Folkodia - In a Time of Legends

November 7, 2009

Reviewer: M.J.

In a Time of Legends, the sophomore release by Folkodia (an international project and an offshoot of Folkearth), comes quickly on the heels of the band’s fairly solid and enjoyable debut Odes from the Past. Less than a year after that release, one may have concerns as to whether the material contained here within would be of the same quality. After several spins it becomes quite evident in almost shocking and stark contrast, the album is lacking in every respect.

It only seems natural that Folkodia’s output mirrors the efforts of Folkearth in sound and subject matter and that was eerily the case on Odes to the Past. One thing that has always plagued Folkearth is their inability to maintain a consistency of high quality throughout the course of each album. Folkodia’s debut was thankfully immune to that.  In a rather disappointing turn of events, they are immune no more. The biggest problem here is the absence of good songs. No matter how great the instruments and vocals sound, if the songs aren’t there, nothing can save the record. So with subpar songs in hand, the musicians are left to try and create magic where there is none. On rare occasions this has been achieved when there is chemistry among musicians in a studio. Their level of energy and passion take mediocre content and make it interesting. The musicians here though, are separate and unattached players - not a cohesive band. They are all recording their own parts in various locales, only to send the finished pieces to be assembled in a different part of the world.

So with a poor selection of songs we have to look to the musical contributions and production values to save the day. With that said, there are a few good vocal tracks, a few hot leads and sometimes an interesting mix of instruments, but even so, the good just cannot outweigh the bad. The production is compressed and flat in a cheap black metal sort of way and adds no value whatsoever. Prominence is given to a random instrument here or there with no apparent reason except to fill the space or act as a weak attempt to break up the monotony. In fact, the flute gets far too much air time and is annoying to the point, that you just want pop in the earplugs or push the stop button on your player. The occasional off key singing does not strengthen or support the cause by any means and is simply not forgivable given the caliber of musicians involved. Sure the majority is sung well but when the bad notes hit, they hit hard.

Folkodia initially showed so much promise that it is quite disheartening to see such a slide on In a Time of Legends. If a follow up release is in order, let’s hope that more time is spent in developing good songs like “The Swords of King Harald III” and “Thus a Viking Dies” from Odes to the Past while maintaining a passion for quality musicianship and stellar production.

Release Date: May, 2009
Label: Stygian Crypt Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Oath
2.  The First Battle of Moytirra
3.  Viking Pride
4.  Glory Stainless Victories
5.  Sol Invictus
6.  The Capitulation of
      Vercingetorix
7.  Ride to Tannenberg
8.  The Immortals of Thule
9.  The Second Battle of Moytirra
10. Dreaming in Hyperborea

Total playing time: 51:00

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