Lumsk - Det Vilde Kor
CD Info
2007
Tabu Recordings
12 Tracks
Norwegian lyrics
Norway has always been a great country as far as femme metal/rock goes. Along with Holland, Norway has produced many of my all time favorite bands. Among the many great bands that emerge out of Norway is this odd little band—Lumsk. Det Vilde Kor is the third album from this Norwegian band. Before I continue, I must warn everyone about this album. In Lumsk’s past albums, they’ve always played folk metal. However, in Det Vilde Kor, almost all of Lumsk’s metal sound has left—in fact, I have trouble even calling this a rock record! Det Vilde Kor is a folk album with a bit of rock influence. "Allvis", a song from their past album Troll, gives you a good idea as to what you can expect to hear on Det Vilde Kor. So if you’re looking for the next Åsmund Frægdegjevar, you’re not going to find it here.
One thing that has not changed is the wonderful voice of singer Stine Mari Langstrand. I don’t say this about many vocalists, but Stine is one of the few that I feel is born to sing. She is sort of the Karen Carpenter of the femme metal/rock world—not that Stine sounds like Karen, but rather both of their voices are very pure sounding and you can tell that they should be singing. With past albums, Stine has been accompanied by a male vocalist. Honestly, that male vocalist really took away from the aural enjoyment of their past albums. However, on Det Vilde Kor, that particular male vocalist is gone! On "Om Hundrede Aar Er Alting Glemt", Lumsk does collaborate with the guest vocalist Ola Bremnes (and this track being the only one on the record to feature male vocals). Now I’ve never heard of this man prior to this record, but he does sound much better than the male vocals that Lumsk utilized in the past.
As I mentioned before, the songs are much quieter on this record. There are some upbeat songs, such as "Lad Spille Med Vaar Over Jorden". Though, these upbeat songs give the listener more of a feeling of frolicking in meadow rather than thrashing about on stage. Curiously, most of these songs start very similarly to each other. Half of the songs (yes, half) start almost exactly the same—Stine singing quietly, a cappella at first, followed by soft instruments. Yes, it sounds nice, but do half the songs really need to start out that way? Ignoring this though, the songs themselves sound quite nice. "Diset Kvæld", "Om Hundrede Aar Er Alting Glemt", and "Lad Spille Med Vaar Over Jorden" are certainly some of my favorites on Det Vilde Kor. Though, the real winner would definitely have to be the four-part "Svend Herlufsens Ord" series. It runs about ten minutes from part one to the end of part four, and it contains some very interesting melodies and even a few surprises. There are a few songs that are blander than the rest, though they are all enjoyable in one way or another.
In conclusion, if you were into the more metal side of Lumsk, this album is not for you. Though the highs of this album aren’t quite as high as those on Åsmund Frægdegjevar and Troll, the lows aren’t as low as the lows on the two prior albums (hope that wasn’t too confusing for you). If you want to hear some nice folk music with a touch of rock, I would definitely recommend this album.
8 / 10
