Released March 28, 2007 Label Spinefarm | Length 3:44 | |
Genre Folk metal, Black metal | ||
"Nedgång" (Descent) is the fourth track off the Finnish folk metal band Finntroll's fifth full-length album, Ur jordens djup. A music video for the song was released in April, 2007, the month following the release of the album.
The lyrics of the song were written by the band's original vocalist, Jan "Katla" Jämsen—who was forced to retire in 2003 due to a tumor in his vocal cords—and make up the third portion of the album's narrative about the death and rebirth of the troll kingshaman, Rivfader (a character conceived by Jämsen in the early days of Finntroll after whom their first demo, "Rivfader", was named and who has been heavily mentioned in several of their later albums, including Midnattens widunder, Nattfödd, and Jaktens tid).
Lyrics
The lyrics are an account of Rivfader's climb towards the depths of the Earth to receive enlightenment and, as is explained in the seventh track on the album, "En mäktig här", call upon an ancient and forgotten pact between the troll people and the spirit of the mountain.
The gift from the ancient mountain mentioned in the first verse is the gift of life, or birth, and from the reference to the song "Födosagan" (The Story of Birth) from the 2001 album Jaktens tid—stated by Jämsen to tell the origin and rise to kingship of Rivfader—"Nedgång" could well be interpreted as an immediate prequel to "Födosagan".
The horn-crowned one mentioned in the second verse is a common title of the king Rivfader.
Similarly to the rest of the songs on Ur jordens djup (with the exception of the hidden track "Trollvisan"), the narrator is the persona of Rivfader, played by Mathias "Vreth" Lillmåns.
The story is continued in the fifth track, "Ur Djupet".