''Norrøn livskunst'' is the seventh studio album by Norwegian avant-garde black metal band

Solefald Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal/black metal band that was formed by members Lars Are "Lazare" Nedland and Cornelius Jakhelln in August 1995, with Nedland singing and playing keyboard/synthesizer/piano and drums, and Jakhelln singing ...

and their first album released through Indie Recordings.

Track listing

Concept

The press release for described the album as such:

With "Norrøn livskunst", SOLEFALD looks to the early 1900-century Norway, when a young nation zealously engaged in exploring its cultural roots. Writers, painters and composers rediscovered Norse mythology, the
Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been applied by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ( ...
and the sagas. Houses and buildings were designed in the Norse "dragon style" and decorated with medieval motifs. Sports clubs were named after Norse deities, and
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
's "
Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...
" had a natural place in every home. Explorers went out to conquer the most inhospitable regions of the world. Some of that same madness is underlying in black metal: When others hunt for fame and fast money, leave it to the Norwegians to colonise frozen continents and old cemeteries. As Cornelius Jakhelln's saga novel "The Fall Of The Gods" states: "They called it evil. They called it True Norwegian Black Metal.Blabbermouth.net – November 2010 – SOLEFALD: More New Album Details Revealed
November 6, 2010.

Musical style

The album marked some minor changes in vocal styles from both members. Cornelius employed the aggressive style he developed on the albums prior to An Icelandic Odyssey and with his side project Sturmgeist. He also introduced a deep, nearly spoken word vocal approach not before heard with Solefald. Lazare's vocal arrangements are some of the most dense and sophisticated he's ever performed. The musical style covers a broad range, as is expected by now from Solefald. Aggressive extreme metal, heavily electronic passages and complex multilayered vocals. The album also features guest contributions in the forms of vocals, saxophone and guitar. The majority of the original lyrics with the exception of "Waves Over Valhalla" and a portion of "Stridsljod/Blackabilly" which are in English, are written in a 1917 variant of Norwegian called

høgnorsk Høgnorsk (; meaning ''High Norwegian'') is a term for varieties of the Norwegian language from Nynorsk that reject most of the official reforms that have been introduced since the creation of . Høgnorsk typically accepts the initial reforms that ...

(high Norwegian), which is a conservative written language preceding today's much more common

nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

(Neo-Norwegian).

Personnel

;Solefald * Lazare – vocals, keyboards, programming, drums, percussion * Cornelius – vocals, guitars, bass ;Additional personnel * Agnete Kjølsrud – vocals * Benedicte Maurseth – vocals ,

Hardanger fiddle A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...

* Kjetil Selvik – saxophone * Vangelis Labrakis – lead guitar * "King" – " wah howls" ;Production staff * Endre Kirkesola – mixing * Vangelis Labrakis, Stamos Koliousis – mastering * Christer-André Cedergren – vocals, guitars, bass recording *

Asgeir Mickelson Asgeir Mickelson (born 30 September 1969) is a Norwegian musician, artist, photographer and music reviewer. Although primarily known as a drummer, he is also a skilled guitarist and bassist. Biography He has stated on his official message boar ...

– drum recording * Børge Finstad Drums – drum engineering * Trine + Kim design studio – cover layout, design * Sidsel Jakhelln Semb – band photography

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norron livskunst) Solefald albums 2010 albums Indie Recordings albums