Recently, Folk, Pagan, Viking, and Epic Metal have been gaining a lot of traction in and outside of the music industry. Bands such as Finntroll, Turisas, and Amon Armanth have putting out gold with the inclusion of wildly interesting fict-fact folklore and sometimes generally untouched (in metal) instruments such as electric violins, and kazoos. That being said, a slew of cash-in bands has emerged almost immediately to try and strange every last ounce of exposure from the trend. Sometimes, blatant in their so called ‘inspiration’ such as the case with TrollfesT – a band that would have benefitted greatly from not advertising themselves as an off-brand of Finntroll (their music isn’t that bad; their marketing is). So, as I began to read into Eldkraft and their debut album Shaman my skepticism immediately bridged connections to Finntroll’s tales of Rivfader, the Troll shaman – I was expecting a carbon copy. And of course, if you’ve heard Eldkraft – you’ll know that I was completely and wonderfully wrong.
Eldkraft falls under the category of Epic/Pagan metal and as such provides bombastic force in its music. Vocalist/Keyboardish J. Sandin’s vocals carry the stories of Shaman up and above typical or expected - combining several languages for no apparent reason but to be incredibly interesting. ‘Fates Door’ and ‘Patterns’, English songs on the album, shows just how capable Sandin is with juggling multilingualism – there is almost no hint of mispronunciation or error. Of course, every Frontman needs proper support and in this case you get H. Karlsson who provides the Bass and Guitars for Shaman. N. Fjellström provides a fantastic combination of basic drum patterns and wild double-bass madness.
Yes, this massive piece of music is provided by merely a trio – and of course they are Swedish. What other country has brought such a consistent number of debut bands with high quality production values (probably the Finnish)?
At this point, I’m finding it hard to say anything but good about Eldkraft and Shaman. So I end with: unlike other Folk, Pagan, Viking, and Epic Metal superpowers – Eldkraft holds no comparison to other genres like Traditional, Black, or Death. With Shaman you are getting one of the purest forms of Epic you can possibly hope for, a true definition of the genre. Shaman is not to be missed and surely not to be plagued by comparisons to more solidified bands.
