Skálmöld – Baldur (2011)

Hailing from Iceland, today we have Skálmöld and their debut album “Baldur”. Having signed to Napalm Records, it shows some signs of the quality of this fairly unknown band. When Folk/Viking Metal bands are a dime a dozen, it is nice to hear some bands that have something else to bring to the table and Skálmöld does a good job in leaving us with a promising debut album.

Mixing many different influences into their music, the first thing to standout is that almost no song in this release sounds a like. The band mixes catchy choir-like sections, engaging guitar solos and powerful riffing to perfection and creates a very epic and untraditional atmosphere that will surely appeal to fans of the genre that are tired of bands playing the same thing over and over.

After a nice vocal-only intro with “Heima”, the band quickly steps it up a notch with the catchiness of “Árás”. “Sorg” delivers a Tyr-like approach to the music with less complicated guitar work and more feeling to the song. With a more aggressive stance, “Upprisa” keeps building up the pace of the album to a very powerful Viking/Folk Metal level that only a handful of ‘new’ bands can pull off.

The band ‘split’s the album with the interlude “Draumur” only to return with more effective guitar work in the almost instrumental “Kvaðning”. Our favorite song comes with the name “Valhöll” since it closely resembles Tyr’s work, but in a slower and less repetitive fashion. The albums title track clocks in at 10 minutes and delivers a very effective rendition of all the elements you find in this release.

While there are way too many similarities with Tyr, the band still has their own unique sound and is able to sound fresh at the same time. If you are looking for a nice guitar driven Folk/Viking Metal album and already had all the major releases of the genre, be sure to pick up this release.

Release: July 29th, 2011

Country: Iceland