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Parzival

Parzival * Casta (cd 2014)

I have Last.fm and Deezer informing me about new releases yet I had to accidentally find out about the latest Parzival. But then again, the album is only two weeks old and released on a label that I never heard of.
“Casta” has the more bombastic orchestral style, rather than the ebm-ish side of this Danish band. I prefer the sound of for example “Urheimat”, but “Casta” is a nice album with the typical Parzival vocals and pompous orchestrations. The band announced a tour, so I hope they will play somewhere near some time, because this is a band that I would like to see live some time.
Links: Parzival, Mighty Music

Parzival * Die Kulturnacht (cd 2012)

I was curious if Deezer would have Parzival releases that I do not and then I saw this new album! It was not even listed on Discogs and just today I got a Tesco newsletter with the cd in it. Inspite of the year 2012 still fresh I guess. “Die Kulturnacht” does not have the oldstyle EBM sound of Parzival, but an orchestral sound, sometimes pompous with drumming, sometimes more neo-classical, but usually with the typical vocals. Parzival manages the sound quite well, but I noticed that I enjoy the previous albums better. A suggestion for people into martial industrial and pompous neoclassical music.
Links: Parzival (note, when I write this (12-2-13) Google has blacklisted the website because of malware!), Euphonious Records

Parzival * Urheimat (cd 2011)

1999, I just started to get acquinted with the neofolk scene. Then suddenly there was this new band that released its debut on a metal label: Of The Wand And The Moon. That same label released the debut album of Parzival and the rumour was that Kim Larsson also did the Rammstein-like vocals of Parzival. I described the debut as a mix between Gae Bolg and Enigma. Parzival made heroic medieval music with techno rhythms (the famous ‘Amen break’) and very destinctive, extremely low vocals. I like the album, but perhaps because of the 3 year gap between the second album (released on a label that I do not know), I never bought anything of Parzival again, inspite of very nice compilation contributions. Somehow I started downloading the albums that I missed a little while ago and while looking for a real copy of the magnificent “Deus Nobiscum” album (2006, sold out, I now ordered a second hand copy) I noticed that Parzival released a new album on the label on which they once started. Parzival had developed towards more of a Laibach style with pompous orchestral industrial and choirs. “Urheimat”, however, reminds of what nowadays is called “old style EBM” in several tracks, while the others are more in the Laibach vein. Not as good as “Deus Nobiscum”, but still very original and enjoyable.
Links: Parzival, Euphonious

Parzival * Anathema Maranatha (cd 1999 euphonious records)

Here is one to test your imagination. First, the singer of Rammstein starts to sing, not only in German, but also in Latin, Gregorian even sometimes. He does this accompanied by heroic medieval music and the rhythms are sometimes drumming and sometimes techno rhythms. If this description allows you to form something in your head with this sound, you are pretty close to what Parzival sounds like. This is really weird shit, but it is very funny and definitely original. In a way you can say that it is a mix between Gaë Bolg and Enigma and I definitely never heard anything like this. I believe this is a side-project of Of The Wand And The Moon, but I can’t find anything about that in the booklet.
Unfortunately this cd is very short (34 min) and it is also older than I thought. Who cares? As long as the music is alright!