HARDINGROCK Grumen (2007) CD

Norwegian folk metal with actual Hardanger fiddles, not a synth patch pretending to be one. Hardingrock took the ancient eight-string fiddle of western Norway and ran it headlong into extreme metal, and Grumen is the document of what happened next.

This is the project of Mats Eriksen, and it sits in that particular Nordic zone where black metal atmospherics and traditional folk instrumentation don't just coexist but actively push each other somewhere stranger. Grumen has the cold, elemental quality of the landscape it comes from. It rewards patience and punishes background listening. For the record shelf between your Finntroll and your Ihsahn, or honestly anywhere it fits, because this one has its own logic.

CD. Full length album. Origin: Norway, 2007. Genre: folk metal, black metal, Nordic traditional.

Fans of: Ihsahn, Emperor, Finntroll, Korpiklaani