Aquilus - Classical black metal infusion for the mind

I discovered Aquilus and their latest album Griseus quite by accident on bandcamp recently, and was immediately intrigued. As far as I can tell (although I could be wrong) this is a one man project combining black and folk metal with contemporary classical music. One Horace Rosenqvist is the only listed member, and if he is really doing this alone then I can only admire his significant musical talent.

The music itself is reminiscent of many things; Agalloch, perhaps, for the black metal/folk infusion and vocal style; Opeth, for the proggier guitar riffs that punctuate the songs; Handel, Grieg, Vivaldi, and any number of modern classical musicians for the beautifully intricate, occasionally delicate, sometimes soaring classical sections that fit seamlessly between the disquieting rasp of the black metal and jangly folk guitars.

At over and hour long, with some of the songs stretching over quarter of an hour each, this is a time consuming yet thoroughly rewarding listening experience. While there are 8 songs on the album, I have so far listened to it all at once several times over so it has taken on the feeling of a single 80 minute soundscape, ever rolling, rising, falling as the styles shift seamlessly new parts appear, vanish and reappear to make sure it never feels repetitive or dull.

If you like classical and metal, and even more if you like the sound of combining the two, I’d heartily recommend giving this a listen. According to the one Facebook post that has so far been made on the band page, the second album is already in production. Watch this space, then, I suppose!

Ador Dorath - Not your usual operatic metal

I've noticed lately that a lot of the female fronted symphonic metal bands I have liked in the past are caught up in the same trend. Strip out the male vocal, get rid of the growls, add a catchy chorus and far too many pop sensibilities. It's not a good trend.

Fortunately I have found something to fill this niche that seems to be opening up in the market. Ador Dorath are a Czech black metal band who use operatic female vocal alongside the male grunts, growls and general grizzliness. It's an assault on the ears, with the various layers mixing, splitting and competing for dominance. It's a formidable musical bombardment.

It's hard to find their albums for sale anywhere near the UK, and the band's label, Shindy, provided little information on how to get international shipping. They do allow cash on collection, though, which is interesting. I finally found obscene.cz, a Czech record store with no online shipping calculation. I've placed an order and now I'm waiting for them to tell me how to pay!

Coincidentally the band are touring with Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy in the Czech republic while we're over there on holiday. Unfortunately the venue is some 360km away from our hotel so we're unlikely to get to it. We'll have to plan our next Czech city break around the local gig guides.

I've ordered all three of Ador Dorath's albums, so I'll do some sort of massive review later on. In the meantime, here's the video for V.I.T.R.I.O.L. from Symbols, released in 2005.

You can hear more tracks from all the albums on the band's MySpace page.

Season of Riffs and Black Metal Folkiness

Winter holds a mystique all its own. The darkness creeps into all aspects of life, the cold biting and drawing the warmth out of every living thing. There is an almost palpable menace in the air, and tales of winters long past hang heavy with fear and foreboding. Pagan ritual and ancient folklore anthropomorphise this sinister essence and give it an almost spiritual quality.

Perhaps, then, this begins to explain the draw of black and folk metal at this time of year. More sombre, more haunting than folk music, and yet less raging than other forms of extreme metal. A genre that fits the mood of this frigid, disquieting season.

Over the last week I have had the pleasure of listening to several albums that capture the atmosphere of bleak and desolate winter cold. One of these that I recently reviewed, the stunning Marrow Of The Spirit from Agalloch, is perhaps the quintessential winter metal album. With heart-rending melodies and chilling vocals, it embodies the very heart of a winter dense with legends, ghosts and mythology.

Another recently reviewed album, Abrahadabra from Dimmu Borgir, is a very different sort of beast. Soaring orchestral scores punctuated by hard hitting black metal and rasping, eerie vocals. Where Marrow Of The Spirit captures the claustrophobia of winter snows, Abrahadabra covers vast landscapes, epic vistas and an angrier, more direct threat.

The most recent addition to my collection of black folk metal is Monuments, the new album from Northern Oak. While not capturing the essence of winter within the album itself, it is nonetheless an album heavy in folklore and emotion. A full review will follow, but for now suffice to say that it is easy to soak up this album and get lost in it, or to read carefully into the lyrics and follow the stories told within.

Last comes Eluveitie, who were the first folk metal band to catch my attention. Using traditional folk instruments mixed with melodic death metal, combining that with Gaulish vocals and Celtic themes, this is perhaps the most widely varied and complex folk metal band in this list. Their 2010 album Everything Remains (As It Never Was) continues this theme with evocative whispered passages among death metal riffs and intricate folk melodies.

Perhaps it is the weight of the air, the cold's constant nipping or simply the almost perpetual dark, but at this time of year I feel a certain morose wistfulness. Black and folk metal plays on that emotion and turns it into something beautiful. Something I can lose myself in, and let the music carry me away.


* With apologies to John Keats