Flight of Sleipnir, The - Nature's Cadence (2024)^{Release ID: 55255}

From Colorado, The Flight of Sleipnir's brand of doom metal is listed on RateYourMusic as "Pagan Black Metal." Does it have melodic leads in the guitar constructed by tremolo picking patterns? Yep. Does it contain the patented harsh, shrieking vocals? Absolutely, although not as frequent as previous records. But that alone does not make Nature's Cadence a black metal album. Just because it borrows from a band like Panopticon when incorporating dark folk/country techniques, does not make it black metal by comparison. 

The music itself though is brilliant. I am a big fan of the country interludes on "Madness" and how they help that song change themes before building the song back up in intensity. Of course those themes are closely related so it never feels like the band has just shoehorned two separate ideas together. In addition, the album flows very well between each track; never leaving the impression that these songs weren't meant to be played collectively. Even "The Woodsman," which can barely be classified as metal, is a great track because of how well it is prepared by its predecessors.

That being said, even though the albums structure is superb, I can't really stay engaged with it because just as it starts getting good, the album ends. I think a lot of this has to do with the ten-plus minute "North" to open the album. It almost gives me the impression that the band were planning on giving "North" all of their love, while the remaining four songs were just to fill out the runtime, when that really did not need to be the case. Songs on this album are warm and lively; they don't need to be bogged down by almost twelve minutes of droning.

Nature's Cadence is a solid piece of doom metal that should be right up my alley with its folk-y roots and pristine production. But the album seems to contain too many small things and not enough time to rectify them. Maybe I'm just too pessimistic and this album will grow on me with more listens.

Best Songs: Madness, The Woodsman, Wanderer

Nature's Cadence sees Coloradan blackened doomsters, The Flight of Sleipnir, continuing down the path they have been treading for some time now. This means another dose of well-written doom metal that is given a frosty edge by the black metal-style vocals of drummer David Csicsely and the occasional deployment of tremelo riffing. This has been tagged on RYM as Pagan Black Metal, but I don't really think their material deserves a black metal primary tagging, though, because there is a complete absence of blastbeats and the tremelo riffing is used only very sparingly, leaving Csicsely's grim shrieking vocals as the only major black metal influence and vocals alone do not a black metal band make.

Anyway, the album consists of five tracks and a relatively slight runtime by modern standards of 38 minutes, but each of those minutes is well-utilised and I never felt short-changed because there is a complete absence of filler here. It kicks off with the longest track, the almost twelve-minute "North" which is a neatly-written epic that takes a number of twists and turns with chunky doom riffing, gentle folky acoustic passages, ascerbic black metal interjections and soaring guitar soloing as it weaves it's tale of seafaring Viking warriors returning home from their raiding. "North" is a great example of how the band have honed their songwriting craft over the years, it's various diverse elements flowing organically one to another with an economy of expression that they struggled to master earlier in their career as, going back and comparing them, some of their early tracks were a little bloated compared to a track like this.

Next up is "Madness" which has a really catchy refrain and is destined to become one of those tracks I am forever finding myself singing out loud, long after I have put the record back in it's sleeve. "Madness" also heralds the introduction of steel guitar into the mix, with a couple of short country-style interludes that are reminiscent of the bluegrass and american folk that Austin Lunn of Panopticon has made a signature sound. Any black metal influence is entirely absent from this track and the two seemingly disparate styles of the quite catchy main refrain and the restrained country sound work surprisingly well together.

Side two begins with "Vingthor" (an alternative name for the god of thunder himself) whose energetic main riff incorporates a psychedelic tilt to it's downtuned doominess, seemingly at odds to the black metal shrieks of the vocals, although it works just fine and a merging of psychedelia and black metal never hurt Oranssi Pazuzu did it? "The Woodsman" is an acoustic folk track which sees Clayton Cushman's steel guitar from "Madness" make a return and it's a nice track in it's own right, even more so as it leads into the intro to closer, "Wanderer" which is interestingly reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's soundtrack work on Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, at least until the track erupts into a thundering and looming slab of blackened doom metal glory.

Now, Nature's Cadence is not really going to appeal to those who need to be constantly challenged by their metal listening fare, because this is a furrow The Flight of Sleipnir have been ploughing for some time, but no one else sounds quite like them and the introduction of elements of americana signals a slight evolution of sound for the band. Their version of doom metal is actually quite vibrant, with a rich, thick sound counterpointed exceedingly well by those black metal shrieks. For me, FoS are one of the better modern practitioners of doom metal and manage to have a signature sound and an ability to write memorable riffs and interesting lyrics in a genre that is overflowing with uninspiring copycats. This alone is reason to give them respect, but the high quality of all their work ensures that I will always be happy to lend them an ear and, in fact, I blind-ordered Nature's Cadence on vinyl because I was supremely confident that the band would deliver once more - and, luckily, I wasn't disappointed.