Composer Reacts to Windir - Todeswalzer (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Todeswalzer

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0:00 Intro
1:03 Reaction
6:00 Analysis - Did I Enjoy More Black Metal?
9:15 Analysis - The Importance of the Violin
12:15 Analysis - Lead Instrument Roles
16:24 Analysis - First Major Composition Shift
22:00 Analysis - Cleaner Production
22:45 Analysis - Variation On Old Ideas
25:33 Analysis - Lyrical Dive
34:36 Analysis - Tying the Themes Together
37:33 Outro

[paolosmeazzetto]

Valfar was a great musician, a huge loss for the genre.
I'm glad you listened to him, his music is a gem unknown to many people.

[Tonepusher]

Windir is probably my favorite black metal band ever. I've been listening to this for like 20 years BUT having this said I'd like to add something very important. Most of Windir music and riffs were copied from folk and traditional music from his village/country . Valfar was an accordion player and he literally transferred notes for notes from his folk music books the riffs into metal music. I remember finding some videos (in Norwegian) online where you can watch him take the book and transfer the song into his computer/sequencer. Also, I can't find it anymore but I remember finding the actual original folk song online, and it was basically a Windir song.

Having this said, I still LOVE his music nor deny his talent. But I think it's an important thing to know hehe

[Ruija]

this entire "1184" album is excellent

[katarinastene]

He just felt this thing....when our soul talk without words. He KNEW how it sounds. He catch it exactly. I think this is secret. When you listening to Windir, you have feeling that you listen to your own soul, you remember your childhood time and song what were around you, and many other things.... He did not make music as only entertaiment, it was something much more.

[atheist]

One black metal artist said listening to black metal is like listening to opera, you have to train your ear to hear it properly. Once you do it's beautiful

[JvG]

This is definitely one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums from one of my favorite bands.

[scthrashmetal]

You need to react to the entire album! This is one of my favorite songs of all time. Great reaction, thank you!

[Discostick]

Haha, I love how you're realizing Black Metal is growing on you. For some it is absolutely an acquired taste, for me it was too. I had a friend who was into Black Metal as a kid before I was ready to listen to it, and I remember HATING it at the time, I just wasn't ready. I was just starting to listen to metal myself at the time. I had to make a journey through several subgenres of metal before I could appreciate BM, it was a lot of fun to revisit and absolutely love those exact songs I hated before.

[godemperor]

"I wish I had the words for it" and such; this is when you're spellbound by Black Metal. Do not worry, carry on: your expert analysis is always a treat, no exceptions.

[MetalZoned]

Thank you for checking it out appreciate your insight and analysis! This is my favorite song from Windir. It's interesting that you perceived that it could be divisive amongst BM fans, which is correct. When this album was released 20 some years ago some were not pleased that there was cleaner production, and that they moved away from the more folk influenced preceding album. I have a generally similar outlook as you regarding the lyrics, not my worldview, but I understand that often this serves as the artists outlet/venting.

[katarinastene]

P.S. If you listen to lyrics, it`s very special also. It`s unexpected that the person at 15 - 16 years old was wrighting such texts like in "Det Gamle Riket" for example.

[berserker]

One of my favorite bands! And this is my favorite album of theirs.

[jasonadams]

And purists love Windir. They arr pretty universally loved amongst us.

[xyced]

Todeswalzer with the 's' is how you would normally speak about a deathwaltz. Todewalzer sounds archaic, if not wrong to me.

[FeRReTNS]

I always wonder where this band would have gone if they were still around today. With the electronic they experimented with in their music I'm sure it would have really interesting, perhaps something like modern Enlsaved.

[kit_ty_kate]

If you want a condenced version of all the things typical of Windir (i won’t say too much to avoid spoilers), I would highly recommend the track "1184" from the same Album.

[Solstafir-tl]

WINDIR the best metal band ever!R.I.P.VALFAR, HEIDRA WINDIR

[jonathanhenderson]

I think I said on the last Windir video that they've been a band that's been on my list to check out for a while. I think I like this track more than the last one if only because this one reminds me a lot of Dissection, which is one of my favorite black metal bands. It's really all about those melodic tremolo guitar riffs, and I really that shifts to the chugging section, and then into the almost symphonic metal chorus. Good stuff.

FWIW, when it comes to lyrics my interest in them vacillates depending on the music and how much importance the band/artist seems to place on them. With BM a lot of the lyrics are written as fantasies. Whenever they use the word "I" the "I" isn't meant to refer to the person that wrote the lyrics, but to whatever character's perspective they're writing from. Obviously this isn't always the case as many BM bands do write from their own perspectives, but generally when talk turns to gods and vengeance and stuff I interpret as being akin to the dark fantasy genre. Immortal does this almost exclusively to the point that they invented their own fantasy world with places and characters and events. So you basically have to approach the lyrics as you would fictional writing, and there's plenty of great fiction written from the perspective of awful people (Lolita comes first to mind, but also a dramatic monologue like Robert Browning's My Last Duchess).

[kamal]

Every time Windir came up in any video recommendation, I'll play Svartesmeden og Lundamyrstrollet. Beautiful melody.

[sagebooker]

Interesting vocals, and very singular acceleration