Cygnus Rock Band - The Forging of Mjölnir (video review)
This is my favorite Cygnus-video.
From the Viking era, of course. I have other favorites as well from the period, when Cygnus played different - but still beautiful, carefully composed and arranged - music.
no, I will not tell which they are, because I'm Gollum and they are all My Precious
And this video is special, not just because it's my favorite one, but also because of the making of it.
As I mentioned in my previous blogspot, the making of this video was unique in every way. First of all, it took almost 3 years - 2 and a half, to be more precise, though I'm not fully sure about that - to be released. If I'm not wrong and remember well the details Ruxx and Deneb told in the IG live session before the release of this video, it was partly the lack of money/resources, then the pandemic also had its part to postpone it all (remember, Fire and Tales was released before the outbreak of Covid-19, back in March 2020), then there were copyright issues as well because of you-know-who
if you don't know, the better, believe me
then Life happened, as usual.
I remember, there was a plan to release it back around October-November 2022. At that time the band still hasn't revealed which video they were about to release, they only hinted - in their awesome, adorable, teasing way - that they had this in mind. Upon my memories Deneb and Ruxx shared it first during a live session during the last weeks of working on their 3rd Viking album "Death and Glory". Their original plan was finishing the works of the album at the end of September-beginning of October 2022, and while the [I don't write here any name, if you know, you know] does the preparation of releasing it - i.e. paperworks, uploading it to streaming platforms, with all the lead time it needs - they publish a video "they had been working for a long time", as they said, to ease up a bit the period of waiting for the new album. We all thought, the band as well as us, fans that the lead time would not be longer than 3-3,5 weeks and not later than mid-November 2022 we could already enjoy Death and Glory. The plan was to relase this video before mid-November.
As you all can see, everything happened in a completely different way. [no name will be mentioned] had their own plans with the album's release
perhaps one day I will write a separate blogpost about it all; not a nice story, full of rage, vengeance and mud-throwing, but it may still get into the Cygnus-chronicles, if not else, then to learn from it and never to let it happen again
and if you follow Cygnus's footsteps, you know that Death and Glory was released much later, while "The Forging of Mjölnir" was out months later, in April 2023.
As I said, this video is unique in every way. Not only for the background story around the releasing.
The song itself, one of my favorite ones from Cygnus is about the story that can be found originally in "Skáldskaparmál", a part of the Prose Edda compiled by the Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sturluson. It tells how Loki, as always, gets bored and cuts the hair of Sif, Thor's wife, while she's asleep. Thor, seeing it "promises" Loki to break his bones unless he comes up with a solution, possibly very quickly. Loki visits Svartálfheim, where he meets the brothers Brokkr and Sindir, who agree to forge him 3 items: a new hair for Sif, a ship for Freyr, the Scandinavian god of wealth, kingship and good harvest; finally a spear for Odin.
Of course Loki can't stay quiet while the Sons of Ivaldi are working; he turns himself into a gadfly and bites Brokkr 3 times. After the 1st bite Brokkr creates Gullinbursti, the golden boar; after the 2nd he creates Draupnir, a golden ring, and finally, after the last bite he creates Mjölnir, the mighty hammer.
The song itself is beautiful and rich, I wrote about it in a separate blogpost. The video, dear Reader... the truth is that it's a piece of art in itself. The images and the music together make it unforgettable and my favorite Cygnus-video of all (Viking) times.
A huge part of this video is animated. It's an actual cartoon, telling Loki's antics around Thor as well as around the dwarves. And here comes the very special part of it all: every single drawing, every single image was made by Ruxx himself, Cygnus's golden-throated, thunderbolt-handed drummer-singer. Yes, dear Reader, you see it well, the design, the figures, their clothes, facial expressions were ALL made by Ruxx. I remember he showed a sketchbook during the live stream before the release of this video; the sketchbook was full of his drawings and designs as he was working on all the characters of the video - and believe me, dear Reader, there are quite a few of them. As he told, he made more than 300 drawings, and he admitted, it was the toughest work he had ever made. He drew not only the gods and goddesses, not only Loki, Sif, Thor, Odin, the dwarves, but...
...but some really, really beloved people as well.
Allow me, dear Reader, to show them to you through a few screenshots from the video.
from left to right: John "Cole" Vidrine, Cami and Jota
(source: screenshot/YT)
Deneb, appearing in the video as a bard with guitar
(source: screenshot/YT)
from left to right: Blu, Reny and John "Cole" Vidrine
(source: screenshot/YT)
Ruxx himself, appearing in the video as a bard with flute
(source: screenshot/YT)
But seriously, aren't they just adorable?... 😍😍😍
The video continues with the story. The animation is excellent, it was made by Diego Carrillo, Cygnus's long-time friend and ally.
In fact he appears as well in the video; if you keep your eyes and heart open, you can see him at 2:31.
The video is getting more and more hilarious. Amazing scenes, full of humor and creativity - my thought only, but I'm sure children would also enjoy it. The story is linear, the drawings are amazing, every second is child/family friendly, no blood shedding, no violence at all, even the conflict scenes are witty and would make the younger generations laugh. The creators visibly enjoyed the process of making.
Then comes the beauty.
We arrive at the conflict part between Loki and the Sons of Ivaldi. The music follows the tension... and so does the video.
The gods appear.
No, not the Norse ones.
Our gods.
At 2:51, exactly at the moment of breakthrough the four musicians of Cygnus appear in the video. Ruxx, Andrés, Deneb and Jota are all seen, playing their instruments.
These parts were all recorded in their studio, and in fact they just play their instruments. I have to add here though, that since the musicians can be seen from quite close, it's an excellent chance for all the musicians, amateur or professional, beginner or advanced to watch their hands and then try themselves what they have just seen.
Here I would like to express my gratitude for these scenes - not only for just seeing my favorite musicians, but also for watching them playing. Those who know me, know that I can watch them for hours and I will not get tired of it at all.
The mythological scenes get more and more hilarious. Loki, the gadfly - one of the most sensational and creative drawings! - is getting on the nerves of the dwarves, and what I especially love is his reactions that appear in comic strip bubbles over his head. Especially when his cussings are written with old Norse runes and Spanish-styled exclamation marks. Amazing cultural mashup, I love it!!!
Loki demonstrating the special gifts the dwarves designed and made for Freyr, Thor and Odin is just huge. Very witty, very funny, absolutely family/children-friendly, all of these scenes are full of life, creativity, love and imagination. Even the last scenes' showdown makes the viewer burst out in laughter with all the facial expressions (I swear, each and every facial expression of Loki and Thor in this video deserves to be on T-shirts!) and creative solutions.
But the video doesn't end here, dear Reader.
We still enjoy it. We are still in the company of these wonderful four musicians and we watch them as they make magic.
And they do.
Very fast, demanding part where all musicians need to focus very much to keep the pace, the unusual time signature and not to lose a single half-note from the complex themes.
watching it pixel by pixel, breaking it down... uhuhuh... 🤤
...and Deneb doing a pinchful of tapping just makes it all even flavorful.
And then comes the solo.
Here you can see that even though Andrés plays it as if he would be just shaking it out of his pinky finger, it is VERY complex.
...and again a bit more tapping by Deneb
And in the meantime Jota does the job of a world champion. Even though all eyes are on Andrés, as he is playing the solo, Jota is still playing the main theme, which is more than demanding, while the time signature is odd (or uneven) to say the least. Very progressive, very complex, and I have no doubts it's exhausting as well.
But these musicians all make it. Because they are all this amazing.
...and again a bit more bass tapping.
...and Ruxx hitting the odd time signatures like a humane metronome.
...and Jota playing the complex themes with a 101% precision.
...and Andrés letting his left hand fingers loose on the guitar's neck.
Yes, please. This, for hours, for days, for a lifetime. I can't get enough, I can't get bored, I want to see it again and again and again.
And then again.
And when the main theme returns after the solo, you can have a peek in it and see that this is again far from simple. Demanding, requires a LOT of precision, a lot of concentration, thinking outside the box, skills (a LOT of them and even more! This song is not for the faint-hearted, nor for the beginner or even the advanced, this song is for the masters and the masters only!) and relying on each other, the guitars relying on the rhythm section and the rhythm section relying on each other. A progressive heaven and a study about how important teamwork is.
And as someone - whom I love dearly - would say: PRACTICE! Practice, practice, practice!
And he is right.
Enjoy!
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