World Music Album Reviews

Garmarna : Vengeance

Garmarna are an excellent Swedish band that mix ancient and modern sounds together into a mixture that gets your blood pumping and heart racing.

There's something about their music which is extremely earthy and timeless while being quite unlike anything you've ever heard before.

From the droning fiddle parts which also provide amazing deliberately dischordant tension-producing chords to the relentless Hurdy Gurdy parts to the soaring vocal lines, Garmarna's Vengeance conjures up Vikings and magical times of old.

This music is not for the feint-hearted, and it's not for relaxing to - though I love putting this album on while working and letting it transport me away. It's not dance music either - it's sound is epic and story-telling.

And whether you speak Swedish or not doesn't matter, the feeling comes across in the music and the lyrics.

I would recommend checking out the free samples on Amazon, especially Vulture and Nine Years.

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