Månegarm - Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions (2006)

I don't really remember when I first heard Swedish band, Månegarm, I guess, it was back around 2000 when they were releasing their second album, 'Havets Vargar,' but for some reason I don't recall their brand of black-ish Viking folk metal making much of an impression on me. A few years down the road I impulsively picked up this seven song EP based purely on the fact that they were trying something different, well sorta.

Back then and even nowadays it’s become a really common thing for metal bands to unplug and do an acoustic styled album. 2006 must have been the right time for the long running Swedish folk metal band Månegarm to do just that with their EP titled, ‘Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions.’ Curiously I don't recall this EP blowing my socks off back then but a few months ago I threw this baby on and I was totally floored by it.

After a short fifteen second intro we get treated to the first sounds of, ‘Himmelsfursten.’ Immediately the first thing that came to my mind was the fact that this song (and the song to follow) sounded a lot like the fast bouncy Swedish folk band, ‘Två Fisk Och En Fläsk’ (groovy name, no). A few more seconds into the song and I quickly recognize a female voice that sounded like Umer from Två. Of course I then opened the booklet to see that it was indeed Umer and that also Janne from the same band is also the violinist in Månegarm.

Although Månegarm adds a few additionally instruments, sound effects and male vocals, its not all triple espresso Två playing all the time as songs like, 'Hemkomst' & 'Döden' are a bit calmer in their delivery and even sort of progressive in a way. Döden in particular I utterly love and a lot of it has to do with the dual voices singing in Swedish. I got to be honest one of the reasons I've come to love the language a bit is after viewing some quality Swedish films last year, one of which I have the movie poster right here on my wall in front of my work area looking down on me. Seriously though just an utterly beautiful song all the way, even if you don't have much appreciation for the Swedish language or folk music I still think its worth checking out.

As this is just an EP its said and done with in 26 minutes and I think its a bit of a shame that they never did a full-length album in this style, especially since they do it quite well. Nevertheless, it seems all of Månegarm's work since this EP has been met with favorable reviews, which means I should probably catch up with these folky Swedish folks someday.