1st Review of Vikings - the latest album by Doug Woods and Colin Powell

Here is a lovely review of Vikings, the latest album from Doug Woods and Colin Powell. Thank you so much, David, for taking the time to listen so deeply and appreciatively! Hear the full album by clicking on the image:

VIKINGS - Doug Woods and Colin Powell

Ginnungagap - The Chaotic Void:

Overture and beginners please... a throbbing, pounding orchestral build up leads to an insistent riff which in turn takes the listener from the plain lands to the highlands of Norse myth and legend.

Yggdrasil - The Worlds Tree:

This is a miniature masterpiece which would fit well into any one of the current crop of Marvel Cinematic Universe presentations featuring Odin, Thor and Asgard. A cool jazz section segue ways into the music of an earlier day and time, all the while retaining a distinctly Twenty First Century flava. In fact the whole piece seem to weave seamlessly between times past and the future. The haunting juxtaposition of woodwind and waves of synthesizer drone may not appear to work on paper but is a treat to the ears - at least it is to mine. Thus Viking seamanship is acknowledged and represented in a subtle and understated manner.

Niflheim - The Primordial World Of Ice:

Doug’s piano and oboe present just the right picture of the frozen northlands thawing and giving way to spring time and tides. The long night of frozen darkness and solstice chill ebbs to the first shoots of green foliage as wild creatures stir from winter slumber to face the new days of growth and plenty.

Muspelheim - The Primordial World Of Fire:

Colin’s long chord which develops into a coruscating rhythm of a flame like quality vies with Doug’s ice cold keyboard to illustrate the perennial battle between heat and cold in Northern climes. At times it is almost possible to hear the flash of the aurora in this track.

Jotunheim - The World Of Giants:

Arctic keyboards and colossal chords bring us to the entrance of Jotunheim where they are joined by Colin’s tightly controlled guitar to convey a sense of uncertainty such as anyone might reasonably experience in the land of these tremendous and mighty beings.

Alfheim - The World Of Elves:

Svartalfheim - The World Of Dwarves:

With a first section which is Gryphon and Greenslade like by turns this track is a genuine smōrgasbord of delights. War drums are joined by Colin’s Scott Gorham oriented lead which is in turn underpinned by a beautiful passage of Gryphon like playfulness leading to a wondrous concoction of prog keyboarding which suggests a side of Dwarfdom seldom viewed if ever suspected.

Vanaheim / Asgard - Realm of The Aesir:

Behold! All lies tranquil and at rest in the blessed golden realm as ever watchful Heimdal scans the world’s realms. Yet, still! What draws nigh? Disturbance? A mini soundtrack these two describe the High World of ‘Yggdrasil’s’ varied branches. But hey, don’t take my word for it just listen. Once more piano and woodwind draw an irresistible picture of place and time now seemingly passed forever.

Bifrost - The Rainbow Bridge:

The bridge between worlds Bifrost is exactly that with its combination of eastern rhythms and Celtic melody.

Midgard - The World Of Humans:

This particular track would fit beautifully into Marvel’s original Thor movie for the scene where Thor begins his banishment to Earth - Midgard. The song is classic Doug and Colin small town America (was that really Colson spotted in the five and dime...?) And yes, that just might be Mulder and Scully near the end? Wrong franchise? Who cares. Nice one guys.

Valhalla - The Hall Of The Fallen/ Escape From Helheim / Ragnarok:

n my opinion these three pieces constitute a whole. From the orchestral excess of ‘Valhalla’ with its delicious descent into sated reverie from bombastic exhuberance via ‘Escape..’ and its twilight zone depiction of the dishonoured dead from whence a plucky anti-hero seeks escape by many pathways until at last in ‘Ragnarok’ we experience not the huge landscape suggested by the title but, instead, a calmer - altogether more upbeat assertion of continuing hope for the future despite present circumstances. In a sense everything returns to ‘Yggdrasil’ and the rest is... Legend.

David Lang

2019