Warthur
With Eilif Gundersen taking on more instrumental duties and Gaahl taking his leave, the third album in Wardruna's Runaljod trilogy sees another stylistic shift. This time, the folky world music stylings of the previous album take a dark, foreboding turn, in keeping with the apocalyptic overtones of Ragnarok. The end result is, unfortunately, a bit of a mixed bag, with some songs fascinating whilst others leave you cold. (Album opener Tyr takes what would have been an evocative 1-minute intro and drags it out over six and a half minutes, for instance.) Still, despite the fact that it might be the weakest of the trilogy, Ragnarok will likely be enjoyed by anyone who got excited by the first two entries in the Wardruna discography.
