Reviews: martial

‘A handful of dust’ is the last part of Cynfeirdds E4E series. The closure of the label’s limited (all releases on E4E are limited to 141 copies) series is the Polish act Horologium…

Ten new tracks by The Well of Sadness, an Italian one-man act which I encountered on various compilations before. As usual with Bunkier Productions it comes on a rather limited cd-r. And I must say I really appreciate the sound of this album, somewhere between martial neofolk and cold electronic sounds…

After many years of silence, the Hungarian cult band ACTUS reappeared like a mythical phoenix at the recent Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. A concert for which I had high expectations. They were only partly fulfilled, mostly through a too loud and distorted sound. I could hear though that the new material was pretty fascinating…

Bunkier Productions from Poland is a relatively young label, specialising in obscure neofolk and martial music. Up for review is a promo cd by Ghosts of Breslau, a Polish project inspired by the city of Wroclaw (Breslau was the German name). After a nice intro with classical choirs the first real track offers German speech samples, a soundscape, and muffled timpani’s…

I received this obscure promo cd-r by Stormfågel a few days ago. Judging by the name, this is probably a Swedish project. On the booklet we see the well-known logo Puissance also uses: planet earth in flames, penetrated by two swords. Furthermore there’s a picture of children with guns on the backside of the cover…

This cd-r is a collection of five tracks which were recorded in a period spanning ten years! Despite this the selection feels cohesive and the tracks make up for a nice and interesting EP. Lokasenna is a Belgium project that produces post-industrial / avant-garde music with a bombastic touch…

Autopsia is a long-running avantgarde project, originally from Yugoslavia, but based in Prague for a while. They had over a dozen releases, on labels like Staalplaat and Hypnobeat/Hyperium. Autopsia celebrates its 25 year anniversary with the hybrid cd “Le Chant de la Nuit”, which is available from the band itself in a numbered edition of 300 copies…

The first release for Dagaz from Portugal, which started as a webzine, is an interesting one. Skrol, from the Czech Republic, recorded this material in the period 1997-1999, but Vladimír Hirsch remixed and remastered everything in 2002. At first listen the music of Skrol reminds me of projects like Autopsia, Laibach and Actus…

Triarii, named after an elite infantry division of the Roman Empire’s army, may not make the most original music in the world, but I truly like what I hear. “Ars Militaria” is the debut album from this German act, after the single ‘Triumph’, also on the Berlin label Eternal Soul…

The Dutch project HERR already made a good impression with the solid neo-classical sounds of ‘Es regnet das Leben heraus’, released last year by a small Belgian label. It was followed by the ‘The Winter of Constantinople’, released in a very small cd-r edition by Cynfeirdd. The UK label Cold Spring noticed the potential of this work and has announced a re-release coming later this year…

Von Thronstahl uses controversy as a form of art. Therefore Cold Spring, home to diverse cultural terrorists as Grey Wolves, Laibach or Folkstorm, is a suited label to re-release the first two albums of Joseph Klumb’s project, “Imperium Internum” and “E Pluribus Unum”. Apart from irritating political correct factions, Von Thronstahl also knows how to create impressive music…

Just like the debut “Imperium Internum”, Cold Spring has also re-released Von Thronstahl’s second album “E pluribus unum” in a digipack format. This cd collects compilation tracks and rare songs previously included on limied vinyl releases. Furthermore there are some remixes and unreleased pieces present…

Dawn & Dusk Entwined’s album “Remergence” was pretty good, so I was pleased to hear that this French act recorded more material in that period. Athanor has released a 6-track 10″, limited to 350 copies. The tracks on this EP follow the same lines as the preceding album, meaning a combination of martial bombastic tracks and atmospheric neoclassical / ambient soundscapes…

“Obéir et Mourir” had a legendary status, because this double tape boxset from 1998 was very limited and highly sought after, certainly now the popularity of Dernière Volonté is rising. Perhaps the high prices at Ebay and illegal copies caused a re-release of this early Dernière Volonté material…

Announced as the final Wappenbund release, after the albums “Zeitenwende” and “Preußen” and the EP’s “Blood & fire” and “Zurück in der Heimat”. The new album by this German martial act contains 6 new tracks. Wappenbund is the project of Sven Bussler, who is also active in most other Greyland Records acts, like Coinside (dark electro) and Wiener Aktivisten (industrial nosie)…

When I first heard the work of In Slaughter Natives I was blown away by its power and intensity. Meanwhile ISN has got other contenders to their throne, like Wappenbund, Karjalan Sissit or Sophia, with a comparable bombastic orchestral sound. Nevertheless J. Havukainen is confident enough to give his new album “Resurrection” the undertitle ‘The return of a king’…

24 (untitled) tracks, 74 minutes, a wide variety of musical styles. Quantitatively there is nothing to complain about the debut album of this German project, which follows a 7″ single on Eternal Soul. “Fearscapes” comes in a nicely designed digipack and is very enjoyable through the varied musical styles and the overall high quality, especially for a relatively new act…

A cute 3″ mcd in a nice blue sleeve with three tracks from Pimentola, with over 20 minutes fo music. I got to know this Finnish act through their romantic classical outro on the Defend the Palace compilation. On this mcd with the difficult title you will also find classical sounds and samples, but of a much darker and more bombastic nature…

The second release already on the new Chinese label Chaos.Pro. After the wonderful compilation album Penumbra Over Beauty it is time for a Leger des Heils release. Sub Species Aeternitatis consists of tracks released on limited edition records. There is also one unreleased track on this cd called ‘Media In Vita’…

Leger des Heils is back with an album full of accessible melodies, moody neoclassical layers and heroic bombast. This German act knows how to create poppy and melodic songs which remain in your head for quite some time. The songs are usually rather simple, but have some special charm which is hard to explain…