Myrkur Folkesange CD (Jewel Case, 2020, Relapse Records)

With Myrkur, Amalie Bruun has consistently forged her own path, challenging underground expectations since the release of her debut EP in 2014. Her first two full-length albums, M (2015) and Mareridt (2017), redefined black metal through an intensely personal lens, fusing raw extremity with Danish folk heritage and deeply internalised emotional struggle. In doing so, Bruun breathed new life into a genre often guarded by rigid tradition.

With her third full-length album, Folkesange, Amalie Bruun journeys inward and backward, into the heart of Scandinavian folk culture that shaped her childhood. Departing from black metal entirely, Folkesange is a refined yet deeply resonant exploration of traditional Nordic folk music, blending ancient songs with newly composed material to powerful, timeless effect.

Where Mareridt was haunted by nightmarish visions, Folkesange offers a sense of emotional grounding and renewal. The album reconnects the listener to nature, ancestry, and continuity, from the opening track’s heartbeat pulse, frame-drum rhythms, and crystalline vocals, to the closing “Vinter”, a piece steeped in nostalgia and snowfall-laden reverie. Each song unfolds with patience and restraint, allowing space for reflection and immersion.

Rooted in storytelling, ritual, and generational memory, Folkesange embraces a purist folk approach. Traditional instruments such as nyckelharpa, lyre, mandola, and frame drums are used throughout, creating a tactile, organic connection to the past and an unbroken line to ancestral sound traditions. Rather than modern reinterpretation or fusion, the album honours folk music in its most elemental and authentic form.

Produced by Christopher Juul (Heilung), Folkesange balances cinematic scope with intimate detail. Spacious production, droning strings, cyclical rhythms, and Bruun’s frictionless, expressive vocals give the album a meditative quality that resonates on a deeply instinctive level. Tracks such as “Leaves of Yggdrasil”, weaving medieval cadence with myth and tragic romance, and “Tor i Helheim”, based on poetry from the Icelandic Eddas, further anchor the album in mythological and folkloric tradition.

More than a collection of songs, Folkesange is an immersive listening experience and a key work within the modern pagan and Nordic folk renaissance. It speaks to a growing desire for connection, grounding, and inherited memory in turbulent times. Intimate yet universal, ancient yet present, Folkesange stands as one of Myrkur’s most profound and enduring statements.

Recommended if you like: Ulver, Alcest, Agolloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Wardruna, Enslaved, Hexvessel, Frayle, Solstafir

Artist: Myrkur
Title: Folkestone
Label: Relapse Records
Cat #: RR74262
UPC: 781676742622
Release Date: 2020
Duration: Album 
Format: CD
Condition: New & Factory Sealed

Tracklist:
1. Ella
2. Fager Som En Ros
3. Leaves Of Yggdrasil
4. Ramund
5. Tor I Helheim
6. Svea
7. Harpens Kraft
8. Gammelk Ring
9. House Carpenter
10. Reiar
11. Gudernes Vilje
12. Vinter