Do you really want to know what I love about doing this job?  No? Tough, I’m gonna tell you anyway.  It’s getting to hear bands and albums that you wouldn’t normally buy, purely on the basis that you have never heard of them.  Falconer is one such band.   

This is the 5^th album from this Swedish Power Metal band, even though I use the phrase “Power Metal” very lightly, I will explain later.  The line up of the band is Mathias Blad on vocals, Karsten Larsson on drums, Stefan Weinerhall on rhythm guitar, Jimmy Hedlund on lead guitar and Magnus Linhardt on bass.  A quick bit of background info on the group: Mathias was the vocalist on the first 3 albums “Falconer”, “Chapters from a Vale Forlorn” and “Sceptre of Deception”.  He then left to pursue other projects and was replaced by Kristoffer Gobel for “Grime Vs Grandeur”.  The change of singer didn’t really go down too well with the fans as the musical direction changed slightly, so Kristoffer was out and Mathias came back on board, along with a full re-hauling back to their original sound. 

Now, onto the music.  As I said above, Falconer are classed as a Power Metal band but they have a more melodic and “folky” sound to them.  Sure, there are still a fair amount of speedy Power Metal influences in this album, with the trademark double drumming from Karsten fast enough to seemingly blur into one continual noise, but that is mixed in with some really emotional, folky, melodic and almost Gaelic/medieval influences in some of the songs.  (The opening lines of “Tower of the Queen” almost place you back in the court of Henry VIII with the clavichord providing the melody)!  A strange mix that works extremely well and makes for an album that is highly listenable.  If I was to do any form of comparison I would be inclined to say it has the grandeur and soaring melodies of “Ten” mixed with the vocal power and speed of “Royal Hunt”. 

“Northwind” is a mix of fast and slow songs which range in their degree of heaviness.  There are soft ballads like “Long Gone By”, some really emotional folky tracks such as “Legend and the Lore” and heavier songs like “Spirit of the Hawk” and “Perjury and Sanctity”.  The guitars of Stefan and Jimmy really compliment each other and cooperate extremely well together to produce some impressive sounds and hugely catch riffs.  The drumming from Karsten is solid and full on, never missing a beat and giving depth to the music as a whole.  All this is tied together by the vocals of Mathias.  Mathias is not your usual Power Metal singer – you want high pitched vocals then don’t listen to this.  Mathias has a fairly deep voice, but I feel this style of music is the perfect canvas for him. 

I don’t really want to put any tracks down as my favourites, they are all good in their own rite, but I did listen quite gleefully at their symbolic George W Bush bashing on “Home of the Knave”, as you will see from the lines here from the words from the opening verse:  

“Once upon a time there was a restless king in charge.

What could he contribute to write some history?

 Gold he had plenty of but plenty could be more

 so onwards he marched on reasons quite obscure.” 

“Northwind” is an album that has a huge amount of appeal for me, they have brought together a lot of different influences and fused them into a cohesive force.  The whole album makes you want to sit back, close your eyes, and travel to places you would never ordinarily dream of going, and is an album that I wont stop listening to. 

A very worthy 9/10, and an emphatic recommendation to buy, buy, buy.

Let us know your views on 'Northwind'

Track List

Northwind
Waltz With The Dead
Spirit Of The Hawk
Legend And The Lore
Catch The Shadows
Tower Of The Queen
Long Gone By
Purjury And Sanity
Fairyland Fanfare
Himmel Sa Trind
Blinded
Delusion
 

Line Up

Karsten Larsson - Drums
Stefan Weinerhall - Guitars
Mathias Blad - Vocals
Jimmy Hedlund - Guitars
Magnus Linhardt - Bass