Songs about wars with dwarves, the cleansing of a medieval monastery, the gathering of the uruki. This third cd by Za Frûmi comes after two albums devoted to orcs, the not so friendly creatures invented by Tolkien. It is no coincidence that this music is released by Waerloga Records. This young Swedish label is dedicated to publishing music inspired by dark fantasy and historic, often medieval events.
Za Frûmi, consisting of Simon Kolle and Simon Heath, create neo-classical soundtrack-like music. I first heard this album the day after I watched the third The Lord of the Rings episode, The Return of the King. Then I was really in the mood for this album. Its medieval, classical music reminded me of acts like the Soil Bleeds Black, Pazuzu, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas’ or Aardia. Rather tranquil, with organs, flutes and bells, choirs and some sparse fantasy samples.
Now, a month later, I can listen to it with more critical distance. I still like the atmosphere of ‘Legends Act I’, but as the album continues I miss some variation and fresh ideas. The overly synthetic character becomes too obvious, and I would not mind something deviating, like a song with vocals.
Certainly not a bad album, but also not essential. A few tracks are very nice, like the opener “Dwarven wars’, which has a lot of tension, the cinematic ‘Za Shulg’ or the rather bombastic ‘The Cleansing (act 1). Good background music when you’re playing role playing games. Perhaps Za Frûmi could do a soundtrack for a big fantasy movie one day.
