominately black-influenced folk metal, the progressiveness of Vintersorg’s mid-era lunges forth occasionally. Though the riffing remains fairly simple, the rhythms still alternate and change as expected in progressive metal in several songs.“Orkan” is the second part in a planned elemental quadrilogy; its immediate predecessor, “Jordpuls”, (the element of earth) began the quadrilogy.
