Many years ago it was Orplid that introduced me to the musical style called “neofolk”. Their untitled debut remains the best album in this style with its not too typical sound. Orplid kept making masterpieces and when my interest in neofolk started to wane, Orplid started to change their style. However their albums never blew me away like the debut anymore and I had to get used to them as well, they definately made the better music from the scene. The style of today is hard to describe, but when you know have followed Orplid too, you will not be too surprised by “Greifenherz”. Its sound comes natural after “Sterbender Satyr” (2006), but there are some electric guitars, some darker electronics and a bit more “Barbarossa” atmosphere, but the result is a mostly tranquil album with very nice songs. Just as on the previous album there are some distinctive female vocals that I do not really like and some tracks are not really my taste (yet?), but musically Orplid is a lot better than most bands from the scene. By lack of a better tag, I used “neofolk” for the navigational cabin to put this album in, but “Greifenherz” goes from neofolk, to atmospheric ambient music, rocky tracks, wavy influences to spoken word.
Links: Orplid, Auerbach Tonträger
