The Flight of Sleipnir - V.
Napalm Records
Stoner/Folk/Doom Metal
7 songs (59'10'')
Release year: 2014
Napalm Records
Reviewed by Jared

In the past, a lot of doom metal bands have come to impress me quite a bit since joining as a reviewer. Pallbearer’s Sorrow and Extinction comes to mind which I wrote about my first year here, and it totally snuck up on me by surprise. The Flight of Sleipnir and their latest album V. has come along with that same sort of surprise for me. For doom metal, the album tends to be more stoner sounding to describe them more efficiently, but with a bit of folky influences emergent at times.

The album V. was a completely relaxing experience I found overall. The opening track Headwinds really sets a great tone for the album. Clean guitar acoustics cast a sense of mystery and begins on a dimmer note. The folky vibe emerges a little after. I’ve heard this band be referred to as sounding like Agalloch after doing some inquiring, but I have to disagree; this album is catered to a much more stoner sound.

Sidereal Course was probably one of the most memorable tracks on the album. The psychedelic opening of the guitars really sets the song in a very relaxing state. The grainy doom sound of the guitars is also fused well into a lot of these tracks. Their slow nature, really takes the album to great heavy rocking atmospheres that can really can reach to epic heights.

Vocally, they come off as extremely black metal sounding when shrieked. However, clean vocals are found throughout the album which serves as a nice balance. One track in particular, Archaic Rites includes some female vocals that properly fit in conjunction with the gloomy feel this song has. From implementation of the flute solo found within this track, solidly written guitar licks, and just an overall powerful atmosphere, this song reaches forth and brings out a lot of emotions.

More of the relaxing tracks found its way into my favorites. Nothing Stands Obscured comes to mind, which has a great and heavy sense to bring. But the moments found in between, such as the simple yet intricate clean acoustics of the guitars just provide such a great sense of peace and serenity over the grimmer doom sounds.

This will probably be one of the last great albums I get a chance to listen to before the start of 2015. The Flight of Sleipnir and their outstanding album V. delivers an extremely potent stoner and epic doom metal journey from start to finish.

Killing Songs :
Headwinds, Sidereal Course, Nothing Stands Obscured, Gullveig, Archaic Rites
Jared quoted 85 / 100
Other albums by The Flight of Sleipnir that we have reviewed:
The Flight of Sleipnir - Saga reviewed by Koeppe and quoted 83 / 100
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:35 pm
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