Long before Black Metal flared up in Scandinavia, a specifically "Nordic sound" had developped in the music, which was picked up by artists from various backgrounds and interpreted in different ways. This on the one hand subtly uplifting, on the other hand deeply melancholic sound echoed in Nordic Black Metal and its obscure stylistic niches as early as the nineties. But while a project like Wongraven initially had to cope with sparse instruments, the turn to folk music on the part of numerous metal musicians all too often escalated into kitsch and embarrassing clichés in the years that followed. In contrast to that, multi-instrumentalist Jørn Øyhus (Byrdi, Varde, Nordjevel) took his time with NORDEIN to realize his personal idea of Nordic music, which easily rises above such lowlands - it was not without reason that the versatile musician originally described NORDEIN as "Norwegian Mountain Music". The Norwegian allowes his tone poems to grow in their own directions, while he can rely on musical companions such as Mathias Gyllengahm (Utmarken, Norrsinnt) who value artistic freedom as much as the founder of NORDEIN does himself. "The writing of "Nordariket" marked the beginning of a very personal musical and spiritual journey," Jørn reports. "We recorded the album with both contemporary and traditional instruments. It is a celebration of the natural world, blood and nostalgia - blurring the lines between past and future. It is also directly influenced by the fantastic inner realm of ancient spirits, gnomes and trolls." Experienced listeners will recognize that behind the sound of acoustic guitar, nyckelharpa and choral singing there is a spirit that feeds more on Nordic Black Metal than some pretentious bands which have little else to offer than soulless noise. As a matter of fact, the CD version of „Nordariket“includes "Norges Sorte Himmel" - a reinterpretation of the most epic song that Jørn once wrote for the norwegian Black Metal outlet Nordjevel.