With Finntroll taking their sweet time between albums, Ensiferum going a little bit off the beaten path and Equilibrium’s latest album, Armageddon being a bit of a let down, I have been searching for new and under the radar bouncy, happy folk metal bands to get me by, as the genre appears to be in a bit of a dry spell. Thankfully, new discoveries like Drakwald, Grimner, Svartby and this Argentine band, Vorgrum, have sated my desire.
Look no further than Finntroll for this band’s primary influence, with song titles like “Troll Villa”, “Potato Troll” and “Drunkard Anthem”, and heavy use of humpa music and some killer accordion use. But you can hear plenty of other influences such as Svartsot (the deeper death metal vocals), Equilibrium (bombastic orchestration) and usual suspects like Korpiklaani and Eluevitie.
But the 11 songs on Last Domain certainly have some of their own character too as the band switch from bouncy, beer hall jaunts like the fucking excellent “Drunkard Anthem” (a short metal blast up that’s up there with Equilibrium’s “Met” and Trollfest’s “Rundt Balet”) to more epic, sweeping tracks like “Last Will”. The humpa elements seem to be scattered around specific tracks troll themed like the loping stomp of “Troll Villa”, another standout and “Potato Troll”, “Scarring Us to Death” and “Clockwork of Decadence”. Then tracks like the killer “Last Will”, “Legacy of the Ancient”, “Desert Knight” and “Ancient Rulers” have a more majestic, serious tone,using some very cool brass elements and beerhall chants.
As with another Via Nocturna release I recently reviewed in Beansidhe’s excellent Mont, this is a 2015 independent release the label has picked up and re-released. It will probably go on my year end list as its a fun, campy and well done delivery, with a clear influence and might be the only folk metal album on my year end list when all is said and done.
