JOTUNSPOR - 'Gleipnirs Smeder'



CSR244CD (10 November 2017)
CD in digipak
Barcode: 0641871745012



King Ov Hell (Gorgoroth, Sahg, God Seed) and Kvitrafn (aka Einar Selvik of Wardruna, Skuggsjá, Gorgoroth) teamed up and formed Jotunspor ("tracks/traces of giants").

Musically, "Gleipnirs Smeder" binds grim and primitive black metal together with elements of noisy dark-ambient, while the concept of Jotunspor is strongly founded in the old Norse cults and beliefs. "Glepnirs Smeder", or The Forgers of Gleipnir, explores some of the incidents surrounding the creation of the world and Ragnarok - the ultimate doom / transformation. The chain Gleipnir, its forgers from the depths of Svartalvheim and Fenris - the chained jotun-wolf are some of the most important themes on the album, on which the lyrics are sung in Norwegian and Old Norse tongue.

Produced and engineered in Norway by Kvitrafn, the album was originally released in 2006 by our sub-division Satanas Rex. Digipak.

Track listing:

1. Gleipnirs Smeder
2. Svartalvheims Djup
3. Solartjuven
4. Freke Han Renn…
5. Sol Mun Svartne
6. Ginnungagalder
7. Ildkrig

Reviews:

"...an unsettling blend of mid-tempo necro and Arctic ambient passages... a great vicious wall of light-sucking noise, heavy on the doom-metal influences with no unnecessary production frills... for true denizens of the murky black metal underworld, it's an album that should definitely be checked out." (Metal Hammer)

"This slow foreboding black metal in the old Norse style, with its meditative and runic feel conveys the atmospheres of dank, pine scented grimmnity well. Though the ambient intermezzos between tracks could probably have been done effortlessly and more icily by any of Cold Spring's main usual suspects, they are nonetheless eerie, and the clanking, atavistic black metal component is equally haunting." (Terrorizer)

"Jotunspor have united primitive black metal sounds and modern technology into a violent sonic reminder of all the fears engraved in the deepest nature of Man, by all the ages he survived surrounded by dangers and uncertainty of primitive life... Simple riffs in a classic Norwegian necro style and bestial vocals have never sounded this haunting" (10/10, Maelstrom)

"...the whole unblessed thing sounds as if it was recorded in one of the caves surrounding Norway's coast, looking out onto the deadly, violent ocean. Quite simply, there hasn't been anything this convincingly old-school since the old-school was new" (Rebel Extravaganza)

"There is passion and hate felt throughout with an exuberance that is akin to nature’s wrath in stormy fjord... This is tumultuous stuff and it shakes the bedrock right under you but like an earthquake, you know it will just pass and you’ll be done with it... A sound so fierce that that it MUST be explicit!" (Metal Archives)

"Jotunspor created an obscure sonic universe inspired by old Norse cults and beliefs. It has been transposed into a sonic mayhem, evoking a giant drill driven by hardcore cadence. The album creates a sonic wall, which is just interrupted by the soundscape-like “Svartalvheims Djup” and “Solartjuven”, which sounds a little bit death-industrial like as well." (Side-Line)

"Elaborate and intricate mid- and up-tempo black metal, without being technical. Atmosphere rather than sheer aggression. A vocalist expressing variation and melody rather than rasping out something unrecognizable... the music is the quintessence of how black metal should sound like" (Antenna)

"The production manages to layer these elements and preserve their primal power without sounding over-polished... individually these tracks are of the highest quality" (Metal Injection)

"Black metal devastation is the name of the game on Jotunspor’s GLEIPNIRS SMEDER... the former Gorgoroth-ians still have some black metal fire burning in their loins" (Metal Rules)

"Jotunspor is a Black Metal act hailing from the soul of this art: Norway. This only proves that the heart of that country is still capable of pumping out something new and of quality" (Metal Crypt)

""Gleipnirs Smeder" brennt sich ohne Umwege tief in die Seele ein... King und Kvitrafn ein Album gelungen, das durchgehend hochklassig und in seinen besten Momenten richtig ergreifend ist" (8/10, Myrrthronth)

"Wer in den Genuss kommen wird JOTUNSPOR erstmals hören zu können, wird es dabei nicht belassen wollen, denn das Gespür von Kvitrafn und King für Melodik, Energie und Atmosphäre macht süchtig" (8/10, Metal1)