Mauerbrecher – The Dutch Collection MMIII

Medieval music is getting good feedback nowadays. Expecially cross-over acts seem to be doing well, but mostly young people are enjoying this mind of music. The Danish one-man project Mauerbrecher makes medieval music with modern means. This is a very limited cd that collects material from two previous cd’s and some new material. The music Mauerbrecher produces is very good and therefore a
review had to be written.

The Dutch Collection MMIII opens with a robot voice that recites the Kyrie, after a while percussion and bagpipes join the chant and the listener is taken to a medieval realm. On the rest of songs on this disc it is less clear that computer technology was used to create the tracks. Some of the melodies are sample based, but most of these samples exist of music played by the musician himself. Due to this the music sounds organic and authentic.

‘Traubentritt’ is the highlight of the cd. This is very addictive dance tune with a good structure and timing. Precisely at the right moments something new happens in the song. Luckily ‘Saltarello’ is played in different way than normal, because every medieval band has done this tune. With ‘In Praise of May’ the cd closes with a very nice mood.

Mauerbrecher ranges amongst the best medieval acts that are around. Everything he does just sounds a little different than most bands, and most important a little bit better.

artist: Mauerbrecher
label: self-released
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