Classic Folk/Black Metal goes progressive! First time on vinyl! Deluxe 180 grams gatefold LP. Jordpuls (“Pulse of the Earth”) is the seventh full-length album by Swedish folk metal band Vintersorg. As with the previous album “Solens Rötter”, the lyrics are all in Swedish. This was the first of a planned four-album concept series based on the elements. The advertising text in 2011 from Napalm Records promised, that Vintersorg will allow you to glimpse back at the past while you are listening to the new record “Jordpuls”. So they are promising, that stylistic elements of their first records will be combined with those of the later ones (for instance “Cosmic Genesis”). To be specific, that means that Vintersorg is supposed to combine the catchy and folky parts of their first records with the progressivity of the later ones, but did the record achieve that? The balancing act between progressivity and the touch with nature seems to be quite difficult, as they have to catch the calamity of nature and combine that with quick-tempered progressivity. The result of this balancing-act seems to be really good, as the progressive passages could resemble brash phases of nature (such as storms). To be more exact, the compositions are more catchy than those of “Cosmic Genesis” without losing much raffinesse. The progressive phases are generating a multilayered record, which draw a line from “Jordpuls” (or “Till Fjälls”) to “Cosmic Genesis”. Another element that has increased again are the clean vocals, although Andreas Hedlund still manages to switch between those and harsh growls from one second to another. In addition they are using synthesizer sounds repeatedly, as well as sounds from flutes and other folky instruments, to resemble the touch with the nature. The orchestration and clean vocals are therefore creating a good atmosphere. “Jordpuls” is a great Vintersorg record, as fancy melodies and arrangements are again widely available. The musical direction came back to their first records, although they seem unable to detach themselve from the progressivity they once discovered. The symbiosis of their styles is really worth hearing.
