Jordsjø – Jordsjø (2015, Cassette, Norway)

Tracklist:
1. UK Original (6:32)
2. Hulderheimen (5:28)
3. Ogion (8:46)
4. The Goddess (of Light) (4:20)
5. Bilder fra en Skog (6:44)
6. Hekseskogen (4:11)
7. Postludium (1:11)

Musicians:
Håkon Oftung / vocals, flute, guitars, keyboards
Kristian Frøland / drums
Håkon Knutzen / guitar

Founded in Oslo, Norway in 2014

JORDSJØ is one of those bands that help me to keep my faith in Symphonic survival intact, because when I believe that there's nothing able to resurrect my capacity of surprise, this relatively new bands from countries like Norway take me by assault with original material that combines several genres creating a new breed of Symphonic.

The band was formed around 2014 by Håkon Oftung (Vocals, flute, guitars & keys) and Kristian Frøland (Drums & Percussion) and their debut "Jordsjø" saw the light on September 6, 2016, and even though blended Symphonic with some sort of Prog Folk, immediately caught my attention.

In their next album "Jordsjø II", they retake the original path, but with less folk passages but a more aggressive edge that captured me as a fan.

Their third release (Well, a joint album with the Norwegian Synth Project BREIDABLIK) "Songs From The Northern Wasteland" didn't impressed me as much, being that it was oriented towards Electronic Prog, a genre that I don.t listen very often, but it was obvious that the magic touch was there and we only had to wait and see how they would evolve.

But the moment of truth came in January 2017 when they release the fantastic "Jord", a clearly Scandinavian album, with reminiscences of ÄNGLAGÅRD, one of my top then desert island bands, but in this case apart of the pristine symphonic, they blend different sounds and styles that make the genre richer.

As usual, only time will tell and the band will decide what path to take, but I?m sure they will keep providing us interesting music that will save Symphonic Prog from oblivion.