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spoken word

6 Comm / Freya Aswynn * The Fruits Of Yggdrasil (1987/2008 hau ruck!)

When I ordered this cd I did not realise that it was a rerelease of this classic split project of many years ago. I knew the album, but did not really like it and therefor never bought it, so in the end, I did… The project is interesting. 6 Comm’s ambient soundscapes combined with Aswynn’s recitals of Norse texts, but I happen to not too much like much of the music and also I don’t particularly enjoy Aswynn’s voice and pronounciation. The cd has it’s moments and surely is a classic release for having such a thick layer of paganism so long ago, but in my opinion this rerelease is more for archival reasons than for the quality of the recording.
Links: 6 Comm , Freya Aswynn, Hau Ruck!.
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Bisclaveret vs Bruno * Les Mannequins (cd 2007 zoharum)

Bisclaveret from Poland was inspired by the Polish writer and painter Bruno Schulz (1892-1942) to make this 39 minute soundscape. The recordings consists of industrial sounds on the background, drones, stretched up sounds, soft orchestrations and spoken word with texts of course of Schulz. However the title may suggest that this is a split album, this is -of course- not the case. The music sounds nice and however 39 minutes may not be very long for a cd, it is just long enough to prevent the sound from becoming too monotous. Eerie sounds, a dark undertone and strange speaking in Polish, together with simple, but nice artwork of the digipack makes this a nice first (?) release of the Polish distro Zoharum.
links: Bisclaveret Zoharum
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Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang hommage à Jacob Böhme (cd 1993)

The oldest is the most experimental and least interesting of the three Böhme cds, but the concept is great. A recording was announced for Berlin, 150 showed up and recited texts of Jacob Böhme. From these recordings Ronald Steckel and Heiko Rüsse made a strange soundscape. Effects on the voices, strange sounds on the background here and there and the result was played in Görlitzsch and is avaible on cd. It is a hand-copied cd with a printed inlay, so it may be even harder to get than the other two cds. The booklet says “copyright 1993/2006 Ronald Steckel Ronald.Steckel@gmx.net”. This may mean that my copy was made in 2006 and the email address may very well be still correct. If you are interested, just give it a try.
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v/a * The Pact… Of The Gods (cd 2000 fremdheit)

Let me start with quoting the back of the booklet: “The Pact… Of The Gods” is the companion cd to “The Pact: Flying In The Face” [that was released some time ago]. The original idea was conceived by Ian Read and the late Robert Williams”. It is compiled by Ian Read and Michael Moynihan and the latter participates in several of the contributions with Annabel Lee.
The opening track is for the godfathers of neo-folk: Changes. Then Der Blutharsch has a tranquil and very good track. Some nice tunes are then presented by Fire + Ice and Ataraxia contributed a song from their 1995 cd La Malédiction d’Ondine. The Austrian occultist Kadmon presents a tranquil ‘orchestral ambient’ track with Allerseelen and then we hear a very nice folky song by In Gowan Ring. The first negative thing on the cd is from Camerata Mediolanense who can be found with a live song with a horrible sound. Blood Axis worked a bit on their contribution to the “Saturn Gnosis” and this is a very minimal track that you may have to get used to. The booklet has the ‘original’ face of the “Saturn Gnosis” cover to accompany the Blood Axis information and it doesn’t look a bit like Anton LaVey anymore (see my “Saturn Gnosis” review). The first band that I didn’t know is Shining Vril (a project of John Murphy) with an ‘organ ambient’ track which is quite nice. Another band that I didn’t know is next: Mee. Minimal ambient to accompany female vocals, a bit long for my taste. The Forseti song can be found on their Eis & Licht 10” “Jenzig” and the Ostara song is taken from the “Secret Homeland” cd that was released a while back. A wonderfull folk song from Waldteufel is followed by some spoken work of Dave Lee and the closer-off is for Beastianity with a chaotic ‘industrial punk’ track so to say.
All in all I think that the largest part of this compilation is really worthwhile. A few more exclusive tracks may have maded it a bit more interesting, but people who are not too familiar with this music and/or those who can’t keep up with the (vinyl) releases can be pleased with “The Pact… Of The Gods”.
Get your copy from Tesco!

v/a * Hopes Die In Winter (cd 2005 beast of prey)

Four young bands that I did know, but not because I have much of their music. H.E.R.R. from the Netherlands opens with a few nice tracks, spoken words with orchestral music. Then follows Der Arbeiter with their typical ‘dance folk’ style, repetitive music with folky influences and dance-beats, at times reminding of Allerseelen. Then Storm of Capricorn is up with martial ambient and the last band is Ghosts Of Breslau with some tranquil tones. I especially like the first two bands, the other two are alright. The cd is released by the small label Beast Of Prey, comes in a simple, but nice package, but is limited to only 107 copies so be quick! <24/8/05><3>

Sonnwin * Fehu (cd 2001 lichtbringer)

I was positively surprised by this cd. I expected it to be a neo-folk cd, but in fact this is a lot more interesting than most neo-folk. The music is quite minimal folky music, with only a few instruments and with most stress on the German poetry that is recited. Most often talked out loud, sometimes screamed. They sound like the tracks at the end of the Dies Natalis cd. The lyrics are based on de Edda by the way.
I don’t know how to give you an idea of the music, but maybe you can try to imagine something between Goethes Erben, Dies Natalis and Waldteufel?.
Beware of the length of this cd by the way, 36 minutes. <8/3/01><4>

Penitent * Roses By Chaos Spawned (cd 1999 memento mori)

Penitent made it. s debut in 1996 on the notorious Cold Meat Industry label, but this cooperation was only for one cd. The debut was re-released by Prophecy Productions and then two albums where released by Draenor/Napalm records from Austria. After this Karsten Hamre went to Memento Mori (a sublabel of the Dark Vinyl cultlabel) with both Arcane Art (see review elsewhere) and Penitent.
Roses By Chaos Spawned. is just like the Arcane Art cd very orchestral. The vocals are done by a certain M. Andrew Goldfine (a name that doesn. t ring a bell here), which is often spoken, but there are also a few beautiful sung parts to be heard.
The music itself is rather simple and however there are a few good moments, most of it is not my taste.

Orplid * Sterbender Satyr (cd 2006 auerbach)

Orplid’s 1997 debut cd was the album that for the first time (consciously) introduced me to the neofolk genre. Still this album is the absolute highlight of a genre that soon lost my interest for the largest part. Orplid continued to do their own thing, so the following releases were different every time. The same goes for “Sterbender Satyr” (‘dying satyr’). This time the music became very tranquil with quite some electronic sounds and ‘an 80’ies feeling’ here and there. I am not really sure what to think of the album. One track with female vocals is simply horrible, other tracks are rather boring, some are nice. Do I have to get used to the new album, or is Orplid for me following a downward track? I have heard the cd a few times now, and the album grows, but very slowly. Too bad, but I always admire a band that doesn’t follow the obvious parths.
-addition 21/5/07 : another magnificent album with spoken word and singing over subtle soundscapes –

Orplid * Barbarossa (10” 2000 eis & licht tonträger)

After some problems with the printers of the cover, here is finally the new release of Orplid. A 10” that has to be played on 45 rpm with a long track on each side. Both songs are dedicated to the German language and culture and both are so to say poem on music. On side A the lyrics are so to say ‘screamed’ over minimal music and around the end when the song runs out of text there is some victorious music with fierce drumming. Side B has more spoken word accompanied by drumming. It took me a few times before I started to like “Barbarossa”, but I am again very happy with the music of Orplid. When oh when will they release another full-length?