From Sweden, comes unique Black and Folk Metal band OFDRYKKJA. Formed in 2012, they have previously released three full-length albums, and "After the Storm" is their fourth, and contains seven songs. "The Light" is the first, marked by soft, acoustical guitars with charming layers. Clean vocals are as light as a breeze, both male and female. The sound they create is sublime. "Hårgalåten" opens with light, airy folky elements and a sort of organic, Celtic sound even. Strings play with guitars, locked together like a mother and child.

"The Mære" is another beautiful offering. The male vocals are but whispers in the wind, and blow away with the breeze as gently as they come. The music is both dignified and graceful. The title track is a shorter number with a steady drum beat in the background, singular acoustic guitar notes, and a combination of male and female vocals. The song drips with sad and melancholy tones. "The Cleansing" is a song that is true to the title. Because while you are listening to it, the filth and everyday dirt from your life is slowly washed away with clean, fresh water. You are bathed and dressed in laundered clothes and are ready to face your life again with renewed effort.

"Själavandring" is a short, two-minutes of dual acoustic guitars. "Beyond the Belt of Orion" closes the album; an eight-minute opus. Calm acoustic guitar notes pass by gently and death lingers, like the slow passing of fall to winter. The lyrics are beautifully sad. The closing line reads "A cycle is reaching its end. All shall pass. Happiness and suffering - time is relentless towards all. Yet, we are eternal, beyond the world that we know. One day we will both return to the earth what we have from her taken - when our bones finally rest below the forest soil, and our souls again wander in the midnight sky. My dear friend, I hope my words can become a shoulder for you to cry on. And when it's time, we will meet again - beyond the belt of Orion."

This was a unique and very beautiful album to listen to. The songs have a very old feeling to them...like things that existed before the stars and heavens. Take the ancient colored crystals deep into the forest to the place where rock and dirt collide. Say the Celtic words, and travel back in time with "After the Storm" by OFDRYKKJA.