King Ov Hell (GORGOROTH, SAHG, GOD SEED) and Kvitrafn (aka Einar Selvik of WARDRUNA, SKUGGSJÁ, GORGOROTH) teamed up and formed Jotunspor ("tracks/traces of giants").
Musically, "Gleipnirs Smeder" binds grim and primitive black metal together with elements of noisy dark-ambient, while the concept of Jotunspor is strongly founded in the old Norse cults and beliefs. "Glepnirs Smeder", or The Forgers of Gleipnir, explores some of the incidents surrounding the creation of the world and Ragnarok - the ultimate doom / transformation. The chain Gleipnir, its forgers from the depths of Svartalvheim and Fenris - the chained jotun-wolf are some of the most important themes on the album, on which the lyrics are sung in Norwegian and Old Norse tongue.
Produced and engineered in Norway by Kvitrafn, the album was originally released in 2006 by our sub-division Satanas Rex.
Music By – King, Kvitrafn
Guitar, Bass – King
Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Programmed By, Drums, Percussion – Kvitrafn
Producer, Engineer – Kvitrafn
I’m a huge Gorgoroth fan. As a result, I wanted to see with what else the band members were involved. I’ve always been a fan of Kvitrafn, so naturally I looked in his direction and found Jotunspor. I managed to get a hold of this album and immediately began listening. I must say, that while I enjoy it very much, it sounds an awful lot like Gorgoroth. It just sounded like I had heard it before, just in a different way. The album as a whole feels very dark and cold. It’s not nearly as raw as say, early Nargaroth, Darkthrone, or Mayhem. It’s more like an early Dimmu Borgir, but with a darker atmosphere. It’s only 7 tracks and little over 35 minutes in length, so that’s quite a drawback. It’s a lot like Gorgoroth in that respect as well.
Gleipnirs Smeder - A good track, but a bit repetitive at times...more than once. The riffs are simple but very full. The drumming remains constant throughout the majority of the song, until about 4:27 or so when everything almost stops for a few seconds. Shortly after, we get to hear some clean vocals. I happened to like them, and I thought it fit well with the rest of the music at that point. 7,5/10
Svartalvheims Djup – One of the low points of this album was this track. The band appeared to be trying to sound evil and it seems as though they thought, “Hey, let’s put in a 7 minute interlude as the second track. What a great idea!” Well, it wasn’t a great idea. I just got done listening to the previous track, I’m pretty pumped up and ready for some more…but no. I get this. I get 7 minutes of random noises and very distorted vocals strewn about like some dead relative’s ashes. It’s kind of a waste of time, but what it lacks in musical value, it makes up for in overall creepiness. 6/10
Solartjuven – A great slow track. It’s very dark and creepy. The opening riffs are, as you may have guessed, repeated a few too many times. Also, throughout the song, they are still pretty simplistic. The vocals are clearly distorted, but quite frankly, scare the hell out of me. The drumming is also very simple and slow, but appropriate for the song. Aside from the very out-of-place bell-type sound, it’s a good track. 8,5
Freke Han Renn… - It’s in this song specifically that we hear the clear Gorgoroth influence. Some parts of the song sound like something that should have been on Incipit Satan. This song begins very fast and features some fine blast beats, but slows down a bit to a medium tempo almost immediately. The vocals are very harsh and don’t sound nearly as distorted as they do in the previous track. The guitars are more complex and very interesting in this song and vary quite a bit throughout. The drumming also varies and accentuates the rhythm of the song. 8/10
Sol Mun Svartne – This one begins fast with blast beats and awkward, almost uncomfortable-sounding riffs. After a few seconds, it kicks in with quite enjoyable riffs and very fast drumming. About half-way through the song we get to hear more clean vocals, which are awesome in my opinion. It’s the shortest track on the album, but the best. Nothing wrong with this song. 10/10
Ginnungagalder – This song starts out very hard and fast. The drums are amazingly quick and the guitars are very eerie. More of the other band influences here with the guitars. The vocals in this track sound especially menacing and powerful. The guitar repeat themselves a lot again and are somewhat simple, but very interesting. 8/10
Ildkrig – This one begins with what sound like war drums and breaks into almost drone-sounding guitars and a military drum line. It’s got a medium tempo throughout, and features harsh vocals with some keyboarding effects as well. There’s a sort of outro at the end of the song that allows us to think about what we’ve just heard. Good track. 7,5/10
One thing I like about this band is that they know how to keep the atmosphere the same. Overall, this was a dark and moving album about the Nordic heritage. Naturally I couldn’t understand any of it, but that’s part of the beauty of the music. The only thing wrong with this album is that it’s repetitive at times…and I wasn’t too crazy about the second track either.
Standout tracks: Sol Mun Svartne, Gleipnirs Smeder, Solartjuven
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
