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poppy

Matt Howden presents Red Room compilation (cd 2001 redroom)

Redroom is mr. Howdens studio and on this compilation he put tracks of bands that used it. Half of it are his own projects, the other half are of other bands in which Howden often had a guest-appearance. There is quite some variety in style, from the poppy sounds of Cello to the industrial sounds of Deafnoise. Further rock, Howden himself (under his own name, as Sieben and Howden/Wakeford), Sol Invictus, Pilori, Jason White, TG Staar, Dummy Head Stereo and Cadaverous Condition. A nice compilation with some nice and less-interesting tracks. <24/9/04><2>

Matt Howden * Hellfires (cd 2000 redroom)

Going-Underground always has cheap overstocks and now there are two Sieben and two Matt Howden cds under them. I already have two Sieben cds, but none of Matt Howden under his own name. Years ago I saw Howden (when I didn’t know his music yet) live under his own name, but this was mainly a Sieben show it seems now. At least I have got an idea why he releases music under different names: Sieben is more ‘poppy’ and accessible, Matt Howden more experimental (at least, this cd is). Distorted vocals, guitars, electronic influeces and “Hellfires” has less stress on Howden’s violin than the Sieben cds that I have. I don’t like this cd as much as Sieben, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like “Hellfires” at all. Howden’s music remains interesting and quite unlike the rest of my discoteque. <27/7/04><2>

Lady Morphia * Essence And Infinity (cd 2006)

Six years after the first cd there is a new Lady Morphia. I didn’t know if I should buy it, so I decided to get an illegal copy first. Good choice, because the album is (in my humble opinion) not that good. There are a few songs that are too typically Lady Morphia and alternately there are poprock songs that are not at all good (and is the band again following Ostara?). The one nice track “Sturmjahre” sounds a lot like the band’s “Wir Rufen Deine Wölfe”. <4/3/07><2>u

Lady Morphia * Recitals To Renewal (cd 2000)

Take Ostara’s “Secret Homeland” and multiply it by X. I’m glad to hear that there are more neo-folk artists around who do not fear the experiment. This is the first full length cd of Lady Morphia and as far as I can tell, the brothers Nick and Chris Nedzynski released it themselves.
“Recitals To Renewal” contains both typical neo-folk songs, both in the ‘World Serpent vein’ and the ‘Eis & Licht vein’, but also has dark ambient, soundscape tracks and more modern sounding neo-folk, a bit like Ostara. Actually the vocals already remind of Ostara… A fact is that Lady Morphia takes things even further than Ostara and there is an even higher level of experimentation. Also here you will hear a rhythm section as times, but also drumming which sounds synthetic, further a lot more samples and more keyboard. Around the end we hear some medievalish tunes and then there are of course the totally electronic tracks.
So if you got used to “Secret Homeland” and you are ready for something more, it is time to buy “Recitals To Renewal”. <9/9/00> <4>

Backworld * Hands Of Ash/Melody (7″ 2000? world serpent)

However I have and like the first cd “Isles Of The Blest” (1998) I am not too much into this melancholic neo-folk, but I do like these small vinyls, so when I noticed this (supposedly older) 7″ I decided to get it anyway. In contradiction to the cd that I have, this 7″ is not very good. One neo-folk song is just alright and the other song is more a soft pop like thing which I don’t like at all. <29/6/01><2>

Tempesta Noire * Wolves And Cathedrals/A Ship Is Burning (7″ 2001 triton)

I already had a demo, two 7″s and compilation contributions of this German band and still it seems that they are not able to release a cd. All material that I know is very nice, so I wonder what the reason for this is. Tempesta Noire makes not too typical neo-folk with very nice male vocals. Sometimes there are some industrial, gothic or general ‘atmospheric’ influences. On this 7″ you will hear a nice song of the band itself and a Sol Invictus cover, which is also quite nice.