The more melodic side of funeral, whose highest expression is attributable to the inescapable Shape Of Despair, followed closely by the less elaborate but equally great Ea, is gaining momentum, at least in light of the increasingly frequent releases that are inspired by the latter band. Today it’s the turn of the solo project Heimskringla (coming from the States despite the fact that everything, from the moniker to the titles of the tracks, refers to Scandinavia) to offer almost eighty minutes of good music that, if it doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from albums like Ea Taesse or Au Ellai, is still extremely pleasant thanks to the good melodic taste that Niðagrisur puts in its sound in profusion. The album takes a while to take off, because Skandinavia I, at least for a quarter of an hour shows more ambient coordinates until finally the guitar enters to outline its effective harmonic lines. From there on Vikingløypa shows the sounds that lovers of the genre know well and that are proposed with skill and competence, for a final result that satisfies and that, as a level, is not to be placed even too far from the last birth of Ea, A Etilla. To stay in this sphere of influence, if Heimskringla are a step below Abysskvlt, because they don’t reach with the same continuity their emotional peaks, they prove to be much more effective than some proposals excessively devoted to their models as, for example, Luna’s one. Vikingløypa is however a nice record, able to provide enough nourishment for those who yearn for melancholic sounds and less catacombic mood.
2015 – Independent
Mournful Sounds 
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