The Maudlin Month Of May

May has certainly been a dry month. A combination of summer sickness, crappy goings on and general ennui has left what seems like everyone with a despondent mood. It's even been quiet on the gigs front, with the only one planned for this month being Riverside in the quiet little countryside town of Holmfirth.

For this reason, amongst others, I've been burying myself in the blackened folk stylings of Moonsorrow for the most part. Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa has been on pretty much constant repeat, with the occasional foray into the more upbeat realms of Opeth's progressive death masterpiece Blackwater Park and Dark Tranquillity's most cheerful of albums, Projector.

On the subject of Moonsorrow, and in lieu of a proper review pending the reactivation of the communication centres of my brain, I can say that the Angry Metal Guy's review is spot on. It's a perfect production. Lately I've been increasingly becoming a fan of the blackened folk style, perhaps most notably represented by Agalloch. The sweeping soundscapes and deep emotional connections speak to me and appeal to the side of me that likes massive orchestrations over short-and-sweet singalong songs. Classical music often leaves me cold because, while the complexity and scale is there, too often I just can't connect with it. The music produced by Agalloch, Moonsorrow and Septicflesh, and perhaps even Sylosis and Vintersorg, produce a similarly epic musical style that I can appreciate and get lost in over and over again.

I haven't yet picked up Septicflesh's new album, The Great Mass. I really should. I'm quite looking forward to hearing what they've done with the orchestra. It's been said many times in the many, many reviews I've read of the album that the orchestral production is spectacular. Where many symphonic bands use an orchestra in place of a synthesiser, as a percussion instrument to complement rather than drive the music, The Great Mass has a far more classical feel. It's almost film score music, with black metal driving through, over and around the orchestra to great effect. I've had a quick listen on Spotify and I've been impressed so far.

May hasn't been completely miserable, of course. The sun is finally out, albeit interspersed with rain, and so the melancholy of Wolverine's Still has been washing over me. Sleepy Town has long been one of my favourite songs off any album, and I have been increasingly excited and irritated to discover that Wolverine's new album, Communication Lost, is to be released on May 23rd. Excited because, well, it's Wolverine. Irritated because it's almost impossible to find anything out about it. The band's own site is months out of date and the label's announcements are bland and purely informative.

One band that does not have this problem is Amorphis. Their new album, The Beginning of Times, is also coming out at the end of may, and they've already released two tracks to the wolves of the internet to be torn apart and dissected, for judgements to be made and for the social media machine to get into motion. New tracks You I Need and My Enemy are available for streaming on the band's Facebook page.

The last thing on my list of stuff to look forward to once May is finally over is, of course, Arch Enemy. I've mentioned the new album in passing before, and now there are actual tracks available. Unfortunately they're "exclusives" and don't allow direct linking or embedding. Sucky. Take a leaf out of Amorphis's book, Arch Enemy, please. Still, sounds like good stuff.