PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Similar to the likes of Turisas and Finntroll who have slightly gone down the path of Alestorm in terms of lyrical topics, Nordheim are your typical alcoholic folk metal band from Québec, Canada; playing fast paced, giddy, party like metal anthems that will get you moving the moment the first track on Lost In the North kicks in – making you want to grab your partner, band your head and drink to Valhalla and back. This is how a folk metal album should sound. An album made up of aggressively sharp guitar lines, vocal growls that would make an ork sound like some limp cocked pussy and accordion lines that will give you an eargasm, this is what to expect from Lost In the North and by god…… Is it bloody amazing!
There are some brilliant choruses on Lost In the North that are moments that make you want to throw the horns in one hand, raise your tankard of ale into the air with the other and scream along like a drunken dwarf, not giving a damn what people think of you. Tracks such as ‘Nightborn’, ‘Glorious March’ are great fun to sing along to, not to mention the truly unforgettable tongue in cheek chorus of ‘Beer, Metal, Trolls and Vomit’, which will have you singing like a mad man whose had too much rum the following words:
“Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer, Metal Trolls and Vomit. Ale, Ale, Ale, Ale, I’m becoming dizzy. Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer, Metal Trolls and Vomit. Mead, Mead, Mead, Mead, Swing your axe around YEAH”
Nordheim are a band that can balance song structure with all out aggressiveness, adding folk elements to the very extreme end of the melodic death metal spectrum. Adopting the typical approach of making their verses head pounding heavy and their choruses a bit mellower, Nordheim really do know how to gobsmack their listeners; making their musical technical and experimental while also delivering crushingly brutal sounds in the form of ‘Far Away’, ‘Sailing the Drakkar’ and ‘Old Crazy Man’.
If the music on Lost In the North doesn’t appeal to you (who the hell are you), then this album should be bought purely for its awesome cover sleeve. Clearly depicting some “Games Workshop” looking goblins sailing a Viking long ship head into a rather distressed looking snowman, Nordheim have embraced that age old folk metal tradition of not making their music serious; going full out when making not only their music, but also their concept and artwork as bold and comical as possible!
Lost in the North is a perfect addition to your folk metal collection, containing not some of the finest folk metal anthems of all time, but some of the catchiest choruses in metal from the past five years. If you love fun filled, high power, sing along songs that contain a hell of a lot of accordion. Then Nordheim are a band you need in your life, and Lost In the North is an album that all respectable metal heads should have more than one copy of. [8/10]
