After the artistic and commercial success of its first two productions, the Skald collective, led by multi-instrumentalist producer Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet, is back with a third album that takes us on a journey of discovery of the Huldufolk (hidden people) through their mythical characters and legends.
For this new delivery, Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet has completely renewed his team, surrounding himself with no less than eight different singers. On the male side, the evocation of the Great North is always done through low and powerful voices, where the melody is more chanted or even shouted than sung, carried by powerful choirs. In counterpoint, the female voices bring a delicate touch in contrast which comes to sublimate the whole, thus describing a sound space with multiple colors. The percussions hold a dominating place once again, giving rhythm to most of the compositions in a tribal way while bringing beautiful subtleties, avoiding a simply binary accompaniment.
The characteristic sounds dear to Skald are of course present by the massive use of the traditional instruments of the region, talharpa, nyckelharpa and moraharpa delivering these ambiances of plucked and rubbed strings so particular and so bewitching that a group like Octantrion knew how to emphasize so well. And, to vary a little the ambiences, the group also introduces more unexpected sonorities, with the implementation of a didgeridoo with the powerful bass ('Elverhøy'), and even a bagpipe mixing with the delicate notes resulting from a hurdy gurdy (kind of hurdy fiddle).
It is difficult to single out one track rather than another, the whole being tasted as a very homogeneous whole, a phantasmagorical universe strongly evocative of the atmosphere sticking to the concept of the album. And even if sometimes a certain monotony can be noticed in the tonalities, the ten tracks follow each other with happiness.
And to complete the picture, Skald offers us in conclusion two covers, always in the style which is dear to him. If 'Du Hast' of Rammstein doesn't surprise much considering the heaviness of the original version here perfectly preserved by the grace of some wild screams in spite of the minimal instrumentation, the one of 'A Forest' of Cure appears as much more shifted and not very recognizable once passed the first well-known arpeggio.
In the vein of its predecessors, and even if it will hardly surprise the already conquered Skald fans, "Huldufolk" proves to be coherent from beginning to end and presents itself unquestionably as the album of maturity. It remains to be seen what the collective will reserve for us for the continuation of its adventures in order not to fall too quickly in the repetition.