Cygnus Rock Band - The Forging of Mjölnir (Fire and Tales)

This song is LOVE. And I'm in love with Love!

This song is plain amazing and beautiful. I can talk about it only in superlatives. It's perfect as it is, in every sense. Slow building-up of the song, catchy melody, rich arrangement, lots of instruments, fiery and powerful humane voice, mythological theme (again one of my favorites) and last but not least my favorite Cygnus-video so far, but we'll talk more about it later in this post.

The very first reason why I love this song so much is because it brings the atmosphere of a medieval storyteller. It starts with the cracking of fire, as if the listener (or listeners) would really be sitting around the fireplace listening to the bard, who arrived at them from a faraway land and now he is sharing all those stories, tales and legends he brought from his journey.

And this time we have a group of bards and what bards, oh, Odin!...

Two instruments start very softly, a flute and an acoustic guitar are singing quietly, very soon joined by Ruxx's vocals, as he starts telling the tale of the trickster god Loki and his famous prank cutting off the hair of Sif, Thor's wife.

I especially love how Ruxx is playing with his voice, mimicing Loki's sly words begging for his life. Since Ruxx is in charge for heavier, more rock/metal-soaked songs, he very seldom has the chance to show his voice-imitating abilities (in some covers he does though!). Here in this song he can finally do it. A secret gem

(let me launch my nasty grin, dear Reader)

for those who notice it.

The first stanzas are followed by a short but beautiful bridge. The flute is singing, the acoustic guitar gently supports it, chimes appear. Really as if we would be all sitting around the fire... where soon other musicians join us, as the story continues about Loki, now convincing the dwarves living at the roots of Yggdrasil to make new hair for Sif.

A cello and the tiple accompanies the humane voice.

And the cello is played by none else than everyone's favorite bass player/multi-instrumentalist.

Watch him!

I can seriously watch such videos for hours. For me this is how magic is born. I think it was Tom Petty who said once: "Music is probably the one real magic I have encountered in my life. There's not some trick involved in it. It's pure and it's real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things."

I couldn't agree more.

The fire still crackles, the cello and the tiple are holding Ruxx's voice in their hands as the story continues with the trickster god now taunting the dwarf brothers Brokkr and Sindir. And as the tension of the legend reaches its peak, the song explodes into its full beauty. All the other instruments appear, the guitars, the bass, the drums and the symphonic orchestra.

You lose your breath. Your heart wants to jump out of your chest. Your blood is drumming in your ears. The theme that was tiptoeing so far on the flute's holes and the tiple's strings, now jumps out in its full armor. And it's beautiful, strong, with broad shoulders, sun-kissed skin, with sunshine in its eyes and wide, heart-warming smile. You can't help but fall in love with it. The richness, the power and the beauty of it hits you so hard that you can't even move. Though you don't even want to. And it reaches out for you, grabs you, laughs, holds you tight and spellbound and when you realize it all, you're already addicted to it.

And you're happy.

The tempo speeds up and the beautifully built-up, lavish theme sweeps the listener off of their feet. The story continues with the now gadfly-shaped Loki mocking the two dwarves, trying to keep them away from their duties.

And still the atmosphere of the song keeps up the storytelling bard atmosphere, just now we have a group of them as if they were sitting in the corner of a medieval inn, entertaining the audience with the trickster god's antics. The wonderful folk theme of the song continues, in one moment as if all the bards were singing along together, in the next everyone quietens, letting the drums, the bass

and I swear I hear an accordion

leading them. Soon the guitars arrive to take it over but no, dear listener, it's not the solo yet, it's just a little intermezzo between two stanzas. Loki's adventures continue, now with the god of thunder receiving his mighty weapon, while the trickster god also gets the reward of his actions, which he - let's be honest - pretty much deserved.

And now, dear listener, get ready for the rain of beauty. 

The solo is approaching, but keep your ears and your heart open, because hiding behind the guitar the rhythm section makes one of its most beautiful and complex magical tricks it has ever made.

Get ready for thundering drum fills, bass neck tapping, tempo changes 

in the meantime I'm again trying to follow the tempo by hitting it here for myself... I'm not sure if I sense it well, as my abilities are very limited, but for my under-educated ears this is a 7/8.

Whether I sense it well or not, it's just mouth-watering. The guitar solo is a virtuoso level one, while the rhythm section is stomping on your chest, bringing a row of tricks that this part would deserve a separate bass cam as well as a drum cam.

And then another tempo change appears.

For Odin's sake, I will run out of saliva for the end of the song... 🤤

The solo continues, the magic continues, your heart is racing, your blood is heating up, your eyes get wet... and suddenly with another tempo change the song jumps back to its original theme. You can wipe off the sweat of happiness, dear listener, as it all soothens you. Your breath is back to normal as well. 

No, dear listener, don't worry; no Cygnus song will leave you out in the no man's land with tears in your eyes, throbbing heart, lost breath and sweating forehead. Every single song by these wonderful Colombians will soothe you and hug you before the end. They all make you sure you're safe, calm and comfortable before jumping to the next song. 

They're all your safe haven.

The song has got a video as well, and for me personally this is the best and most hilarious Cygnus video I have ever seen. This is a cartoon-video

well, most parts of it is a cartoon

and the characters were drawn by none else than Ruxx himself. I remember, during the live session before the release of this video he showed his sketchbook full of the characters for this video. He told (if I remember well) that he had never ever drawn this much in his life; an entire book got full of his drawings, because he had to make all the movements and facial expressions of ALL the characters.

I'm not sure if I remember well, but he had to make at least 300 drawings or so.

The animation was made by Diego Carrillo, a very talented local artist and as with all Cygnus-songs, the video is also full of gems and little surprises. (I won't tell them all, because you will kindly watch it, open your eyes and dust off your tired braincells.)

Let's see a few:

• in the opening scene Deneb and Ruxx themselves appear as bards; Ruxx is playing the flute, Deneb has the acoustic guitar (or tiple) in his hands
• the audience consists of some very dear and close friends of the band (no, I won't tell you who they are, you kindly figure it out by yourself)
• the animator Diego appears as well in the video 
• Loki's mug (one of my favorite ones!...)
• Loki as a gadfly cussing in old Norse runes, but it all put between two Spanish-styled exclamation marks. This is hilarious and very creative!

Though I will be honest, dear Reader and tell you: my most favorite part of this video is when these wonderful Colombians appear.

And not only Ruxx and Deneb, but all 4 members of Cygnus!

Yes, dear reader, in this video you can see Jonathan "Jota, aka The Legend" Benavides with his usual collected, serious and reliable demeanor and Andrés "Yngwie F. Malmsteen Paganini Grand Maestro" Bernal, who is simply the best, shaking even the most complex, virtuoso solos out of his pinky finger, all this with a humble smile.

I remember, when I watched it first and they appeared, I screamed. The timing of their appearance was perfect, my heart almost jumped out of my chest and I shamelessly moaned with joy.

I can't have enough of them. I confess it to you, dear Reader. It's never enough. Watching them doing all the magic, all the tricks, all those things that are a clear proof of their talent, diversity and dedication.

I don't know anything that would be more precious and dearer.

Watch them you, too, dear Reader. Watch them and enjoy the story and the hilarious cartoon 

you can even show it to children, they will love it!

and then these four wonderful, talented, amazing, gifted musicians.

And love them.

Endlessly.