UMUR "Mulmets Viser" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish death/folk metal act Svartsot. The album was released in March 2010 by Napalm Records.

"Mulmets Viser" pretty much continue where "Ravnenes Saga (2007)" left off. That´s a mix of mid-paced death metal and folky lead melodies played by both guitar and flute/whistles. The addition of Mandolin and accordion also provide an extra folky flavour. The lyrics are evolve around traditional Danish folklore and Nordic mythology. The growling vocals are slightly more intellegible this time around and that´s a plus in my book. The band generally deliver an energetic performance and there are several strong tracks on the album. Most tracks are a bit too similar in style though so it´s nice to hear a more epic sounding track like "Den Svarte Sot" included.

"Mulmets Viser" is another solid release by Svartsot. I still think their Amon Amarth meets early Amorphis sound (albeit with a more folky edge) lacks a bit of an original touch, but on the other hand you get a quality sound production, well written tracks and a band performing with passion, so I guess that somewhat makes up for it. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.

UMUR "Ravnenes Saga" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish folk/death metal act Svartsot. The album was released in November 2007 by Napalm Records. Svartsot grew out of the ashes of the more black metal oriented Skoll.

The music on the album is folk oriented death metal. Sort of like Amon Amarth meets early Amorphis. The lyrics evolve around traditional Danish folklore and Nordic mythology. The lyrics are in Danish but honestly you could have fooled me as the growling vocals are processed and completely unintelligeble. It´s too bad as I´m sure more intelligeble vocals would have done the quite entertaining lyrics more justice. The predominantly mid-paced albeit energetic and melodic death metal is quite enjoyable though. The omnipresent flutes and whistles provides a happy folky atmosphere and are a great asset to the soundscape.

The 12 tracks are a bit one-dimensional and simple in style and therefore it´s greatly appreciated when the band does something a bit different and more epic in a track like "Hedens Døtre". By one-dimensional I by no means mean bad though. The quality of the tracks are consistenly high throughout the 46:01 minutes long playing time, but I still think a bit more variation between tracks would have made "Ravnenes Saga" a stronger album.

The Jacob Hansen production is powerful with an organic touch and suits the music well.

"Ravnenes Saga" is quite the entertaining folky death metal album and when the album ends I´m left with a smile on my face. As mentioned above there are a couple of slight issues with the unintelligeble growling vocals and the fact that most of the tracks don´t vary enough from each other, but overall "Ravnenes Saga" is still a strong album deserving a 3.5 star rating.

Time Signature Dance of death...

Genre: folk metal

Danish folk metal act Svartsot have, apart from apparently being M1 users (Danes will get the joke), the distinct honor of pretty much spearheading Danish folk metal, and now they are back with their third album.

The overall musicianship is very high and the album is characterized by professionalism, tightness and crisp production. The underlying drive of the music is quite typical of folk metal, and the band successfully integrate the folk and metal elements such that the folk instrumentation and folk melodies never obscure the traditional metal instrumentation of drums, bass and guitars. Most of the tracks are kept quite heavy, but with the typical folksy drive.

This heaviness suits the lyrical content, which deals with the hardships that the people of 14th century Denmark had to endure while the plague raged the country and took many lives. The problem, however, is that, because of this heaviness, the album sort of loses its momentum towards the end, which is a bit of a shame because the individual tunes are quite good.

The vocals are performed in Danish, which is obviously interesting, but the problem is that the vocals are so brutally growled that it is virtually impossible to hear what is being sung, and thus the listener misses out on what the sounds of the danish language might have contributed to the listening experience.

'Maledictus Eris' is a suitably dark folk metal album, which is characterized by professionalism and top notch musicianship, and I am sure that it will appeal to many fans of folk metal.