Ols - Ols (2016)

Poland's Ols is a neofolk project that it's female mastermind describes as being influenced by black metal. While I can't exactly give her the benefit of the doubt on that, especially after listening to the disc itself, I can say that the Katatonia and Agalloch covers certainly seem to place it into that category. But what we've got here is a bit more etheric, and it sometimes even sounds a bit jaunty. I'm quite reminded of various pieces from The House In Fata Morgana soundtrack, especially in the first few tunes that play during the novel's opening tale. In fact, one of the cuts entitled “Krew Na Mchu” reminds me almost directly of the music that you hear while playing the game, and makes this record almost a must if you loved the folk interpretations utilized there. Her voice is absolutely hypnotizing, almost making for what feels like a ritualistic sort of sound similar to something from Qntal or possibly even Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. “Kolysanka” is one such piece where vocalization seems to prove stronger than actual phrases, making what again feels deeply spiritual and inhuman. If the sounds of a woman chanting amidst a sea of folk instrumentations entices you, then you will certainly find something here. It isn't a heavy metal album obviously, and is something that you would probably want to put on later at night to cool off a little before slumber. Thirty-four of the forty minutes on this record consist of original pieces, but the final two tracks on the record are “Unfurl” (Katatonia) which works extremely well as an acapella piece and “Bloodbirds” (Agalloch) which forms a nice closer, but is too short for me to truly recall. That being said, overly impressive and heartfelt neofolk is being utilized here and I do believe that fans of folk, ethereal, darkwave and other genres will find something in it. I don't really hear the frozen chill of black metal here, but it certainly comes off as something intriguing enough to get your hands on. Ols is definitely worth a listen, but just make sure that you're a place of quiet contemplation when you listen to it, as some parts can get a bit deep.

(8 Tracks, 40:00)

8/10

Netherbird - Pillars Of The Sky (2016)

For some odd reason, the Swedish black metal act then decided to release another single and this is where I begin to get just a little heated. The record releases on the 28th, but this single released on September 30th. They couldn't wait to just release the album? What's more, is that while we have another on-album cut in “Pillars Of The Sky”, (which sounds more like a folk-tinged melodic death than black metal, think Insomnium) we also have “Brazen Splendour.” Just like it's partner “Sculptors and Spectres” it will not be on the album either. I've also checked online and can't find any version of the disc where these songs would be added. Additionally, “Brazen Splendour” is a very strong song. I like it much more than the cut this single is named after. “Pillars Of The Sky” was a bit slow for me, but this cut is thundering, pounding and full of fine folk influence. It reminds me of early Amon Amarth, when they actually still took some folk and black metal influence. There was absolutely no excuse to not put a track this awesome on the full-length disc. It's not even on the vinyl. Wow, I'm just very disappointed. I guess when The Grander Voyage comes out, you can go pick up that one and then check out these other two tracks on YouTube or something.

According to what I've seen from Metal Archives, the length of the forthcoming is only around forty-two minutes. Adding both of these extra cuts will only increase the playing time by a mere eleven minutes. So there was definitely enough room for them on The Grander Voyage. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound “entitled” or anything like that, but I do feel that when a band records an album, they should just release everything on the forthcoming disc. Usually, there are at least special or limited edition versions of a CD where the bonus tracks are added to the performance. In this case, The Grander Voyage would have only benefitted from that. As I stated, I didn't care much for “Pillars Of The Sky” but “Brazen Splendour” is definitely one of my favorite songs in this genre, in quite a while. I played it twice in a row, that's just how good it was. So if we look at this in a reviewer's perspective, I would probably have given the full-length a better score if these cuts were added to it. “Windwards” was a strong song, I liked it quite a bit. Yet as I'll say again, I wasn't all that pleased with the main cut here and they should have just thrown it out and called the single “Brazen Splendour.” To be honest, if the band had released “Windwards” with “Pillars Of The Sky” as a secondary cut, that would have been fine. Then right before the album released, “Brazen Splendour” could have packaged with “Sculptors and Spectres” as a secondary cut, allowing people the opportunity to purchase the bonus tracks as a whole.

The single is only two dollars, so it wouldn't have been a bad price for the bonus cuts, if it had been marketed that way. In any case, you can pick it up and listen to “Brazen Splendour” as many times as you like. I was reminded of Once Sent From The Golden Hall and believe me, that's more than enough sometimes.

(2 Tracks, 12:00)

8/10

Neoheresy - Potop (2016)

You know, it really says something when one guy can make an album that sounds like an entire band and orchestra composed it. Now, to be fair – it doesn't sound quite as full as a performance of that nature might, but it is definitely still able to embody the same effects with little effort. I don't know where the male and female background vocals are coming from (as they aren't credited) but composer F is quite something. My leaflet here tells me that the performance has guitar nodes similar to Bathory and I'll certainly agree there, but it also states that quite a bit of folk is in use here and I like that as well. All of the lyrics are in native Polish, but this should not come as a detriment for open-minded listeners who just plain enjoy a nice atmopshere. It's not even so much about the vocal sections for me here, nor is it about the recording. Neoheresy have a raw and organic sound that really comes across rather well in what I might describe as a rather harsh, yet rather stereoscopic production that almost sounds like something of a metallic film score.

Obviously this isn't Neoheresy's first record, but it's quite a bit for an EP release and shows that this artist isn't going away anytime soon, for he has far too much to offer us in the future. If I might recall, the record before this one (Talionis) had a bit of an industrial flair, which you aren't getting with Potop. Once again, this just goes to show listeners that one man is capable of musical miracles, with thirty-six minutes of proof to back my claim. The disc often feels ritualistic, and probably is. It also has a tinge of black metal, which early listeners might recall being a major part of the act. Maybe there's just a touch of electronics here and there, but I'm certainly not going to hold it against F and wish him the best with these works. Can't turn down a solid blackened fok metal record with experimental touches. It's just not in me.

(8 Tracks, 36:00)

8/10

Tanzwut - Schreib Es Mit Blut (2016)

Like a mixture of In Extremo and Rammstein, or more closely related to Subway To Sally, German folk rockers Tanzwut have returned with their tenth studio album, Schreib Es Mit Blut (Write It With Blood.) These guys are classified as something called Neue Deusch Härte, which aparently goes all of the way back to Rammstein's debut record, Herzeleid (1995) and seems quite fitting here. As I've stated, Tanzwut sound more closely related to an act like Subway To Sally then they do Rammstein and I'll add that both bands nearly sound identical except for the vocal end of things, where Mike “Teufel” Paulenz commands a rougher style of vocal edge than Michael “Bodenski” Boden, who has a decidedly different approach. Regardless of that, both bands seem to incorporate a great deal of down-tuned riffing and folk-influence (“Bruder Leichtsinn” sounds like Rammstein with bagpipes) which works for me, as I've been a fan of this style since first discovering Rammstein around the Mutter era. I find myself enjoying the choruses just as much as I would have from Subway, Mergaherz, Eisbrecher or Rammstein and that's a great thing in my book. The bagpipes also work extremely well in the background and give a very unique layer of depth to the music. It's on the same level as Subway To Sally, but has a bit more punch and bite than I've heard from them in recent years. This being my second listen of the record, I feel that things really start to take off around the aforementioned “Bruder Leichtsinn” and will add that the first two cuts (yes, even the title track that opens the record) kind of fell a bit flat for me. It's not that these were bad pieces, but I suppose I was expecting the record to take off with a little bit more of a bang than this.

By the time we get to “Stille Wasser” which seems to take off in the direction of straight-forward folk, we are soon greeted to another cut in the same vein as the disc's second track “Steig Ein” called “Reicher Als En Konig.” It's admittedly less thump and more straight-forward rock, but I wouldn't say that it's terrible. “Hahnenkampf” does however mix a bit more of that Rammstein formula into it's folk-fueled nature, as “Wenn Ich Tot Bin” seems to continue that folk-rock feel in what almost seems like an anthem to sailing the seven seas. With the Celtic influence in the bagpipes, I'm almost feeling like this record would delight as many fans of German hard rock as it would fans of Scottish bagpipe players. It may even delight the Scottish bagpipers themselves, but who knows? Moving on, we soon get to “Bleib Bei Mir” in which the traditional Rammstein influence reasserts itself, but not for long as the triumphant anthem “Wer Wir Sind” soon erupts forth from my speakers and has me looking out my window to see if there is indeed some sort of vessel about to leave port. The rain is pouring so thickly right now that such an occurrence would not surprise me. The disc ends with a very light-hearted rocker by the name of “Neue Ufer” which seems like a good place to say “Auf Wiedersehen.”

Yet there's one more cut on the disc, which features the album's only ballad of sorts “Stille Wasser” reimagined with Liv Kristine, who needs no introduction. Though Kristine's vocals are pushed to the back a little, (it is a duet, after all) I feel that is a rather strong rendition of the piece and seems a worthy enough bonus release for the digipack. At the end of it all, I can say that while the disc did feature a lot of what makes this kind of music memorable to me, it clearly features more folk-influences than I had anticipated. That isn't a bad thing though, as it brings a more light-hearted and different tone to the music than other bands might have offered. If you're going to begin a voyage out to sea, then I feel that this may be the kind of record you'll want to play in order to prepare yourself for the trip. The only things that I feel are missing from a performance like Screib Es Mit Blut are the whooshing of the ocean waves and the hearty sounds of seagulls.

(15 Tracks, 55:00)

7/10

Tusmorke - Fort Bak Lyset (2016)

Norway's Tusmorke are back and I've been waiting a long time to review this one, because like their last, I really enjoyed it. One song that really got me into these guys was “All Is Lost” a track I don't think I'll ever forget. I've played it several times and it always elicits the same feeling every time I do so. But truly every song was worth listening to on 2014's Riset Bak Speilet.

Running in at about forty-five minutes, Fort Back Lyset is just about as long as we'd expect for these guys and certainly feels much longer than that with all the trippy parts that occur on this record. The band combine folk rock and progressive music together here, which sometimes lifts you up and takes you into another world altogether. To me, that's one of the best feelings that you can have in a non-metal act and if I wasn't such a big metal head, it's assured that I'd be a damn hippie. In any case, “Et Djevelsk Marenitt” definitely brings us into that funky psychedelic world, and it comes along with flutes to add a bit more Tolkien flair to the performance. Keep in mind that the song itself starts out like something you might hear in a fairy forest before it drops LSD, but I'd seriously have it no other way. Once we get past that point, there's no going back as “De Reiser Fra Oss” works to remind us that the trip has already begun and if you're not seeing the floor melt by now, you soon will. As well as the ceiling and the walls. The rest of the world might indeed look like a Dali painting doused with a hint of Tolkien or George R. R. Martin. Imagine Game Of Thrones if the production team were taking hits of acid during the design phase, or hired Lewis Caroll on Laudanum.

Other than really trippy atmospheres that make the walls and ceilings turn to butter, the band also offer plenty of catchy moments. Even though the lyrics are all performed in the band's native Norwegian this time around, these sections are so catchy that it doesn't even matter. I don't even know what “yar” means, but let me tell you, I was certainly singing right along with them during the opener “Ekebergkongen” and the disc's title track. In addition to this, there's also a little bit of a lighter piece in “Spurvehauken” which seems almost like a forlorn ballad with a psychedelic injection. The way that these guys combine psychedelic funk music with Norwegian folk is something that I think is unparalleled, and just one listen of this stellar album is all you need to be convinced of their talent. If you're looking for a literal folky trip, then please give this one a listen. There's no one out there quite like Tusmorke.

(7 Tracks, 44:00)

8/10

Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus - Madness Incarnate (2016)

US ambient black metallers Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus have returned with a new EP that boasts about twenty minutes of new music. What's different here however, is the fact that there are several different vocalists here instead of one as well as an unexpected style of music for the instrumental closer, “Comte-Sponville.” We'll start out with the rather expected “Traversing The Frozen North” which sees a bevy of familiar tremolos and misty synths, as well as Gary Hadden (Lesch-Nyhan)on vocal duties. Hadden's vocals are closer to the black metal scowls that one would find compatible for such a tune and it works out fairly well. The next track and title cut has a little more of a doom nature and also features former Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus frontman Joel Robert Thompson on vocals. Thompson lends more to death metal, and the track itself is surprisingly a welcome change of pace from the band's more icy material. These powerful doom dirges work pretty well for the act, even though I feel the vocal filtering here isn't necessarily needed. The song is still relatively strong though. After that we have “Virgin Essence” which features James Dorton (Black Crown Initiate, Nightfire, others) whose main band has seen quite a bit of popularity as of late. There's also some weird vocal filtering here that sounds like an echo effect. I don't really see the use of this, but I will say that the leads here are pretty catchy, if not a bit folky and mysterious. The band are definitely getting better musically and I'm quite happy with several of the performances here on an instrumental level. Hadden returns for “Immaculate Deconception” where the band's common melodic black metal excursions are offset by slight bits of atmosphere and some spoken word vocals. The leads are exceptionally powerful in some areas here, almost reminding me a little bit of classic melodic death metal. I also like some of the drum frills here, as I can understand just what Mika Mage is trying to do with them. It works pretty well in some sections, leaving us off with a pretty good representation of what the band is and what they stand for. Though most importantly, it shows that they're getting better. The final track is “Comte-Sponville” which as I said, comes off as an unexpected surprise. The track seems to observe a more Latin style of music, something that comes off a little folky and perhaps even a bit western. Perhaps the band are going to employ this style on the next one, adding more credence to that budding “western black metal” movement I've heard coming out of California? Some listeners might compare such a piece to “elevator music” but I actually think this piece is kind of nice. It works like an ending credits and leaves us with a relatively satisfying listen all around.

(5 Tracks, 19:00)

8/10