A profound respect for the forces of nature inspires Denver, Colorado-based atmospheric folk metal quartet THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR on this eighth full-length album, emphasizing the important relationship between humanity and the harsh nemesis that is the elements. With a well-established sound bearing a solid ten plus years of consistency ‘Nature’s Cadence‘ is both expectedly representative of their highly original craft and yet still capable of pushing it in a somewhat new direction. That is to suggest that this album leans into a tone of reverence for the land and the wonderment of exploration beset by the need for survival within periods of daunting challenge and brimming thrive. Though it is one of their most brief recordings by just a few minutes the high-rate nuance of their craft and multi-faceted signature yet entertain to a high degree.

The Flight of Sleipnir formed circa 2007 between drummer, vocalist/guitarist David Csicsely and guitarist, bassist, vocalist & keyboardist Clayton Cushman in development of a project that’d been something decidedly different from their late 90’s founded black metal sound in Acheronian Dirge. While their approach did partake in some aspects of what we were calling Cascadian black metal at the time (re: Agalloch) it was rooted in progressive rock, psychedelic doom (i.e. Yob), and ‘epic’ arrangements with a vikingr theme. From the ‘Wisdom Calls For Sacrifice‘ demo in 2008 ’til today they’d moved away from the outright stoner/doom metal toned side of their work and created their own sort of epic calm as a major point of personae. I’d discovered the band early on through the exceptional curation of the Eyes Like Snow label and have been a fan since; Trying to explain exactly how folk metal and stoner music not only worked with extreme metal voicing was difficult then and now but suffice to say that these folks were basically an original act out of the box and they’ve continued to evolve this sound since then. If you are a fan of groups like Seer and Velnias you’ll find something at least nearby that ‘epic’, oaken type of dark dramatism in this band’s work.

Since I’d been thorough enough in parsing The Flight of Sleipnir‘s discography in my review of their seventh LP (‘Eventide‘, 2021) the thing to note heading into album number eight is that their songcraft continues to focus on deepened nuance, finding an extended moment to dirge within and building fading ‘epic’ melodies from that foundation. It’d be tough to say ‘Eventide‘ was their most sombre release to date, each record has at least one point of stargazing drift, but it’d definitely landed a softer blow than I’d expected going in. As a longtime fan since 2011 or so my expectations for ‘Nature’s Cadence‘ aren’t so insistent anymore, they’ll do their thing and do it well, but with the release of a solid Ulver cover and the announcement of a new guitarist in the interim the suggestion was that there’d likely be some potential for change, maybe some heavier stuff on the way. While there are some more guitar-forward cuts (see: “Vingthor“) down the road I’d say this record is distinct for the tonal pairing of its two halves and a slight return to longer, more immersive compositions up front.

For their last several albums, and their first couple of records otherwise, these folks have opened with a big song be it an eight minute build-up or an nineteen minute opus (see: “Algiz”) and in the case of ‘Nature’s Cadence‘ we start with dramatic stride to catch the ear’s attention as opener “North” breaks through the mist with a mid-70’s rock imbued slowdown, keys which emulate stirring movement in outline of the song’s main melodic motif, and the inevitable but not guaranteed break into harsher vocals toward the mid-point of the song. For the uninitiated you are getting a good chunk of The Flight of Sleipnir‘s cinematic oeuvre past-and-present within this song, a solid enough showing of their greater signature and for my own taste the vocals make the song here. “Madness” on the other hand reaches for the folken, kinda stoney side of things with its clean vocal tones and hairier grooves offsetting the moment with a soaring guitar solo or two. Otherwise this is the first of several songs to integrate pedal steel guitar work from Cushman, easily the most distinctive new addition to their sound which becomes a main feature on instrumental “The Woodsman” later on. Side A is generally what’d convinced me to return to this album most often as I enjoy the longer-form, more dirging side of their work.

A song like closer “Wanderer” realizes folken ‘epic metal’ ambitions the main songwriters’ve been at work on since 2011’s ‘Essence of Nine‘, building inward-knotted rhythms and creating a sense of storming collision ’til vocals break through for an emotive high, punctuation for the dramatic arcs created. Though the sort of “Denver sound” afflicted tonality offered by the additional acoustic and pedal steel guitar work doesn’t cross over into the southern gothic/country feeling of certain Wayfarer releases it does offer something new to the band’s sound on this album, characterizing Side B with some appreciable contrast to the two longform pieces on Side A. Though I like this change to the voicing of the lead guitars overall it does take me out of the band’s usual hazy, mystic Norse frame of mind unto something increasingly lucid. Not a bad thing, and this is the sort of band you’d expect to continue to evolve, as it’d be a bigger deal if they’d strayed from the essence of their own sound.

Having hit their key point of pro-rendered, ambitious signature around ten years ago it is a wonder that The Flight of Sleipnir still have more to do, fresh portals to open within this enduringly hydra-headed sound. The whole of ‘Nature’s Cadence‘ as a package, including Csicsely‘s fine cover artwork, is familiar upon approach while still offering something new for folks who’re well indoctrinated by their body of work and from my point of view that is the best we can hope to get from a band who’ve established themselves in such a consistent way. Overall I’d found this record had more moments that’d resonated with my own point of entry into their own work than on the previous album and that raises the score. Though I am still more likely to pick up ‘V.‘ or ‘Essence of Nine‘ when choosing just one album to grab off the shelf and enjoy at this point I know that is probably not a point of consensus among their fandom. A high recommendation.

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