Categorically speaking, in the art of promotion 101 they say if you create your own niche this could be a stand out aspect to generate attention. Dwarven metal act Wind Rose has quickly elevated their TikTok/ “Diggy Diggy Hole” acclaim into headline tours and festival appearances – including a recent run across North America earlier in the spring of 2024. Trollslayer as the sixth studio record sits in that comfort zone where musicians traverse the uplifting nature of folk and power metal – adding in key guttural or cinematic accents to diversify the approach yet not losing people already well indoctrinated to the keystone choirs or jumpy musical components which put this quintet on the map.
The keyboard to guitar ratio sits at similar plateaus no matter what style of song employed – be it more folk-happy in drinking antics for “The Great Feast Underground” or leaning on that mid-tempo power platform with “Home of the Twilight”. Listeners will be humming the main musical hooks or mead-hall driven gang vocal parts instantly, or dancing in the aisles even as the double bass salvos reign next to some deeper growls on the peppy “Dance of the Axes” – vocalist Francesco Cavalieri deftly working his mid-range charm with savvy swiftness, his baritone capabilities shining in the killer chorus. Video games as well as board games show up in the lyrical themes of “Rock and Stone” (Deep Rock Galactic-inspired) and the Warhammer-theme fueling the title track. The majority of these tracks fly by in economical fashion (five minutes and under), yet the group can stretch their epic, emotional wings for the 7:37 closer “No More Wings” – a touch progressive in the transitions, full of choir splendor in a way that Blind Guardian followers treasure which surprised this scribe for its mostly up-tempo, cultural riffs.
As the band prepare to tour Europe with Powerwolf and Hammerfall on a triple-bill for the ages, Wind Rose aim to keep people smiling through delightful anthems in a fun, folk power metal format for Trollslayer. This is a modern record that won’t make people think deep – it’s entertainment tailor-made to convert new followers on stages small and large, far and wide.