Vintersorg: Solens Rötter

Vintersorg frontman Andreas Hedlund must be one of the busiest artists in metal, somehow finding the time to work with his other bands Otyg, Borkangar, Cronian and Waterclime, to name a few, yet still produce a steady stream of releases with his main project. Solens Rötter, the follow-up to 2004’s The Focusing Blur, is a pleasant little caper that takes the ensemble back to their folk metal roots. The words can’t be understood, as they’re written entirely in Hedlund’s native language, Swedish, and sung in a thick Euro accent, but it doesn’t really matter: from the fan-fare like moments of “Spirar Och Gror” to the brutal technicality of “Från Materia Till Ande”, this is an outing that is more about mood and layout than songwriting. Bright, multi-layered acoustic guitars warm each track from the inside to a crisp, and the additives, including (but certainly not limited to) piano, flute, and even an oboe, manage to come off sounding organic and not as a stilted grasp for artistic integrity. This is a bold, well thought-out disc that takes Vintersorg back to their humble beginnings and, happily, finds them more suited to the style than ever before.