Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions (Urminnes Havd: The Forest Sessions - Manegarm)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Urminnes Havd: The Forest Sessions - Manegarm
Date:	31/12/08 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting diversion.

Disadvantages: Less exciting than the band's usual work.

Just as many women will doubtless be interested in becoming pregnant just to see how their womb works, or just as many men will try to grow a beard at some point out of curiosity, bands such as Sweden's Månegarm who experiment with mixed genres, in their case supplementing black metal with folk elements, will feel the need to prove their credentials at some point in their career in the form of an experimental E.P. 'Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions' is their permissible indulgence into the realm of pure folk, and it's actually pretty good.

The problem that some bands encounter when altering their sound is that the music they're playing ends up sounding merely like a cheaper, stilted, unplugged version of their usual style, but the wide array of instruments and vocal styles on offer here, as well as the more relaxed tempo, makes this practically unrecognisable as the same band responsible for the fierce 'Dödsfärd.'

This inevitably makes it somewhat less riveting to a metal fan, but the band succeeds in proving itself, and is arguably much more successful than their contemporaries such as Borknagar and Empyrium in their own shift towards a lighter style; thankfully, this is restrained to a single experimental release, with a mix of bouncy folk jigs and more subtle, reflective acoustic instrumentals.

Summary: Månegarm's first E.P. (2006).