JYGRI

Evidently the tamer album of the band, Jygri is a nice album for one, who enjoys folk as it is and some heavier tunes. I loved the album the first time I heard it. Most of I was impressed of Gunnhild's vocals. The music seems to just back up lots of it.

There are a lot of vocal passages without real words. The first song tells a nice tale as far as I can understan Norwegian. The language is not a problem though, since Gåte is such a melodic band. You needn't consentrate on the lyrics. A great aprt of the melodics come from the violin working together with the drums, which makes a dynamical combo, you really feel like dancing to this.

Note that most of the songs tend to sound a bit similar, especially when playing folk on a lead violin and a heavy guitar in the back. That doesn't mean the music's any worse than what it is. In fact it's great.

Someone I know was teaching a class of 14-year-olds, they were learning Swedish and were supposed to sepak of Norway (that's the way it goes in my country). Some of the kids pointed out, that it's similar to Nightwish, and at that point I'm glad I was not the teacher, I would have laughed them out the class. The musics hardly heavy rock but folk.

The problem with the bands heavy-folk sound is, that it can't be recycled until eternity. It seems that the great vocals are often keeping the music interesting, and after the first 3-4 songs the rest are not as good. This makes the listening experience a bit tame, but if you sit down and enjoy them, they can be really entertaining.

I have yet to find a band that's alike, and I doubt I ever will. The great shame is, that they've done only 2 studio albums so far. This album is great folk, in the word's very sense, but don't expect it to bee too heavy. As I said, itäs not nearly as good as the second album. The record contains quite a few instrumental passages, and though they sound really nice, they don't really add to the listening experience, and you'd rather hear the beautiful female voice again.

Because of the, as some would say, thin experience after the best, first couple of songs, I couldn't give this album more than 3 stars, but after all my admiration, I'm very sure they're worth it. I sensed a great band arising after this and the second album, so here's waiting for some new material.