Garmarna – Förbundet (album)
Release date: 06th November 2020||Genre: Folk rock||Label: Season Of Mist
Continuing the unstoppable wave of pagan/folk music addiction is easy business for Garmarna. They’ve been at it for decades. I have to admit, like many others, it’s a style I only got deeply interested in through recent years. These progenitors, however, are well versed in re-framing its tones.
Förbundet is album number 7 for the Swedes. Like their previous full-lengths, it burrows into music of the past, comprised of dark, ambient folk elements. From the accompanying information, it seems that there is only one original track involved, Vägskäl, the rest, presumably, drawn from traditional pieces. They did a wonderful job of this with Herr Mannelig back in 1996.
However, unlike some other big names in this genre, they blend in a thick layer of contemporary sound. It is strange, in a way, that they haven’t really changed how they apply this, and yet it still comes across as wholly current. Maybe this constitutes a double throw-back of sorts, tapping into two past eras of music.
While this does hold the same sort of folk inspired darkness as Wardruna or Heilung, don’t expect that full-on attachment to the sound. Garmarna are too diverse for that. Their aim seems alwaysq to have been to bring it up to date, without losing its essence. Förbundet continues towards that end, with no real deviation.
It can’t be denied that Garmarna have long since mastered their craft, and a somewhat illustrious career stands testament to that. This is definitely an album to indulge in, even if it isn’t always your go to in the genre.
Grade: B+
Slow Dragon
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Garmarna – Förbundet (album)
