SVARTSOT is a naw band from Denmark. Not much things are known about the band, since Ravnenes Saga is their debut album. I am sure that, if you see the band's name and see the cover's layout, you would be a fool not to bet that these guys play folk metal.

Henrik B. Christensen and Marcelo Freitas (bass and drums respectively), gave birth to SVARTSOT in early 2005, with the addition of Claus B. Gnudtzmann on vocals and the two guitarists, Cris J. S. Frederiksen and Michael L. Andersen. After a few months, Stewart Lewis joined the band to give a more folk-ish sound. After some lineup changes (Marcelo Freitas left the band and Niels Thogersen took the seat behind the drum kit), SVARTSOT recorded their first demo Svundne Tider, in November 2005. After one year, SVARTSOT released a 3-track EP, Tvende Ravne. In February 2007, bassist Henrik S. Christensen and SVARTSOT took separate ways and March Martin Kielland-Brandt joined the band. With that lineup, SVARTSOT release their first full length album Ravnenes Saga.

In Denmark, SVARTSOT is supposed to be the next rising star in the folk metal scene. This is a title  I don't embrace for the band. But, I don't want my words to be misunderstood. Here you can listen to a band that plays melodic death metal with a touch of folk. The vocals are a mixture of black, grind and death - not folk at all, I'll say. Their music is somewhere between the sound of folk metallers KORPIKLAANI and AMON AMARTH. The bodhran and whistles are making the deference. Some of the songs are nice, despite that a number of them are re-recordings of compositions that exists at SVARTSOT's demo and EP..

Songs about beer, women, and tradition like Nidvisen, Jotunheimsfaerden and Skonne Moer, makes you want to go and grab a pack of beers for yourself. Ravnenes Saga is nice for a debut album, but I think that we have to wait and see if SVARTSOT are really the next rising star in the folk metal scene, as they want to say.