Fimbulvinter
Apollon, 2021
8/10
An outfit that stems from a nearly 50 year musical collaboration between Odd-Roar Bakken and Nils Larsen, Kornmo was born out of the ashes of their previous band, Morild, and embraces heavy nods to the ‘70s prog-rock and symphonic rock scene and even touches on folk, too.
The title track starts the listen with warm, smooth guitar playing that welcomes agile keys and balanced drumming across the 8 minutes of melodic prog-rock, and “Jutulhogget” follows with glowing synth and a more firm presence of drumming that benefits much from prominent bass lines.
“Dovre Faller” lands in the middle and showcases intricate acoustic guitar and soaring electric guitar as the 19 minutes unfolds with changing tempos and precise textures, while “Kjempene Vakner”, which is even longer, meshes keys, guitars and drumming with some psychedelic nods that get hazy and dreamy.
The final track, “Mega Annum”, then brings strings to a very well thought out exit that gets a bit spacey in all the best ways.
Armed with an arsenal of instruments and a home studio, this concept album is a bit darker than their previous work, but certainly no less interesting or creative as the pair cultivate very technical and memorable song craft.
Travels well with: Dang!!!- Sociopathfinder; Mythopoeic Mind- Hatchling