Artist: Lonndom
Title: Vidderns Tolv Kapitel
Type: Album
Label: Nordvis/Eisenwald

Following swiftly on the heels of the ‘Falen Fran Norr’ album in which our lumberjack shirt clad duo unleashed an intriguing blend of earthy folk and dusty black metal, we have perhaps the logical progression for the Lonndom concept - a purely acoustic album. For a band so rooted in burnished, autumnal aesthetics this comes as no surprise and the first minute of ‘Valkommen Ut’ with it’s lone acoustic drone, wind noise and campfire vocal accompaniment sets the tone perfectly for the lengthy opus to come. Yes, we are firmly in ‘Kveldssanger’ Ulver-era territory here, a subdued, slow-burn acoustic/ambient epic that fuses spirituality and folk story-telling.

Eschewing completely the plasticised, trite nonsense that the metal scene seems to have pegged ‘folk’ down as, Lonndom demonstrate once again a more subtle, textured and darker approach to the concept. Of course, Kveldssanger is an obvious influence but there are also plenty of nods to Agalloch, Of the Wand and Moon and indeed the neofolk scene in general. OK, so fusing delicate neo-classical acoustic guitar strumming with near choral flourishes of vocals in native Scandinavian tongues is nothing new for artists emerging from the black metal scene but A. Petterson and S. Sandstrom demonstrate their competency as conceptualists and songwriters sufficiently to render ‘Vidderns Tolv Kapitel’ their own.

It goes without saying that this is not everyday listening - it is a single-minded journey into a nighttime pine forest, a darkness that deepens with every crunch of snow underfoot. It is true ‘mood music’, an atmospheric encounter laced quite literally with the very sounds of the woods at evenfall whilst the acoustic interplay is graceful, stirring and elegant. As a listener, one really has to throw oneself into the minimalist soundscape to get the most out of it and there are times when one suspects - just a little - that perhaps Petterson and Sandstrom are enjoying this more than the listener. There is certainly no compromise from the duo here whatsoever. At twelve tracks totalling over an hour, it also suggests no inclination to wield the editorial knife - particularly as some rudimentary percussion aside, Lonndom vary not at any point from the ‘acoustics and vocals’ sonic palette. Nevertheless, to the curious neofolk enthusiast, the black metaller yearning for the calm after the storm or indeed anyone with a passion for the soundtracks of twilit forests, it’s definitely worth joining Lonndom on their journey. For a little while at least.

http://www.myspace.com/lonndom