Sorg Uten Tårer

Was searching for some good Folk Metal and found Sorg Uten Tårer, a Norwegian one-man project that would actually more of Folk Metal bordering on Melodic Black Metal. Regardless, the sound is very, very good and I’d like to see the artist, Retribution be very big one day.

Meanwhile, all of his songs are available at Last.fm!

Edit: Since downloading off of one server is rather unreliable and lame and 1990s, I’ve taken the liberty to set up a torrent for the entire Sorg Uten Tårer discography to download here at Demonoid, which also becomes my first ever torrent contribution to any site ever. Of course, since the songs are free anyways, the torrent is 100% legal.

Farewell, by Summoning

This is probably Summoning’s best, or at least one of their best. It has their characteristic epic feel, along with godlike vocals, haunting melodies and a chorus that has been embedded in my head.

Summoning’s Tolkien Metal

Yesterday I came across Summoning, from Austria. It’s a Black Metal band in general, but includes heavy elements of Melodic, Symphonic and Avant-Garde. It also makes use of several ambient sounds, although mostly to build up atmosphere during a melody, as opposed to relying on it entirely.

Summoning largely reminds me of Burzum, though I prefer Summoning. Their music is best described as ‘Tolkien Metal’, because of their epic fantasy feel and the fact that all of their songs are about Tolkien’s world of Middle-Earth, of course. What I especially like is that, unlike many of the modern ‘Black Metal’ bands (which are more of Extreme Metal), Summoning stands true to the roots of the genre.

Low music quality, distorted guitars, a blend of high-pitched guttural vocals and surprising drum sounds all fit in squarely with Black Metal. I was astonished the band isn’t Norwegian! They add to that vastly epic atmospheres, traditional melodies and a general direction to their music – which can arguably be considered in the realm of Power Metal, but the sound of Summoning is far from Power Metal.

A really talented and great-sounding band that’s worth looking out for!

The Serpentine Offering

This is one of the few songs I like from Dimmu Borgir after they switched from good Melodic Black Metal to Symphonic Extreme Metal. They’re just not my type anymore, but they are some very talented people, especially Shagrath – he has a brilliant voice that fits between Black Metal’s shrieks and Death Metal’s grunts.

Battle! Battle Metal!

I’ve been hooked to Turisas lately, and with good reason. They make some of the best damned music I’ve heard in quite a while. They take the four elements that I love in the right proportions – Black Metal, Symphonic Metal, Folk Metal and Power Metal. I really like the epic feel of their songs, which gives them a sense of battle. Their best known song is Battle Metal, and the term fits Turisas perfectly.

Long live Turisas!