This self-produced cd, that reached me recently from the USA, has a not so everyday title. The same could be said of the music, which I can’t easily compare to other bands. The music can be described as avantgarde folk, but not really of the World Serpent type. The man behind this project is called the digger Smolken, who takes care of all instruments and voices…
Reviews
Darkwood – In the Fields
November 20, 2001 by
And yet another new German act that makes dark folk music! Darkwood is a one-man project, mastermind is Henryk Vogel from Leipzig. “In the Fields” is a self-produced album that is being distributed through World Serpent…
Davantage – Broken Influences
November 20, 2001 by
An electro release from the Black Rain label. The album starts atmoposheric, in the style of Abscess, but it doesn’t take long before the album becomes more poppy, in the direction of Covenant or VNV Nation. A few songs are very suited for the electro dancefloors, with danceable beats and a slightly distorted voice…
Blut & Feuer – Fimbulvetr
November 20, 2001 by
Blut & Feuer is a new German neo-folk band, whose cd(r) is released by the people of Ring-Tor, who are also responsible for Aurum Nostrum. This rather short album contains 10 acoustic tracks, with German lyrics, including three pieces by Charles Baudelaire. It is mostly a solo project of Mario M. supported by Daniel O. and Kathlen R…
Descendants of Cain – Promo
November 20, 2001 by
An English band with a 4 track promo cd, of which two tracks are taken from their debut album AtzILUTH, and two songs are unreleased so far. The Descendants of Cain are not the most original band I’ve ever heard, but their traditional goth/wave music is performed rather well…
Belborn – Belborn
November 20, 2001 by
Belborn is a new promising band in the neo-folk genre. I do not know much about this band, that I discovered recently. The cd comes in a nice digipack, the bandname is written in runes. Belborn was brought into being by Holger F. and Susanne H. They present melancholic and heroic folk with German lyrics. The texts are printed both in German and in English…
Promonium Jesters – the promonium ep
November 20, 2001 by
This band with the strange name has released a demo, with 6 tracks in less than 20 minutes. The Promonium Jesters make aggressive electronic music, combined with heavy guitar sounds, distorted vocals and strange samples. According to their website, the band already has made 8 demos and done various live shows since 1996…
Backworld – The Fourth Wall
November 20, 2001 by
After four fine studio albums Backworld offers us now a live cd, recorded in April 2001 in London, when the band supported Current 93. The line-up for this occasion was Joseph Budenholzer (vocals guitar), Julia Kent (cello)…
Backworld – Isles of the Blest
November 20, 2001 by
After reading a review in a magazin I ordered this album, without having heard a single note from this group. Well, it turned out to be a very good decision, I instantly liked the album “Isles of the Blest” a lot! Backworld makes great acoustic neo-folk, with beautiful strings. Musical mastermind of the group is Joseph Budenholzer, who wrote most of the music and words…
Gae Bolg and the Church of Fand – John Barleycorn must die
November 20, 2001 by
Mastermind behind the band is Eric Roger, who plays the trumpet on various release by Tony Wakeford and co. The bandname by the way is derived from Celtic mythology, hero Cuchulain owned the legendary spear “Gae Bolg” and “Fand” was one of his lovers. The album is issued by the small French label Cynfeirdd, the lyrics are also in French…
Argine – Luctamina in rebus
November 20, 2001 by
Italy has produced a large number of interesting bands that make neo-folk or medieval music, like Camerata M., Ataraxia, Anima in Fiamme, Spiritual Front or Lupercalia, to name just a few. Argine proves with their second cd (they also released a live vinyl record and a mini cd between the two albums) to be one of the most talented South-European acts…
Feindflug – [Vierte Version]
November 20, 2001 by
I accidentally got to know this band when I downloaded an mp3 from them. That track, ‘Kahle Bedrohung’, really blew my small computer speakers up! What a great power, sort of a mixture between dark electro and power industrial. Of course I wanted to know more about this band, so I did an Internet search…
Argine – Memorie
November 20, 2001 by
Four songs can be found on this new mcd by the Italian formation Argine, whose album ‘Mundana Humana Instrumentalis” made a good impression on me. Of this album one song is present, ‘Corpo ed anima’ in a remixed version. This is a wonderful folky song with melancholic strings and nice female vocals, this remix seems to be a bit slower and has added some beats and electronic sounds…
Engelsstaub – Anderswelt
November 20, 2001 by
After a break of five years the German formation Engelsstaub is back! They started in the early 90’s, their first album was Malleus Maleficarum (’93). In the course of time the sound of the band developed and incorporated various influences, like ritual and medieval styles, with elements from classical and world music…
Arcana – The Last Embrace
November 20, 2001 by
A dark medieval atmosphere, a little orchestral bombast, grave male and heavenly female voices, church bells… on the Scandinavian Cold Meat label of course. Arcana became known through a song on the “And even wolves hid their teeth”-sampler, and have released two albums since then, “Dark age of reason” and “Cantar de Procella”, both very beautiful…
Endraum – Blauhauch
November 20, 2001 by
The limited edition of the new album Blauhauch comes as a nice box, containing a bonus cd (with older songs, the complete maxicd Appell an die Muse, two live tracks and a cd-rom video of the wonderful Appell an die Muse song) and a poster with the lyrics. This band has always been very aware of esthetics…
Angels of Light – New Mother
November 20, 2001 by
The legendary formation The Swans was active from 1982 till 1997 and has produced countless great releases. In recent times Michael Gira is focusing on other things, like this one, The Angels of Light, his first post-Swans project. It is already out for some time, but I only recently bought it in a Parisian 2nd-hand store…
Ozymandias + Elijah‘s Mantle – The Soul of Romanticism
November 20, 2001 by
Spoken word by Mark St. John Ellis of Elijah’s Mantle, accompanied on piano by Cristophe Terrettaz (Ozymandias), that is the line-up for this poetic collaboration. All songs are based on poems from the Romantic Era by various English poets: Shelley, Keats, Wordworth, Coleridge and Lord Byron. The nice, warm voice of St…
Letum – The Entrance to Salvation
November 20, 2001 by
Already after a few sounds you are not surprised that this album is released by the Swedish Cold Meat label. This is dark ambient at its best! Letum is a solo project of Mattias Henriksson, who worked at this debut album between 1998 and 2001. The bandname Letum means ‘death’ and it is also the name of a god in the underworld…
Dies Natalis – Vom Gedanken… und der Erinnerung
November 20, 2001 by
This new German neo-folk band made a good impression on me with their 10″ Raunen, released on the Eis & Licht label, which is almost a guarantee for quality (see vinyl reviews). Of that record two great tracks are present here: ‘Rain’ and ‘We stand’, though for some reason they seemed to sound better on the record…
