Folkearth - Drakkars In The Mist

Artist : Folkearth

Album Title : Drakkars In The Mist (2007)

Genre : Folk-Metal; Viking Metal

Rating : ***** * (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
Folkearth is technically not a group. Every so often, a whole bunch of Folk/Viking-Metal artists get together and put out a collaborative effort. This is their third album. The first two were A Nordic Poem (2004) and By The Sword Of My Father (2006).

This time, 30 artists from 11 countries contributed. I don't believe that Folk and Metal are easily combined, so it's interesting to see how these guys and gals went about blending two seemingly disparate genres.

For the record - "Drakkars" are Viking boats. We Anglo-Saxons would call them "Long Boats" or "Long Ships".

What's To Like...
You certainly get your money's worth - almost 70 minutes of music. And you get a variety of takes on what Folk-Metal should be. Some of it is 99% Metal, and some of it is 99% Folk (mostly Celtic). So no matter which of the genres you are partial to, you're going to find some tracks here that are "just right".

The female vocalists do a very nice job. We're talking "Warrior Queens" here, not weak-kneed "Damsels in Distress". The "Folk" half of the music holds its own; and the "Metal" half is above-average.

The studio's performance is improving. The engineering on the first album just sucked. It got better on album #2, and is even more professional here.

FWIW, I enjoyed this CD more when played at a moderate volume. I know Metal is supposed to be cranked up, but the musical talent of these Folk-Earthies is more evident when one's eardrums aren't bleeding.

What's Not To Like...
The male vocalists could use a voice lesson or two. The studio work still isn't where it could be. One person (favorably) commented that the whole album "sounded like a mist had settled over it". Maybe. Or maybe that's just shoddy recording.

Unsurprisingly, it's an uneven album. These may be 30 of the top folk-metal artists around, but if there are only, say, 35 people in the world who play folk-metal, then the "Top 30" will still have some mediocre members.

A Grunting We Will Go...
Some of the male vocalists on DITM grunt; some sing; and some chant in a sing-song fashion. "Metal Grunting" has always bothered me. Yes, I'm cool to the "Beauty and the Beast" motif, but good gracious, does that mean every flipping song lyric on every flipping metal album has to be grunted? And don't get me started on the annoying screeching by groups like Cradle of Filth.

I've always suspected that grunting the vocals is just a cheap way to cover up the lack of a good singer. DITM, which treats you to some grunting, singing, and chanting, only reinforces that suspicion.

But I digress. Folkearth, Drakkars In The Mist, and Viking Folk-Metal are all interesting concepts. I don't know that the fusion of Folk and Metal has yet been perfected, but I do look forward to Folkearth continuing to "blaze the trail". Who knows, maybe someday we'll be introduced to "Polka-Metal".

Finally, one last thing to ponder - there are 17 tracks on DITM, and the last three are listed as "Bonus Tracks". Excuse me, but just what constitutes a "Bonus Track" on a collaborative album like this? Methinks some marketing suit somewhere said, "Yeah call the last couple tracks 'Bonus Tracks'. The metal-heads will think they're getting something extra." C'mon guys, we ain't that stoopid.