Vintersorg
Folk, black and progressive metal from Skellefteå, Sweden, since 1994. On Hammerheart Records.
Story
Vintersorg is a Swedish metal band from Skellefteå, founded and led by composer and vocalist Andreas Hedlund, known as Vintersorg or Mr. V. Its roots go back to 1994 and the group Vargatron; when that line-up fell apart in 1996, Hedlund recorded the prepared songs alone under the new name. The name comes from Margit Sandemo's novel series “The Legend of the Ice People”, in which Vintersorg is the son of a pagan chieftain; in Swedish it means roughly “winter sorrow”.
The early records combined black metal with folk melodies and mostly clean singing, and the Swedish lyrics told of northern nature and old beliefs. From “Cosmic Genesis” (2000), the first album with guitarist Mattias Marklund, the music turned progressive and avant-garde, and the lyrics, mostly in English, turned to astronomy, cosmology and metaphysics. Since “Solens rötter” (2007) the band sings in Swedish again, and “Jordpuls”, “Orkan”, “Naturbål” and “Vattenkrafternas spel” form a cycle about the four elements.
After ten albums on Napalm Records, Vintersorg moved to Hammerheart Records, which in 2025 released a new album and remastered reissues of the earliest recordings. Hedlund also sang in Norway's Borknagar (2001–2019) and co-founded the projects Otyg, Cronian and Waterclime.
Line-up
- Andreas „Vintersorg” Hedlund 1994–
vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, songwriting - Mattias Marklund 1999–
lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals - Simon Lundström 2015–
bass, backing vocals - Steve DiGiorgio 2002–2004
bass (session) - Asgeir Mickelson 2002–2004
drums (session)
Concerts
Played recently
- Electric Ballroom 18 Sept 2026
London, UK - Västerås Eventyta 24 Jul 2026
Västerås, Sweden - Karmøygeddon Metal Festival 2026 30 Apr 2026
Kopervik, Norway - Sara Kulturhus Scen 2 5 Jan 2025
Skellefteå, Sweden
From Songkick, Festivaly.eu and metal news read by an AI model, checked daily. Label news: Hammerheart Records.
Credits
Track previews: Spotify.
Covers, back covers (their printed text filtered out) and booklet scans: © Vintersorg, Napalm Records, Hammerheart Records, via the Cover Art Archive, Apple Music and Discogs.
Live photos: Southern Discomfort Metal Festival 2026, Marius Egebakken; Dark Troll Festival 2025, S. Bollmann, via Wikimedia Commons.
Type: Uncial Antiqua and EB Garamond, SIL Open Font License.
Backgrounds, seen through frost that the pointer wipes away (one at random on the discography and band pages; each album page uses its own cover): Lapporten over Torneträsk, Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0 (graded to night; stars, aurora and moon added); Storglaciären with Kebnekaise behind, Leonhard Lenz, CC0 (graded to night; stars, aurora and moon added); Låmetjåkko, Sarek, Svjo, CC BY-SA 4.0 (graded to night; stars, aurora and moon added); Kebnekaise viewed from Tarfala valley, Alexandar Vujadinovic, CC BY-SA 4.0 (graded to night; stars, aurora and moon added); Kebnekaise massif from Kebnekaise Fjällstation, Tadeáš Gregor, CC BY-SA 4.0 (graded to night; stars, aurora and moon added); Aurora in Abisko National Park, ClaudiaTen, CC BY-SA 4.0; Crab Nebula, NASA, ESA (Hubble), public domain; Black hole’s accretion disk, NASA Goddard / Jeremy Schnittman, cmglee, CC BY-SA 4.0; Cosmic Cliffs, Carina Nebula, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI (Webb), public domain; Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), NASA, ESA (Hubble), public domain; Andromeda Galaxy, Brody Wesner, CC0; Landscape in Norrland, Helmer Osslund, public domain; Waterfall, Porjus, Helmer Osslund, Nationalmuseum, public domain; The North Cape by Moonlight, Peder Balke, The Met, public domain; and the album covers, cropped clear of the lettering (© the band and labels).
