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17 Nov 2010
Runa means mystery, and to me the word mystery conjures a dark, cloud-stained horizon, a pregnant foreboding, a sense of awe in the face of the wilds of nature. This album is an exploration of the spirit of the runes (eight of them to be exact), and insofar as it evokes exactly these same images…I have to pronounce it a brilliant … 10 Nov 2010
I guess the old Nietzschean Gay Science comes to mind in listening to this recording – because although it lightly dances across one’s ears, it certainly is not frivolous or light-weight. There’s a seeming effortlessness to the creative spark of this music, which celebrates darkness and light; intimacy and … 25 Oct 2010
It is no easy thing to capture the atmosphere and spirit of early 90’s Norwegian black metal, let alone imbue that (now all too often stale) aesthetic with vitality. Elhaz Othala Eihwaz, Aldrlag’s very limited edition demo/album, represents the most convincing attempt at such a feat that these ears have heard in a long … 6 Oct 2010
Obliquely chronicling one man’s overcoming of darkness, Cult of Youth’s new 20 minute long vinyl outing is a concise and powerful statement of kickass dark-folk … 30 Sep 2010
Lia Fail are a dark/neofolk outfit from Italy who have been doing the rounds for a while now. Restless Eyes is a little two song demo/single CD presented in classy packaging. For what it is I quite enjoyed it…but the great brevity of the release makes it hard to really form a concrete opinion of the … 29 Sep 2010
All in the Merry Month of May is a one-woman (with a few guests) folk outfit; with the debut release At Home we are offered a warm, quirky, DIY folk … 25 Sep 2010
There is a real mystique and awe surrounding Halo Manash, experimental psychic-sonic pioneers from Suomi whose unique menagerie of drones, found instruments, and primal spirit combine to yield a truly sonic experience of solemn but untamed … 25 Sep 2010
Review: The Empty Circle Part II: Trails of Blood and Fragments of the Tradition (The Joy of Nature)Earthy, richly layered, alternately dreamy and visceral, Trails of Blood and Fragments of the Tradition is a noble tribute to The Joy of Nature’s musical forebears, and a true celebration of life. A marvellous continuation of the trilogy of The Empty Circle, and a release which leaves me very excited to hear the concluding release of the … 25 Sep 2010
Heavily laden with synchronistic beauty, this is an album that rewards deep exploration and reflection. The music is rich, subtle, and evokes a string of all-encompassing worlds, like pearls on the necklace of the hermaphrodite Mercurius. Couto has fulfilled the ambition of this release with an assured genius that bodes well for the sequel albums in the series of The Empty … 8 May 2010
Imagine being seduced into the world of Merrie England, as John Michell would say: a quasi-mythical realm of music, craft, magic, the whole rustic tapestry of rural life. A world where animals are wiser than humans, and hedgerows bristle with mystery. No, that isn’t quite the world of Telling the Bees – they’re far too wise to naively devolve into such idealism – but it certainly echoes through every note of their new album, An English Arcanum, and if ever the folk mythology of Merrie England were attested by any kind of evidence, this album would be … 8 May 2010
Telling The Bees are a four piece folk band with a strong classical influence and they sing their stories with a poignancy and magic all their own. Oh, and every time I put this album on to play I am immediately, utterly … 6 May 2010
US nature-loving doom outfit Celestiial are an unusual beast. Where Life Springs Eternal, their second full length album, is a fascinating mix of heavy, droning funeral doom guitars, tortured vocals, and glacial percussion. Somehow they’ve managed to take the usually oppressive and choking tools of the funeral doom metal trade to evoke an almost soothing animistic atmosphere of forests and streams and mist on the air. It’s a strange and impressive … 4 May 2010
Loss is the debut album of UK black metal band Wodensthrone. It was recorded with the assistance of pagan black metal giants Negura Bunget, and sets out to explore the historical and cultural spirit of Europe’s pagan … 4 May 2010
Nechochwen’s second album, Azimuths to the Otherworld is an unusual and very creative release which takes time for the listener to fully absorb. The effort is worth … 25 Apr 2010
By now, I would assume most readers spanning these pages have read or at least heard of the journal TYR. Originally conceived as an annual publication that has proven otherwise over time, this third installment is nonetheless well-worth the wait. Dedicated to pre-Christian myth, culture and tradition in an Indo-European context, TYR contains a wealth of articles, music and book reviews with an undeniably anti-modernist slant that maintains a high standard of erudition and scholarship. Anyone looking for mere ideological rants should look elsewhere. As the editors make clear in the editorial preface, the radical traditionalism espoused provides a “nexus where any different number of ideas might intersect.” Echoing Oswald Spengler’s distinction of a “people” as opposed to a “mass” several decades ago, the various authors hardly treat the underlying key themes – “culture” and “civilization” as … 25 Apr 2010
Welsh Witches and Wizards is the first book to appear, in a series of four, focusing on the witchcraft of four regions of the British Isles. Well-researched and drawing mainly on documentary evidence, this initial treatise on the Welsh lore and practice of cunning-folk is carefully hewn into 8 concise … 17 Apr 2010
Blood of the Black Owl have carved a formidable reputation with their characteristic brand of Heathen-inflected “blackened doom metal,” as I am wont to call it. Knowing the impeccable standards to which band leader Chet Scott holds all of his creative projects (Ruhr Hunter, Elemental Chrysalis with Blood of the Black Owl comrade James Woodhead, etc), I was positively bursting at the thought of hearing this new album. And high as they were, my expectations have been completely … 17 Apr 2010
While many musical artists have tried to draw together naturalistic and industrial influences, few are particularly successful – the delicate synergy of elements required is all too easily missed. This album, however, is a brilliant example of how good a combination of musical genres they can … 13 Apr 2010
This book is unlike most compendiums of folktales for two reasons: firstly, the relative obscurity (in the English language at any rate) of the subject matter; and secondly, the unique and fascinating reflective threads with which the stories on offer are bound … 6 Apr 2010
I’ve always pined for the Dark Ages of Northern Europe, and never been able to justify it – let’s face it, the “barbarian” tribes have been brought into thorough disrepute by the dour Roman commentators of the late Empire. What a pleasure, then, to discover a book that dismantles those jaded opinions with wit and … |
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