Pyramids & Wraiths - Magpie & Raven (2012)

Band: Pyramids & Wraiths
Country: Denton, Texas/Edinburgh, UK
Style: Shoegaze/Drone
Label: Aurora Borealis

As most will know, I love everything that R. Loren does, from his record label Handmade Birds, to various musical projects (Pyramids, Sailors With Wax Wings, White Moth), and I wind up trying to cover anything he puts out. This is the second release in a coming trilogy Pyramids has collaborated with other artists on, the first being their collaboration with Horseback last year. Like that collaboration, we have only one track on this release expressing everything inside.
As several may already know, I wasn't too keen on last year's A Throne Without A King collaboration between Horseback and Pyramids. While it certainly had some interesting ideas, it felt directionless and more than a little pretentious to me. That's not to say I wasn't looking forward to this release, because I certainly was, but that last collaboration kind of worried me for what might have resulted from Pyramids working with Wraiths. Having only become a fan of them within the last few months I can't really say what I was expecting from this release, but knowing Pyramid's knack for writing superb dream-like shoegaze and Wraiths' ability for crafting drones that have both substance and mood, I hoped for something amazing.
As if to silence all questions and doubts about this collaboration, the track bursts open with one of the most epic sounding doom metal sections I've heard in a good while. I'm going to be really nitpicky here and say that I didn't care for the drum pattern accompanying that section, which is used later in the song, I certainly have no qualms with it. As for the rest of the track, both projects manage to convey a great sense of self and individuality while making the track sound jaw-dropping in its cohesion. The movement of each section is near flawless, moving from doom into dreamy shoegaze and then into pure ambient, and that's all within the first six minutes of the track. I can't tell you how excited I was while listening to this. Each section just worked as a whole and did more than I had hoped. I was actually surprised by how late in the track that the use of actual noise and feedback was used, the track is pretty quiet and makes use of it far more sparingly early on and doesn't give you a full blast until you're somewhere around two-thirds of the way done with the track but unlike the collaboration with Horseback, the drones used here don't feel quite as haphazardly done and work in conjunction with the other ideas present throughout the rest of the track. Having said all of that, with it only being one track (twenty-five minutes long) and I can't help but wish there was more, either that the track was longer or that there were more tracks. But once again, that's a very small gripe.
Overall it's a really enjoyable piece that just gave me everything I wanted and more. I can only hope that the final part in this trilogy of releases is somewhere near this album, in terms of quality, because this is great. As if I need to say so by now but, check this out, it's a must for this year for sure.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: There's Only One Track

Wreathes - Wreathes (2012)

Band: Wreathes
Country: Madison, Wisconsin
Style: Neo-folk
Label: Pesanta Urfolk

Neofolk is a genre of music that, in my opinion, has become rather stagnant in recent years. Most of the best, most unique, and memorable bands came around during the genre's inception and very few bands manage to do much with it as of recently. Pesanta Urfolk has really been praising this album as one of the few to do that.
In my case, when I think of neo-folk, I think of groups like Current 93, Sol Invictus, Death In June, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud, just to name a few. They're all fairly well known and respected among underground music fans. But what does that really have to do with this debut full-length from Wreathes? Well seeing as both Troy Schafer and Nathaniel Ritter have quite a bit of experience in their own right when it comes to making folk music, if anyone's bound to make an album to push the boundaries of neo-folk, these guys have more of a shot than most others. With projects like Burial Hex, Kinit Her, and Rain Drinkers, among others, under their belt, I think that coming into a record made by these men, and knowing that it has some sort of folk based sound, is a sure sign that you're going to get some quality material.
So, why all the hype? What's so special about this project to make people claim that it's the most exciting thing to be produced within the neo-folk genre in years? Well, that's exactly what I asked myself, luckily it didn't take long to get an answer. If you've listened to any of the bands I mentioned above, or other well known groups and projects, you should have a pretty good idea of what these guys are going for, but what makes them stand out among the other new groups doing neo-folk is their songwriting chops. Like I just said above, both Schafer and Ritter have experience in folk music, making use of everything from traditional songwriting to free-form and improvisational styles, so they definitely have a grasp on what it takes to make a good folk based album. But perhaps I'm selling this album a bit too short, because it is obviously more than just another neo-folk album. There are traces of post-rock, ambient music, and perhaps more obviously martial industrial in various forms all over this record. They're all kind of blended together into the boiling melting pot that is this record but to call it any one of those specifically (obviously I'm using neo-folk as a sort of overarching term to describe this album) is selling this record short because it is so much more.
I'm not going to lie, some of the more free-form and improvisational folk releases these guys have been a part of and released, that I've heard, I haven't been that into. When it comes to folk music, I do happen to enjoy a good majority of it, but I happen to enjoy good songwriting and good songwriters. Setting a mood and atmosphere is good, but in my mind, it's important to balance the two and not really let one completely overpower the other, which has been the case on a few prior releases. On here however, the balance is maintained throughout each of the six tracks, giving the more traditional song structures more breathing room and allowing them to open up in ways far more impressive than I ever expected. Songs like Odes or Speech of The Tides begin as more straight-up neo-folk songs but wind up becoming far more expansive and immersive before they close out. I don't mean to discount the other songs on here, but personally, those were two songs that really broke the mold of what I was expecting from this record. I don't think I can call this record ritualistic, it doesn't quite have that haze or mysterious quality about it that makes a record seem ritualistic to me (to me mind you) but if I had to call it anything, I'd definitely have to say that it's authentic. None of these tracks feel like these two guys just went through the motions to record a bunch of songs, you can just feel the passion and heart that went into this album.
Despite how much I enjoy listening to this record, I do have a bit of trouble saying that this is the most exciting thing to emerge from the whole neo-folk scene (in a while). It's more than certainly above average in pretty much every category I can think of off the top of my head, but there's just one thing that I just can't place that's missing from it. Nevertheless, it's more than certainly worth checking out and worth whatever you pay for it.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: The Reigns, Speech of The Tides

Mount Eerie - Clear Moon (2012)

Band: Mount Eerie
Country: Anacortes, Washington
Style: Singer-Songwriter/Ambient
Label: P.W. Elverum & Sun

Looking back, I think Mount Eerie was probably one of the first, if not the first, purely folk based band I had ever gotten into. Phil Elverum's rather stripped down but always imaginative form of folk music just hit a chord with me. In addition to that, I guess Elverum embracing black metal as an influence probably had something to do with me checking him out to begin with.
It probably won't come as any surprise that Wind's Poem was my introduction to Phil Elverum's work. It should come as no surprise that after hearing that I went back and listened to other releases he's put out and wound up finding a really great songwriter. Though it's hard to say that he's made an impact on the folk scene, or indie folk to be more specific, I can't help that his more recent output has been sort of glossed over by the amounts of praise he's received from the likes of Wind's Poem and by those who just don't care for that album at all. Maybe I just haven't dug deep enough but I have yet to find other artists within the indie folk scene that have his imagination and sense of exploration. While this is nowhere near the harsh and distorted wall of sound that he explored on his last full-length, the sound of this album is far more approachable and relaxing (you be the judge if you find that to be a good or bad thing).
Personally, and take this for what you will, I actually found this to be a less engaging release than a lot of the other material Elverum has released in the past, and I don't mean that necessarily as a bad thing. Like I just said, I think this is still a very approachable album, but it's not the sort of album with a bunch of songs and ideas on it that he's released in the past, instead, it's a more experimental piece. For me, it's basically his incorporation and experimentation with drone and ambient music, in a similar way to what he did with black metal. Having said that, to say that there's a lot of silence on here would be incorrect, though a lot of ideas on here can certainly be traced back to drone and ambient music, which is most obviously heard in the background, the use of more electronic elements are all over these songs. Whether it be the synth odyssey of the title-track or the more panoramic use of various instruments and sounds on Lone Bell, there's always something different going on. Though I didn't find the dubstep-ish influence on House Shape to be enjoyable, I certainly do respect Elverum for at least trying to incorporate it into the project, it's just not something I particularly enjoy. I can get past the use of auto-tune on the title-track but for some reason dubstep just makes me cringe. The more "typical" songs on here more than make up for a few missteps (at least to me) though with stellar melodies, huge and melancholic atmospheres, and somber instrumentation.
Even though I didn't enjoy this more than Wind's Poem, it's certainly up there and I do view it as one of Elverum's best releases to date. I think the good songs are really good with some great ideas but then there are songs that are just meh for me because I don't like the direction of the track. As a whole though, it's certainly worth checking out.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: The Place I Live, Lone Bell, Clear Moon

Iblis - Menthell (2012)

Band: Iblis
Country: Cracow, Poland
Style: Progressive Black Metal
Label: D.T.M. Productions

I was emailed about this album a couple of months ago and based on the style that the band told me it was alone, I knew I had to hear it. Since then I guess I've just been putting it off and putting it off until recently. It's just one of those things that I just needed to have some time to really sit and focus on it to really finally get it.
As I've said before, some of my favorite groups, ever, are bands like Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, but alongside that I have a love for all things quirky and weird musically, whether they happen to be the funk-rock of Primus or the overly technical prog-metal of Spiral Architect. At this point I'm sure you're wondering what most of these bands have to do with this album, and, at the core of it, not much, but the reason I bring them up is the presence of bass in their music. When I first got this album and based on the description the band told me, I was expecting something totally different, especially when they used the term post-black metal, I tend to associate it more with the post-rock influenced side of black metal than the weirder side (to which it's better suited for anyway). This is pretty far from the likes of Alcest or Fen and closer to what I'd imagine a fusion between Spiral Architect, early Solefald, and modern Satyricon would sound like, with maybe some added quirkiness from any of the bands mentioned above thrown in as well. It's totally weird.
To go back to the whole bass connection quickly though. I love bands that have a strong presence of bass in their music, even if it might take me a little while to get used to it, they wind up being some of my favorite musical acts. This band is no different. Musically, it really reminds me of Solefald's pension for weirdness while having the songwriting chops of Satyricon. So, you have pretty concise and structured like straightforward rock songs, but aside from that, the music bounces from traditional black metal to fusion to hard rock, hell I'll say funk rock just to throw that into the mix as well, hear Origin. With the number of bands coming out these days, being original, in terms of just doing something no one else has done not necessarily just doing something unique in a genre, but something unlike anyone else at all, is getting exceptionally harder and so when a new/new-ish band comes out with a record that is unlike anything else I have heard, I love it.
But like so many things, a vocalist in a band like this has to fit the music, and if they don't it can leave the entire album feeling rather bland (which has happened in the past believe it or not). Luckily for anyone who checks out this album, the vocals prove to be just as eccentric as the music. I really have to commend Zgred for the wide array of techniques and styles he uses throughout. You have your standard screams and growls but you also have more punk-ish bellows, off-kilter crooning, barking, slobbering (not kidding!), whistling, and many other forms of vocalizations. How he managed to make lyrics to fit music as weird as this is a marvel to me but he does it and I have nothing but good things to say about his performance on here. I will provide a warning to anyone who checks this out that there is the potential that you may not like the vocals, I know that there are some who don't enjoy eccentric vocalists, no matter how much they enjoy the music, but do not let that stop you from checking out this album.
It may be because I love weird bands for the sake of being weird, but this band also has songwriting chops which leaves several tracks stuck in my head in one form or another. I really hope people check this out because there really need to be more bands like this one who take chances at just doing whatever they want. Highly recommended, go get this now!
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: White Claudia, Don't Eat My Legs, Origin

Sauroctonos - Our Cold Days Are Still Here When The Lights Are Out (2012)

Band: Sauroctonos
Country: Cherkasy, Ukraine
Style: Progressive/Post-Black Metal
Label: Visionaire/Arx Productions

I first heard of this band last year when I was on a post-black metal/blackgaze forum and the band were trying to raise some hype for this record. They were unsigned at the time and I think they were trying to get signed at the time, but their cover stuck with me long after I had forgotten their name. I didn't even remember them when I found this album, but the cover made me think back and attempt to remember (then I saw the band photo and it hit me).
Back when I was posting and commenting on a post-black metal/blackgaze forum (I wish I remembered the name) I remember these guys posting up some links and photos for this album, which I believe wasn't completed as of yet, but it really struck me. Like I said above, I kind of forgot about them until I saw their band photo when I was getting this review together, but even when I figured out who these guys were it was pretty shocking. The sound on here is different than what I remember it being (it was a while ago so I might not be remembering correctly here) but is actually a lot better. I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination that these guys play a style which is rooted in the whole blackgaze and post-rock influenced black metal sound, but what made me take notice was not only that these guys were very capable musicians but they put together some rather inspiring songs.
While the album as a whole is very well constructed, I do have reservations about the use of electronics on here. I wouldn't ever say that they're bad, especially since they don't really intrude on a song very much, but I question both their relevance or why the band didn't make more use of them. For the purpose they're used for on here, I think it definitely worked out for the better as they enhance the section of the song they happen to be used in as well as change the vibe of a song, in the case of closer Farewell, from a rather melancholic piece into something that's a bit more uplifting and, I'd say, danceable. It works, but I am curious how the band will go about using them, if at all, in their future recordings.
But on a more positive note, the songs on here are all pretty decent in their lengths, but unlike a lot of groups within the whole blackgaze and modern post-black metal scenes these guys have far more interesting song structures and ideas. I'm not going to say this is going to hit you as super original, but there are clear nods to the likes of Opeth, Katatonia, among other metal groups but also some pretty sizeable post-punk as well. The sounds of this recording also doesn't have too much in common with the tons of bands taking influence from shoegaze either. It's a far more stripped down recording and sounds more like a couple of guys just playing through these songs rather than layers upon layers of extra instrumentation to bulk up a track. That more naturalistic sounding production also benefits the band in allowing the bass lines to really come out from underneath the more mid-paced riffing of the guitars. I'd also like to make a case for how diverse this record is, while still remaining consistent, you have more dynamic tracks that move from blistering black metal to somber acoustic passages, as displayed on opener Lights Out, then there's more straightforward aggressive tracks, My Name Escapes Me, or the third "style" which is more in line with the whole post-metal mentality, which I guess is the closest to the whole post-rock influenced black metal style, which happens in last two-thirds of the album. I just really think these guys have crafted something great.
It's a very impressive debut album from a band that shows a lot of promise. I look forward to hearing more great material from this band in the future. Definitely check these guys out if you're into more naturalistic sounding post-black metal while still having dynamics, which I know that sounds pretty convoluted but is true. This is well worth hearing this year.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Lights Out, Empty Grave Empty Faces

So Much For Nothing - Livsgnist (2012)

Band: So Much For Nothing
Country: Oslo, Norway
Style: Progressive/Depressive Black Metal
Label: My Kingdom Music

With the releases from bands like Abyssic Hate, Shining, and Bethlehem coming out from the mid to late 90s helping to start the whole dsbm sub-genre, you'd be inclined to think that the evolution of two of those bands would inspire further groups. Since the whole dsbm genre has basically gone to crap in the last handful of years, inspiring less good music, more bands would be willing to take more chances. What we happen to have here is one of those projects.
I guess I should just open this up right now and say that there is some serious Shining (Swe) worship going on here. If you're not a fan of them, chances are you won't dig this so much. There's a very similar atmospheric and production sound on here that recalls the more recent work from Sweden's suicidal darlings. Hell vocalist Kvarforth even comes in to do a guest spot on the album centerpiece Suffer In Silence. Personally, I don't really have a problem with that, I like Shining and the more bands that take influence from other good bands, the better. This band also has a pension for samples which, personally, I'm still pretty iffy on, while they fit the overall mood, I think that they're too loud in the mix and are somewhat distracting from what turns out to be some of the most beautiful moments on the album. Though I'd say these guys aren't as riff heavy as their Swedish counterparts, they certainly have a few more creative ideas in their pocket. Right off the bat this two man band presents a sound which, may not be the most original at this point anymore, but still stands up as being a pretty good idea nonetheless, of bringing in a saxophone. The use of cello, violin, trumpet, and piano throughout the rest of the album is also pretty indicative of the duo's willingness to go outside of standards for the whole dsbm label and just try out some more experimental stuff.
Probably my biggest problem with this album is just that these songs are pretty inconsistent, at least to me. While I wouldn't declare any of them to be bad, when I listen to them, a whole song just doesn't stick with me, only parts of a song, and to some that may work. For example, that opener I mentioned, it has a lot of cool ideas, using a sax to open the track, using some sparce piano throughout the track, and a pretty solid mood, but the song itself just isn't all that special. The following two tracks are more opposites to each other with One Last Night having a pretty anthemic chorus, but the rest of the song just sort of being meh, Perfect is great except for the chorus. I'm not saying that the album is bad, but there just wasn't a song where I found myself enjoying the entire thing, just sections of it, which is more of a personal thing, maybe others do enjoy entire songs.
I know that when most people think of dsbm they think of lo-fi, or just plain shit, production. Much like more recent bands (Shining, Lifelover [R.I.P.], Omitir) SMFN has opted for a much slicker and well produced sound. Though I wouldn't exactly call it polished or super clean, it's still sounds very modern, and that might turn some people off. Personally, for a release like this, I think it does work, it still retains it's rather melancholic atmosphere and the guitars still sound like they're distorted while it allows clarity for the horns and strings to come through. Just thought it was worth a mention, it might not please everyone, but it does work.
It's fine, I kind of had higher expectations for the album based on what I had read and the one track (don't remember which one it was) that I listened to before covering this, but thems the breaks. It's certainly leagues ahead of the dozens of other dsbm bands and these guys have some really good ideas, I just think they need to work a bit more on their songwriting. If you're fans of more clean sounding atmospheric black metal, in the vein of Shining, check these guys out.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Perfect, Suffer In Silence, Livsgnist

Vintersorg - Orkan (2012)

Band: Vintersorg
Country: Skellefteå, Sweden
Style: Folk Metal/Progressive Rock
Label: Napalm

Vintersorg is one of those projects that just seems to change after a few records. I love the mainman (Andreas Hedlund) and most of his projects but it's obvious to see that his heart tends to always come back to this band for his most creative ideas. I wasn't all that keen on last year's Jordpuls record, so I wasn't really all that excited about this record, but I always want to hear good things from Vintersorg (conflicting feelings, I know).
This was an interesting album for me to get my head around. It wasn't the same weird prog-metal that albums like Visions From The Spiral Generator or The Focusing Blur were, but instead, more of the progressive folk metal that Vintersorg has been experimenting with on his last two full-lengths. The reason I say it was interesting was because when I first skimmed through the album, I was really not all that into it. All I heard was a lot of the orchestral side of the album, and it didn't really hit me as being anything great. I can't say I came into the album expecting too much anyway since I wasn't overly into last year's Jordpuls, but on every consecutive listen after the initial skim proved to really catch me off guard.
I guess I should just point out, if you weren't aware of it already, that despite this album and the two that came before it are folk metal albums, it's far more metallic and aggressive than a good percentage of what's typically called folk metal. You'll find references to Hedlund's past in black metal throughout these more recent albums. I just felt the need to clear that up for those who were expecting something peppy and party-esque because of that folk metal tag. Aside from that, in terms of the tone of the record, though none of the albums the project has turned out have ever been too dark sounding, the one on here is downright upbeat in my opinion. It's still nowhere near that happy-go-lucky, drink and party stuff that makes me want to puke, but these songs are actually quite uplifting. I wouldn't call this album sugary or bright sounding (like Anathema, who I happen to love) but there is very little on here that brings to mind darkness or hatred, which would certainly account for the clean vocals having a larger presence on here.
To return to my first impressions of the album for a minute, while I do think every album is worthy of several listens before review, this is one of those albums that gave me something different every time I listened to it. The first listen supplied me with pretty much the first thing I heard while skimming through it, the more orchestral and symphonic bits, and you know what, those sections were actually really well put together. The second listen provided what I guess would normally stand out on a first listen, the vocals and the choruses, which were surprisingly memorable. The third time then had the riffs stand out to me. After the first three listens it was only smaller inflections of them, though no less impactful. It has to be said that this is probably the most catchy and most memorable a Vintersorg record has been since 2000's masterwork, Cosmic Genesis.
While I don't think it tops the performance he did on the Borknagar record from earlier this year (which is still great) I do think this is the most consistent and most memorable material Hedlund has released under this project in some time. It's easily some of the best folk metal (sub-genres aside) I've heard in some time and stands out among his discography for being so well written and performed. Definitely worth looking into if you happen to enjoy interesting folk metal.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Ur Stjärnstoft Är Vi Komna, Myren, Urvädersfången