Reviews: medieval

The Russian band Moon Far Away plays a very nice mixture of (neo) folk and (ethereal) wave. Their music is partly electronic and partly acoustic. Next to synthesizers they use guitars, a carillon and percussion instruments. At times the music is dark and has a sacral feeling (‘Na Zore’) but the band also knows its ways with more brighter music (‘Sobriraetse Liubeznoy’)…

The expectations for this third album by German paganfolk band Faun were high I think. After a tranquil but very good first album and a second aclaimed modern cross-over record the band gathered a broad fanbase in both folk and gothic circles. Renaissance starts with two songs in the style of their second album Licht…

The latest album of Milagro Acustico, a multicultural ensemble from Italy around Bob Salmieri. Over fifteen musicians are involved in this colourful piece of work, with various male and female singers and a variety of only acoustic instruments, like guitar, baglama, mandolino, tambur, ney, kaval, tamburi a cornice and darbuka…

Medieval electro, with a pinch of renaissance. That;s how you could describe the music of the German formation Qntal with a little fantasy. “Qntal IV – Ozymandias” is (as the title indicates) the fourth album of singer Syrah (Sigrid Hausen), multi-instrumentalist Michael Popp and sound magician / producer Philipp Groth…

The French label Prikosnovénie is specialized in folk/world music with a fairy-like character. They seem to have an unendless source of new talents. This time they have come up with Anassane, basically the project of Cécile Rabhi. She sings, plays keyboards and takes care of many percussive instruments, like darbouka, cymbals and bamboo sticks…

The Spanish act Trobar de Morte makes fairy-like music, which brings you in a pleasant dreamy state. Or, in their own words, they lead you to a world “where fairies exist, and beautiful, deep forests prompt a return to a non-existent medieval era…

Waarloga Records from Sweden has find its own niche releasing music with a fantasy theme/atmosphere. The music is usually somewhere between neoclassical, folk/medieval and dark soundscapes. That resulted in some nice releases already, most notably the excellent albums by Za Frûmi. Now the label has released its first compilation with no less than 20 tracks, in collaboration with Golem…

Omnia calls their music ‘neo-celtic pagan folk band’. Perhaps then you would not expect a performance of this Dutch group in a church. But nevertheless they did, in de Janskerk in Utrecht during the Summer Darkness festival in August 2004. And this acoustic concert, which I attended, is now available on a cd in a nice looking digipack…

Since the late 80’s Corvus Corax from Germany are trying to re-create the spirit of the medieval minstrels with pipes and drums. They have become popular guests at countless festivals and medieval fairs with their spectacular shows, wearing the title “Die Könige der Spielleute”…

The second solo album of Peter Ultrich, who made his debut with “Pathways and Dawns” in 1999. No matter how many other albums he will make, I suspect Ulrich will also be related to his previous activities as drummer/percussionist of Dead Can Dance and contributor to the This Mortal Coil project…

Keltia is a 20 year old Belgian Celtic harp player and singer. She plays Celtic inspired music full of emotion.

There is a little story behind this release. This album was planned to be released on Stars in the Dark/Vielklang. Vielklang suffered some serious financial problems and so the record was rejected before the actual distribution began. Luckily this album is released now on the new medieval label Staupa Records, who also work with Corvus Corax…

Dubia Fortuna pleasantly surprised me with their debut album Esta Mesa. This band plays a lively mix of medieval music with Eastern European influences. In tabernas mundus is a live album with songs from the debut and also some new tracks. The record starts off with pieces that are in the same style as the studio recordings, although maybe a little bit more energetic…

Zmiya is a French band but their sound is very Eastern and Arabic. Their music is a world music mix of traditional influences and modern electronic rhythms.

Cyberpiper is announced as a techno-troubadour, a musician who brings together medieval music and techno. As a performer Cybepiper looks like a Borg from StarTrek armed with midi bagpipes(!). This cd, and the press release going with it, raises some great expectations. Unfortunately these are not fully satisfied. Most of the tracks are rather boring. They are quite long and don?t have a climax…

Helium Vola’s second album “Liod” was followed by this single, which you can better call a mini album, because it has six songs and over 30 minutes of playing time. Helium Vola is the neo-medieval project of Ernst Horn, who takes care of all the electronics. He is a busy character, because he is also active in the popular darkwave formation Deine Lakaien and he also recorded some solo albums…

The fifth Arcana album since their debut “Dark age of reason’ in 1996, if you don’t count the rarities compilation “The New Light”. Though the quality of their albums was always very high and I was not bored with their sound yet, I nevertheless felt that it was time for renewal. The new track ‘Wings of Gabriel’ on “The New Light” already showed that Arcana might be moving in a new direction…

Conscientia Peccati does not stand for just music, their releases have a strong conceptual character. “Culpa Somniorum” is dedicated to dreams and their influence on the dreamer. The music has a clear ritual, sacred character, with a dominant role for percussion, organ and chanting. The mosty instrumental tracks are pretty varied…

A coulourful album by the French act Am`Ganesha`n, which features members of Rajna and Les Secrets de Morphée. They bring a rich musical mixture of folk, classical, ethereal and many oriental influences. Both western and ‘exotic’ music instruments are used, combined with various mostly high female voices. Ganesh, the elephant God of India, has a prominent position in the artwork…

In Germany but also in the rest of Europe there seems to be some sort of folk revival. There are many good releases coming out and also quite some concerts since a few years. The medieval rock band Schandmaul and pagan folk band Faun are two of the bigger acts from Germany…