THYRFING Vansinnesvisor (2002) CD

Sweden gave us ABBA and then, as penance, gave us everything else. Thyrfing came out of Stockholm in the mid-90s and spent the better part of a decade making Viking metal that actually felt lived-in rather than cosplay, and Vansinnesvisor (roughly: Songs of Madness) is the pivot point where their sound got heavier, colder, and less interested in being pretty about any of it.

Released in 2002, this is the album where Thyrfing leaned hard into black metal textures without abandoning the melodic sensibility that made their earlier records work. The riffs still carry that windswept Norse atmosphere but there's a griminess underneath now, a tension between the epic and the bleak that sits them somewhere between Enslaved and early Naglfar. This 2012 pressing keeps the original running order intact. Eight tracks, just under 40 minutes, no filler.

CD in jewel case. Full length album. Originally released 2002, this pressing 2012. Origin: Sweden. Genre: Viking/Black Metal.

Fans of: Enslaved, Naglfar, Månegarm