The Focusing Blur

Vintersorg is a very sophisticated musician that takes both his music and lyrical content one step further with each release. Earlier albums like "Till Fjälls" and "Ödemarkens Son" showed Vintersorg's passion for folk music by blending clean and harsh vocals with acoustic guitars and heavy riffs, thus bringing about new dimensions to the black metal genre. With "Cosmic Genesis", Vintersorg adopted a progressive, gloomy atmosphere and used diverse vocal styles and arrangements while still retaining the old essence of the previous two albums. Lyrically, the album philosophically explored thoughts, questions and observations regarding the essential forces of the infinite cosmos. "Visions from the Spiral Generator" was even more progressive and intricate in nature, continuing to touch upon the concepts of science and faith, the search for the formulas that create us and the universe and the never-ending journey through mathematics and philosophy. Now we are treated with what maybe Vintersorg's most ambitious album to date. "The Focusing Blur" picks up where "Visions from the Spiral Generator" left off. It is a concept album from start to finish. The lyrical theme is based on Vintersorg's never ending quest to find the essence of Man and the complex connection between science and fate. According to Vintersorg, "When we’ve found the utter limits of Man’s knowledge, we’re at a new crossroad with new things to follow, so mankind’s focus isn’t constant. It seems more like we’re victims of a blur, where the blur is the arena of things we haven’t thus far mastered. As such, it may be referred to as “The Focusing Blur”." Helping out Vintersorg once again are Asgeir Mickelson (Spiral Architect, Borknagar) on drums, Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Sadus Testament, Control Denied) on bass and Mattias Marklund on guitars. The music on "The Focusing Blur" has continued to evolve and it has become even more diverse; using all of the previous Vintersorg elements found on prior releases but placing them into new environments that include more acoustic guitars, more vocal harmonies both clean and harsh, sung in English, more extravagant guitar leads and fresh keyboard frameworks. This album is more melodic and the folk influence is as present as ever. The music flows from mellow progressive to extreme metal and from ambient to "folky". Aside from some short spoken dialogue passages within a few of the songs, as well as the minor usage of electronic drum sample sounds, "The Focusing Blur" could be Vintersorg's best work to date! The recording and production is excellent. The performance of the musicianship is at a level where its peak will be difficult to surpass. "The Focusing Blur" will require at least four or five spins and some patience on the listener's part before sinking in due to the complexity of the music and the deep meaning found within the lyrical content. Given time, this album will slowly start to grow on you. I'm liking it more and more with each listen. In the end, I can assure you that all will become clear with "The Focusing Blur". If you like Vintersorg's "Visions from the Spiral Generator" or even Borknagar's "Empiricism", you will love this release! Vintersorg is truly the Star Trek Enterprise of progressive folk/black metal; to go boldly go where no band has gone before!