Fimbulvinter by Bjørn Riis

Fimbulvinter by Bjørn Riis, released in 2025, is one of the most acclaimed and prolific artists in the progressive rock genre, both in Norway and beyond.

He is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who rose from a little-known cover band to global success as a member of Airbag and as a solo artist.

The main songwriter for Airbag, a Norwegian band from Oslo, for nearly twenty years he has shared the stage with bands and artists such as Marillion, Yes, Saga, Neil Morse, and Riverside.

On this album, Bjørn Riis plays all the instruments and is supported by three drummers, one of whom is from Airbag themselves.

The album's title, Fimbulvinter, is in Norse mythology a three-year period of uninterrupted winter preceding Ragnarök, the apocalyptic event that represents the end of the world and literally means "terrible winter."

The album draws on Bjørn's personal experiences with anxiety, desperation, and paranoia, while also conveying a message of hope and rebirth in overcoming them. It's not an autobiographical album, but it addresses themes that are still taboo and with which he has grappled.

- The album blends progressive rock and hard rock with hints of Floydian atmospheres, particularly evident in "Illhug."

- The beautiful "Gone" follows, with its explosive energy.

- Then comes "Panic Attack," the album's longest track, clocking in at about 10 minutes. It best represents the album's spirit, starting slowly and quickly erupting, conveying a sense of urgency and anguish. The calm interlocutory quality of a slow tempo, where the vocals become sparse and the guitar plays light chords, alternates with bursts of hard rock, assertive guitar, and powerful drums. The vocals become more assertive in the song's rock section. Then the suspended atmosphere returns, with its light sounds in a splendid alternation until the song closes with a sound that brings us a feeling of hope, light, and strength. The clear and sudden ending of this song is surprising, and in my opinion, it's one of the most beautiful songs on the album.

- Side B begins with "She," a romantic ballad, very passionate, with beautiful lyrics, a carpet of echoing sounds accompanying the entire opening section, with acoustic guitar chords and vocals. I want to quote it in its splendid simplicity.
"Everytime I feel alone, Everytime the sun is down, When I feel it's coming on, Whenever I lose control, She's always here, She's always here for me, She's always here for me."
A beautiful piece that closes with a sea of ​​beautiful emotions in music, long sounds of Bjørn's guitar played with great mastery... Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful.
- Fimbulvinter, the title track, is a decidedly hard rock piece with electric guitars in full evidence. It starts with a light breeze and a menacing guitar flight, followed immediately by a pressing rhythm, very rock drums, and syncopated, distorted guitar in a counter-tempo. Here too, after the rock phase, there's a calmer interlude (a trademark alternation), and then it starts again with harder rock, with a guitar solo that carries with it the legacy of the '70s we grew up with. The keyboards also play their part in the finale, with dissonances that accentuate the climate of anxiety and menace. Fimbulvinter, the "terrible winter," has arrived, while choruses follow a keyboard sequence with Genesis-esque sounds. This is also a beautiful composition, musically competing with Panic Attack in intensity and surpassing it in complexity. A beautiful piece.
- Fear of Abandoned is a ballad that brings us back to peace, but that of a soul searching for something, perhaps searching for itself. Here too, it's worth quoting a part of the lyrics:
"I don't know what I'm doing here, I don't know where I'm supposed to be, Everything seems so strange to me, Even though, I've been here before..."

With this album, Bjørn Riis reaffirms himself as a leading interpreter of contemporary progressive rock with an engaging and deeply touching album, full of emotions, expressed at times with disarming simplicity but also with great energy and complexity, two sides of an album, which seem like two sides of a single personality.

Beautiful album, highly recommended!!!

Tracks
1. Illhug (1:43)

2. Gone (8:34)
3. Panic Attack (10:56)
4. She (6:33)
5. Fimbulvinter (9:00)
6. Fear of Abandoned (7:36)
Running Time 44:22

The Lineup
- Bjørn Riis - vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, composer and producer
Featuring:
- Henrik Bergan Fossum - Airbag - drums
- Arild Brøter - drums
- Kai Christoffersen - drums