Fejd – Eifur (2010)

The Rimmerfors brothers are back and so is their very elaborate and catchy brand of Swedish Folk music with some hints of Metal influences. Completing the band’s line-up we have three fifths of Pathos / Nostradameus bringing the Metal side of things with solid drumming, a nice bass guitar line, and keyboards.

Being the band’s sophomore release (and second in a two year period), “Eifur” is a very diverse album that will grab the attention of any Folk music fan due to it’s brilliant instrumentation and catchy melodies. Again all the lyrics are in Swedish so most of us will be deprived of actually knowing what the songs are about, but the music alone is enough to hook us into this release.

With the Rimmerfors brothers handling all the ‘folk’ instrumentation, again we are treated to a wide variety of instruments such as: Bouzouki, Swedish Bagpipe, Jew's Harp, Hurdy-Gurdie, Cow Antler, Recorder, Willow-pipe, and Moraharpa (Keyed Fiddle). They also do a great job with the vocal duties, creating very memorable and appealing vocal melodies in this album. But in the instrumental songs like “Alvas Hailing” is where you get the full folk experience.

If you are expecting something like Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, etc, then try to approach this album with a different mentality since “Eifur” is more focused on the Folk aspect of things and does not have too many ‘metal parts’ and no harsh vocals. Fejd is a band that does not need to rely on the ‘traditional’ Folk Metal approach of things to get things accomplished with their music.

We would lie if we said that the whole album never gets repetitive, since there are some instances that will make you want to take a break, but if you don’t mind some repetition, you will be very pleased with “Eifur”. However, the band is dynamic enough to keep things interesting for the most part of the album and don’t fall in the league of bands that play the same song over and over with minor changes.

If you are into Folk music with some Metal influences (not the other way around), then you will love “Eifur”. The music is very well crafted and the instrumentation is very rich. Some highlights include: ”Farsot”, “Yggdrasil”, “Arv” and “Ledung”.

Release: October 29th, 2010

Country: Sweden