News : Troldhaugen album update, free tracks

NSW folk metal band Troldaugen have recently posted quite a lengthly explanation about their current situation. In brief; the band are ditching the Lore of the Hallowed Grove full length they had planned, an instead cutting it down to a six track EP featuring some of those tracks reworked, and some other material, which they claim will result in a much more polished result.

The band are also offering a bit of a free gift in the form of a teaser download; containing a few demo edits from that previously mentioned album, as well as “By the Blade of our Sword” for the first time as a digital download, and is available from http://www.sendspace.com/file/ghm2fg

For those who want all of the details, here is the blog in full:

“We’re back once again after yet another considerable length of time. Regard this post as an update from the band to let you know what’s going on with the many facets of the Troldhaugen force. Read on for some exciting news and a special free gift!

Back at the start of the year we mentioned that we were en route to finishing “Lore of the Hallowed Grove”. It was stated that we had ironed out a few things (technical, personal etc.), but this wasn’t necessarily the case. Problems with our recording equipment became an issue and as a result, momentum and drive slowed to a halt. Study commitments interfered and a June/July break was very welcome. During this break, I ventured overseas, and on top of seeing some unbelievable bands at Graspop in Belgium (Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Immortal), I actually went to Troldhaugen in Norway. Norway is a beautiful country and seeing Grieg’s Troldhaugen estate was almost magical. Whilst there, I saw a breathtaking Piano/Cello performance in the Troldsalen concert hall. I will post some photos of my trip below. Travelling overseas was unbelievably amazing and the way in which I interpret things has changed as a result of the incredible people and places I experienced.

Returning to Australia, Meldengar and I got in discussion about what we should do about the album. After much thinking and weighing up how we felt about certain things, we finally came to a solid conclusion that we truly believe will yield much better results. The truth is, the amount of instruments that we recorded/had planned for “Lore of the Hallowed Grove” was a fantastic and gigantic mix of folk and heavy metal timbres, but it seemed we had bitten off way more delicious flesh than our dirty teeth could chew. We both agreed that it was nigh on impossible to get everything sounding tight. The song recordings in general weren’t turning out as good as we would have liked, and after comparing the recordings to how different and good they translated when played live, we decided that we would head in a different direction altogether with our release.

But where did that actually leave us? What was to become of the time and effort put into “Lore of the Hallowed Grove”? Well, LotHG is technically no-more. Do not fear though! We are instead working on what we believe will be a better and more polished release in the very near future! The new release will include some reworked tracks from LotHG as well as some all new previously unheard Troldhaugen material! It will be a 6 track EP featuring what we believe to be an established Troldhaugen sound. Playing live as a full band has really showed us what Troldhaugen can sound like, and we aim to head in that direction with our new EP and our upcoming projects. We will still be using the fantastic artwork made by our friend Skaven, as originally planned. No news yet on what it will be called, but I can assure you that the work we have done thus far is very exciting. The date of release is TBC (…sorry to leave you all hanging again) but we’re aiming our bows at getting everything together for an official release at…..

Our upcoming gig(s)! Our local fans will once again be able to see Troldhaugen perform live in the very near future. We have a gig on the 30th of October at the Newtown RSL in Sydney as part of the Carnage Extreme Fest. We will be joined by many other awesome Australian metal bands such as Daemon Foetal Harvest and Norse, just to name a few. Buy your tickets now at www.moshtix.com and/or search for “Carnage Extreme Fest” on Facebook. More gigs TBA when details become more definite.”

http://www.myspace.com/troldhaugenband