#coronatus — Public Fediverse posts

If these Danes had their way, the entrance to Valhalla would greet the deceased with the sounds of bagpipes, tin whistles, violins, and, of course, your standard heavy metal instruments. Vansind has been marrying Viking metal with folk instruments since 2019. While it took them four years to release their debut, Mørket, they released singles and an EP in trickles while showing off their stuff live. Now, 2026 sees them return with a vengeance on Hævnen. I mean that semantically rather than literally—hævnen is the Danish word for revenge, and Vansind seeks to explore “themes of revenge, betrayal, freedom, and sacrifice.”1 So put on your best Viking garb and pour yourself a heaping cup of mead as we check out what these Danes have to offer.

Take the melodic death metal of Amon Amarth and mix it with the energetic folk of Finntroll, and you’ve got a good base for Vansind. Despite the darker subject matter at hand, Hævnen is a much more upbeat sort of Viking metal than the likes of Bathory or Thyrfing—in fact, it’s much closer in style to symphonic power metal. Songs follow formulaic structures with catchy choruses and tons of hooks. Vansind has a little Coronatus in them, and their blend of beauty and beast style vocalists bears comparisons to Epica. J. Asgaard takes on the role of the beast, with death growls reminiscent of Amon Amarth’s Johann Hegg, and he allows enough melody to permeate his performance to create a compelling presence. Line Burglin, as Asgaard’s foil, has an uplifting, folky lilt and practically steals the show. Just listening to her part on the showstopping opener “Det Største Offer,” as she accompanies an inspired tin whistle, is pure bliss. Then on “Alvild,” while Asgaard’s growls portend darkness, Burglin’s catchy chorus transports you to a happier place. When Hævnen ends on the lower energy “Skæbnens Tunge Vej,” it’s thanks to her that the track doesn’t feel out of place.

Due to their adherence to unique folk instruments, Vansind has a distinct sound. And boy do they have hooks: guitar hooks, bagpipe hooks, tin whistle hooks, vocal hooks, right hooks, left—whoops! Wrong sport. The promo credits Rikke Klint Johansen with the bulk of the folk stuff, namely bagpipes, tin whistles, and keyboards. She does a commendable job of making those instruments some of the most memorable parts on Hævnen. The whistle in particular, plays a surprisingly prominent role. Along with the opening song, Johansen performs some catchy whistle parts on “Blodhævn” and “Det Sidste Nådeskys.” She’s also excellent on the bagpipes, with some great moments on “Alvild,” “I Yggdrasils Skygge,” and the finale.2 And, of course, the heavy metal parts are no slouch either. Danni Jelsgaard’s work on the kit provides a huge boost of energy that never wavers until the final tune. Kirk Backarach and Nikolaj Madsen both play some enjoyable melodic leads (“Det Største Offer,” “Blodhævn,” “Truslen Fra Dybet”) and a nice solo on “Alvild.” Instrumentally, there’s no weak link.

Though tons of fun, Hævnen lacks the edge and daring to really push it into great territory. One issue is Asgaard’s vocals. While overall an enjoyable performance, they feel too polished, monotonous, and lacking in power. Some extra volume and depth from his growls would have helped the tracks carry more weight, but either Asgaard or the mixing falls short. While the formulaic nature of the music serves to highlight the hooks, it also means Vansind plays things a little too safe. Some might also take issue with the song lengths, which mostly run at 5+ minutes. “Det Største Offer,” for example, is the longest at nine minutes, but I personally never felt bothered by this. When the hooks are as great as they are here, it’s tough to complain about repetitive formulas or songs running a little longer than usual.

Vansind have put out an incredibly fun piece of folk metal. “Det Største Offer” currently sits atop my song o’ the year list, and it’s going to be a tough one to top. While the rest of Hævnen doesn’t quite reach the lofty heights of that opener, there are plenty of other bangers throughout. This fun sophomore outing instills lots of hope for what Vansind can offer in the future. While the halls of Valhalla promise plenty of ecstasies for warriors slain in battle, Hævnen serves as an adequate substitute for the rest of us, especially alongside a generous helping of mead.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Mighty Music
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

Like a sailor’s call to the sea, I am routinely compelled to the sub-genre of symphonic metal in all of its be-corset-ed miscellany. Why? Maybe I need a break from dudes singing ugly for ladies singing pretty. Maybe falling for Seven Spires justified my continued curiosity in the style.1 Maybe I’ve never been as happy as I was discovering Imaginaerum in high school. Regardless, the call brought me now to the German symphonic group Coronatus and their new record, Dreadful Waters. Led by songwriter/drummer Mats Kurth, Coronatus features three singers in mezzo sopranos Leni Eitrich and Sabine Prechtel, and “rock vocals” by Nemesis, who also contributes to songwriting along with guitarist Harry Zeidler. Rounded out with bassist Simon Gutbrod and violinist Tine Jülich, Coronatus wrote Dreadful Waters with a focus on “merging mysticism, danger and the elemental force of water.” All good words, but does Dreadful Waters bring the strings to live up to them and, more importantly, can Coronatus meet my fix for symphonic metal?

Whatever Coronatus is doing, Dreadful Waters sounds nice doing it. Oscillating between varying degrees of symphonic (“The Siren” and “Die Hexe und der Teufel”) and nautically inclined folk metals (“Southern Cross” and “A Seaman’s Yarn”), Dreadful Waters’ production and mix bring out the best in Coronatus’ instrumentation and give everything a rich openness. Guitars sound chunky and bold while taking on an auxiliary role to the violin and vocals, which are always warm and upfront. Coronatus’ mezzo sopranos bring your typical Tarja-era Nightwish operatics to “The Maelstrom” and “To the Reef!” while Nemesis’ “rock voice” means she brings a Jørn-like grizzled theatricality to her performances on “Dark Ice” and “The Ship’s Cook.” But what really stands out to me is Kurth’s drumming, which is more nuanced than the average symphonic drumming performance. The kick patterns on “Through the Brightest Blue”‘s chorus sound more like a Lamb of God drum track than Nightwish, and “To the Reef!” boasts a palpable jauntiness thanks to the percussion groove. Dreadful Waters is composed of many different pieces, so it’s nice that Coronatus got them all to sound good together.

But symphonic metal lives and dies on its vocalists, and while Coronatus’ singers are skilled musicians, their performances can feel awkward. Each vocalist often brings an almost comical level of warble to their voices, swinging tracks like “Southern Cross” and “A Seaman’s Yarn” towards the ridiculous. Nemesis in particular can overdo it, as her heavy, gravelly vibrato can at times chew the scenery. The mezzo soprano and “rock voice” stylings also sometimes stand at odds with each other, as on songs like “The Siren” and “Dark Ice,” they blend poorly and give off the impression that they weren’t in the studio at the same time. When Coroantus coalesce, like on the album highlight “The Ship’s Cook,” the result is a riveting blend of sophistication and grit that I could listen to all day, but moments like this are unfortunately rare on Dreadful Waters.

The slight vocal issues I see on Dreadful Waters may be a symptom of a larger issue on the album: the lukewarm songcraft. Coronatus’ songs mostly stick to either a slowburn or mid-paced stomp, featuring pretty folk melodies and pleasant orchestrations but little in the way of gripping hooks or powerful performances. Further, vocal melodies are usually played overly straight, throwing few unexpected turns or interesting intervals in favor of a fairly standard symphonic metal play sheet. This makes the more metal-friendly tracks like “The Maelstrom” and “The Siren” come off a bit tepid and, at Dreadful Waters’ worst, its ballads in “Southern Cross” and “Die Hexe und der Teufel” real slogs to get through. Only “The Ship’s Cook” excited me, and that’s because its power metal-adjacent vocal heroics and bouncy chorus melody embody what is woefully missing on much of Dreadful Waters: character.

Dreadful Waters neither sinks nor swims. Far from awful, this record’s shortcomings stem from not doing enough to stand out from the symphonic crowd or playing exceptionally well into its tropes. Less fairweather fans of symphonic metal than I may get more out of Coronatus’ style, but detractors of the style won’t be swayed from their haterdom by it either. Coronatus snagged a real winner with “The Ship’s Cook,” though, so I don’t foresee terrible sailing for the band in their future. But for meeting the need for big strings over my metal, Dreadful Waters doesn’t do it for me.



Rating: Disappointing
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps MP3
Label: Massacre Records
Websites: facebook.com/coronatusofficial | coronatus.de
Releases Worldwide: January 23rd, 2026