Glittertind - HIMMELFALL CD

With «Himmelfall» (‘Heaven Fall’), Glittertind commemorates that 500 years have passed since Martin Luther started his rebellion against the Church, and that 480 years have passed since Protestantism was forced upon Norway. In this era, world-views clashed together, Norway lost their independence, religious wars reigned in Europe, and many people hoped for a new beginning in the recently discovered America. «Himmelfall» is breaking musical boundaries mixing elements ranging from pop to black metal. The varied songs reflect faith, doubt and loss of meaning, where the sum of the songs create a larger whole, enchanting the listener to reflect on our dramatic history and society today.
15 years ago, Torbjørn Sandvik (then 17 y.o.) started Glittertind as a one-man project. Inspired by grand stories of religion, nation and ideology, he created the albums «Evige Asatro» (2004) and «Til Dovre Faller» (2005) which got a lot of praise by the British hardrock press.
In the years that followed, Sandvik decided to sign with Napalm Records and Geirmund Simonsen joined in contributing with his knowledge on score music. The first result of this collaboration was the filmatic "Landkjenning" (‘Land-sighting’, 2009), which became a great success in Norway with playlisting on the biggest Norwegian radiostation NRK P1, it reached top 20 on the official Norwegian sales-list and got great reviews in both newspapers and metal-press.
In 2013 Glittertind’s first album as a full band, "Djevelsvart" (‘Devil-Black’) was released on the Norwegian label Indie Recordings. This time Glittertind received a lot of attention from the mainstream media and performed on Norway's most popular talk-show Lindmo. "Djevelsvart" topped iTunes several days after the performance, the single "Kvilelaus" (‘Restless’) got playlisted on Norway's biggest radio station and the band received great reviews in newspapers and magazines in Norway and abroad, where Kerrang!, amongst many others, gave 4/5.
In 2015 the band released "Blåne for blåne" (‘Blue Distance’), a peaceful acoustic album which was a tribute to the generation of their grand-parents and a way to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. Several of the songs were playlisted on Norway's biggest radio station P1, the record received a lot of praise in several newspapers, and Sandvik got to pay a moving tribute to his grand-mother on live-TV during the show Sommeråpent. Even metalheads gotsentimental when listening to the album:
«This album is a thing of beauty; the language barrier is forgotten from the first syllable as the voices instantly establish themselves as another instrument conveying heartfelt sentiment and feeling throughout. So there may be some obvious nods towards recent folk/mainstream successes, but the depth and subdued passion within these tunes is remarkable, refreshing and rewarding to the end.»- 5/5. Andy Hodge for MetalTalk.net (UK)