Album Review: Norrsköld – Withering Virtue – The Second Chapter (Rexius Records)

Norrsköld came to life in 2012 & hail from the cold forests of Sweden. Norrsköld deliver a unique type of melodic metal music, mixing components of black, folk and death metal with classical guitars and symphonic elements.

Withering Virtue – The Second Chapter is the bands second full length release & is out on March 1st, 2017.

Norrsköld: Withering Virtue – The Second Chapter Review

The opening folk-style melody that begins Everfrozen is the perfect start to an album that is filled with an ear pleasing blend of death/black & folk elements. Slipping seamlessly into a glorious sounding beat, the guitar work combined with the frantic drumming really ensures a breathless start.

Songs like Feed the Ground, Fallen One & Impurity really showcase a style of metal that is both ferociously heavy but with catchy riffs & soaring moments. It’s the sort of stuff that makes you want to raise your fist high in the sky in tribute. Exciting but familiar.

It’s hard to find fault throughout the entire album, even the songs that don’t have the same ‘grab you by the genitals’ still offer enough moments to put a smile on any metal-heads face. Impurity is an example of this with its crushing beat hardly lighting the world on fire but it having some of the strongest guitar playing on the album. In no way is it a bad song but the bar has been set very early on!

By the half way point you might be wondering just where a lot of the more folksy elements have gone. While they are about, they take a much more backseat to proceedings until Stormgryning which is one of the highlights of the album. As heavy as you’re going to get but played at a slower pace the spoken word moments really shine.

The latter songs of the album continue the great trend of blending mind-smashing metal & uplifting moments. Cursed & Vicious let’s the often under-stated vocal work stand out, a short & sharp knife to the heart. Shadows turns things up a notch with its thunderous riffs before Rite of Aeons calms things down with its short, soft melody.

It’s the final interlude (of which there are 3) before the double header of Malice & Mansorg finish things off nicely. The former spreads the darkness around as if it’s going out of business but never loses its extremely listenable beat while the latter ups the tempo. A fast paced finale with exciting twists & turns, it’s an excellent ending to an album that is pure quality throughout.

Rarely is a foot put wrong & the biggest complaint you’re likely to find is that some songs just aren’t as great as others!

Overall Track List:

1. Everfrozen
2. Feed the Ground
3. A Fiddler’s Trance
4. Awaken the Dead
5. Fallen One
6. Impurity
7. Stormgryning
8. Cursed & Vicious
9. Shadows
10. Rite of Aeons
11. Malice
12. Mansorg

You can pick up the bands music via Rexius Records official shop here, you can also listen to previous work via Spotify, via iTunes & on Soundcloud. You can find out much more about the band by visiting their official website here, checking them out on Facebook, on Bandpage & over on YouTube.