I’ve been following the Nordic Giants since their 2015 debut. They’ve been making music, releasing EPs and the like, for even longer. Yet, every single album feels like a sacred experience. That is the case for Under Celestial Alignments, which released March 13th. I won’t say it’s my favorite from them, but it’s still astonishingly beautiful and perhaps the most stripped back and authentic record they’ve produced.
Nordic Giants come to us from the UK. They are rather secretive about their identities, choosing to go by Loki (piano, synths, trumpet, horns) and Rôka Skulld (drums, bowed guitar). And I can honestly say, right off the bat, that they’ve provided some of the best keys and drums of the year on this album.
They play music that is rather genre-less. Some call it prog rock. Some call it post-rock. I usually just call it cinematic post-prog. Now, their style has varied. On 2015’s A Séance of Dark Delusions, they blended post-rock, electronica, and more. On my favorite of theirs, 2017’s Amplify Human Vibration, they offered sheer cinema and even ambient music alongside voiceovers from various modern philosophers. Yet, with 2022’s Symbiosis, they leaned heavily into cinematic rock with some truly explosive moments.
With Under Celestial Alignments, they strip back their sound significantly. The album is cosmic, spacious, interstellar in its tone, but it’s also mostly just keys and drums. There are other instruments present, yes, but the real contributors are the lush piano, the searing synth, and the powerfully performed drums. You’ll still hear some horns, a signature sound for them, but there’s just something incredibly pure about what they’re offering here.
Yet the album still manages to stir up my emotions time and again. Under Celestial Alignments truly does feel like a celebration and reminder of who we are and where we live amidst the grand wonder of the universe. It feels like clarity and cosmic hope.
It’s a flowing album, one of mental energy. It’s also strange because my favorite track is in the first half, but the second half is my favorite overall. In the first half, we get “Logos” with its storytelling sound, “Undertow” with its slowburning atmosphere that sweeps away into piano fireworks, and “Red Falls” with its elegant, emotive piano. I skipped “Torus” because it’s my favorite song on the album. This piece is reserved at first before launching us into the secrets of the universe with powerful synth and emotional layers that build and build. I tear up every time I hear it.
The second half gives us tracks like “Raith”, a song of subtle shadows and rolling ambience, almost sounding bluesy at points; “In the Half Light”, which is similar in style, only more cinematic; and then my second favorite, “Reaper”. This piece is energetic from the start with lumbering drums and piano that feels like it’s talking to us. It is muscular and commanding.
The last two tracks are gorgeous. “Clouded Minds” is again energetic from the beginning, leaning into the drums and squirrely keyboard melodies that will shoot electricity up your spine. It sounds like a climactic moment in particularly engaging and intelligent film. The closer “Seren” is so beautiful; I love that it’s quiet and full of church organs. It reminds me at times of something from Vangelis, but also from Zimmer, simultaneously. It’s a careful ending, one that feels reassuring and peaceful.
Look, the Nordic Giants haven’t made a bad album yet, or even a weak one. At first, I felt like Under Celestial Alignments was missing a big vocal track to seal the deal, if you know what I mean, but the more I listen, the more I behold their vision of utter atmosphere and energy. It’s a bit of a grower, then, but it’s every bit as spellbinding as their previous records.
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The PROG Mind 