Embrace the power of the mountain, feel the magic of the Vanir, and hide in our magical forest from Ragnarök…
When talking about Nordic Folk Music, one usually thinks about bands from European soil; from Sweden, Norway, Russia, Germany, Scotland, you know… I am quite open-minded and I don’t get scared that easily anymore (I dwell around this planet for more than half a century in the meantime), but hey, a Viking / Folk act from Uruguay, of all places?
Yet then again: why not. Within the Black Metal scene, a lot of Latin-American countries offer truly excellent – and credible – bands and projects with a convincing touch of Celtic, Gaelic, Germanic or Nordic glory. So, why not here? Actually, Munknörr seems to be active for more than a lustrum in the meantime. It’s an outfit by Damián Schneider, assisted by Greek singer Aethelwyne. Munknörr, which means ‘ship of the mind’ in ancient Norse, focuses on the origin of North-European Pagan Music, with a shamanistic, Mother Nature-focused and / or ceremonial conceptual approach.
Norđr too accompanies the listener to ancient times, ‘to mystical and spiritual places of the Viking Age’ (dixit the bio). It is a thirty-eight minutes-long travel through mythological and heroic times, captured into eight individual and differing yet deeply cohesive hymns. The album is a digital-only recording (I wonder – I hope – if there will be a physical edition in the future), with fine cover artwork that deeply expresses the sense, the concept of the sonic part.
The album opens with Fjall, which does show this project’s main influence: Wardruna. Different kinds of (archaic) strings, brass instruments, percussions and vocals are the spine of each hymn on this album, and this opening track, Fjall, gives a first yet convincing glimpse of the sonic spectrum behind, and around, Munknörr. There is a lot of variety, in structure, tempo and execution, with acoustic parts, both atmospheric and heroic passages, chapters that focus on the vocals especially then again on the instrumentation, pieces profoundly driven by the tribal percussions, and so on, and so on. Fjall is very energetic in essence, with the beautiful female chants of Aethelwyne (somehow fairylike, always dreamlike) and the melodic timbre of Damián, sometimes including epic choir-singing and dueling interaction in between both male and female voices. Acoustic strings interplay organically with the driven shaman-based drums, the victorious battle horn-like brass, and the down-tuned drones at the background.
Several epics continue that direction of combative, unconquerable sonic majesty. Vikingur comes with those pounding rhythms, with some ethereal passages (especially with that beautiful voice of Aethelwyne), and with that captivating lead melody. Nornir then again sounds like a purest tribute to Einar Selvik (Damián’s voice is strongly comparable, in both the mid- and higher regions), with mesmerizing acoustic strings, brave percussions and inspirational, deeply emotive voices (once again, different kinds of male timbres, as well as female and polyphonic ones, and whispers). This trend continues throughout the whole album, with an enormous variety (in tempo, execution and structure), yet an overwhelming cohesion at the very same time. Rather militant passages interact well with more introvert parts (example: the spiritual nature-tribute The Forest Of Hodmimir); acoustic Folk-based fragments get combined with strenuous ones; dark-edged chapters appear in a well-balanced interplay with more ‘airy’ parts (mind the unique vocal effort at about half of Seiđkona, strongly reminding me of Trøllabundin by Eivør Pálsdóttir). What about the Dark Folk Viking epic The Drakkar Song, with those pompous choir chants and these hypnotic basses / drums? Or enjoy the semi-mirth in Uppsala, with its medieval liveliness.
As said, a uge source of inspiration is Wardruna. There’s nothing wrong with that; there are many bands that are influenced by this Norwegian act. But Munknörr do not sound like just a copycat, for the duo gives an own twist, an own direction to their Music. Injecting their epic finesse with aspects from Dark Folk, Ritual Music and Symphonic Neo-Classical, they have now come up with an in-depth aural outcome that is both captivating and ethereal, both ceremonial and organic, both oppressive and enlightening. Tasteful…
https://munknorr.bandcamp.com/album/nor-r