Album Review: Sivyj Yar – From the Dead Villages’ Darkness

Label: Avantgarde Music

Release Date: 9/20/14

One man black metal bands are intriguing. From madmen like Leviathan to Xasthur, black metal has owed part of its heritage to duo and one-man acts serving as multi-instrumentalists in a sub-genre that has seen much repetition. Sure, countless clones have tried the same approach, but have failed mightily, with exception to such aforementioned acts, which fans love for their individuality and authenticity. In an era where the DIY approach has taken the reins from major labels, it is still humbling to catch the occasional glimpse at genius in manifest. Sivyj Yar is one such band.

Album Review: Nebelung – Palingenesis

(Source: Bandcamp)

Label: Temple of Torturous

Release Date: 2/18/14

Nebelung‘s Palingenesis, the German trio’s most complex set of achingly gorgeous folk-inflected instrumentals to date, is prone to be miscategorized. There’s a first-impressions inclination to group it under the same canopy as Ulver’s Kveldssanger and the discography of Tenhi and Wardruna. That’s not wrong, especially if one is grasping for comparison points when recommending it to friends. Palingenesis, like the aforementioned, evokes the bleakness, melancholy, and simmering frustration of black metal presented via more restrained means. It’s the subdued sound of survival; of hardy men and women, their tenuous hold on existence, and the surrounding tiny miracles of the natural world working to kill them. Yes, right, name-checking similar purveyors is a lot easier than dredging a thesaurus for “hushed” synonyms. Except the genre/style classification isn’t the flubbed tag to be worried about. No, it’s the mistake of reading any paean to Palingenesis as dressing up the stuffy and boring as good for you, as if it was bland broccoli covered in croutons. The error here is tricking oneself, a br00ful enthusiast, into thinking Nebelung belongs to the neutered NPR set. Again, on the surface, sure. Clear the leaves, though, and you’ll find unexpected, terrifying vastness, akin to sitting down at the movies and having the person behind you whisper into your ear, “Just a reminder: You’re going to die. 100% unavoidable.” It’s heavy. Heavier than whatever stream you click today. Unless you’re streaming down Acheron. If so, make sure to flip some change to Stefan Otto.

EP Review: Saiva – Finnmarkens Folk

(Source: Bandcamp)

Geographically the Finnmark is the northernmost part of Scandinavia, bordering on the east to Russia. Politically most of the territory associated with the Finnmark pertains to Norway, while some parts of the landscape originally inhabited by the Sami reach into Sweden and Finland. A more strict view defines the Finnmark as the strip of land that falls into the Arctic circle.

This is where Saiva has based the tales featured on debut 7’’ EP Finnmarkens Folk. Preferring anonymity, as stated by label Nordvis, Saiva gives away nothing but the description “dark folkish metal from the arctic latitudes.” Saiva, based in northern Sweden, shares a common home with Nordvis, operated by Stilla’s Andreas Petterson in the woodlands of Västerbotten. These origins are reflected in the lyrics of Finnmarkens Folk, which deal with “a forgotten time when people struggled to survive the arctic wild.” Petterson sheds some light on Saiva’s inspiration by loosely translating the Swedish term “Finnmark” into English: “wilderness.”

Now Available on Vinyl: Falls of Rauros – The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood

Some of you may be familiar with Maine’s own folk-influenced black metal act, Falls of Rauros. In 2011, the band released The Light That Dwells In Rotten Wood (which was an amazing album) via Bindrune Recordings. It is now 2013, and Replenish Records has lit a new torch. They have just pressed this album on vinyl for the first time.

This is NOT a release to sleep on. It features new artwork and album layout, put together by Austin Lunn (Panopticon, Seidr).  Austin also plays drums on tracks one to six. The photographs included in the album were taken by Austin’s wife, Bekah. On top of the new art/layout overhaul, the entire album has been re-mastered by Mell Dettmer (Seattle, WA). Mell has done work for bands including Sunn O))), Alda, Wolves In The Throne Room, Sleep, Earth, and many others. Side D of this double LP includes a bonus unreleased track, titled “All That Howling Fog.” The track is just over 12 minutes long, and was originally going to be the closing track of the CD. The band was not satisfied with the song, so they replaced it with another.

The Light That Dwells Within Rotten Wood is available via Replenish Records, you can purchase it here.

Limited to 300 copies on black double vinyl.

– Matt McNair

Album Review: Falkenbach – Åsa

(Source: Prophecy Productions)

Folk metal is quite a multifaceted metal sub-genre in this day and age. On one hand you have bands dedicated to musical exploration and preservation of their culture, their history and their folklore. Bands such as Primordial, Moonsorrow (especially later Moonsorrow), Agalloch, and Wardruna fit this description well. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have bands who use folk melodies to essentially create metal versions of drinking songs. Your Finntrolls, Korpiklaanis, and Alestorms and those like them. Nothing against them personally but it’s no secret that they’re not attempting to make any sort of poignant artistic statement on the human condition with their music such as the bands in the former category and I’m sure they’d be the first to admit that.