Youngtime Classics!

BARREN EARTH - 'Our Twilight' & 'Curse Of The Red River' by @barrenearth & @peacevillerecords

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Völur & Cares – Breathless Spirit Review

By Twelve

“Avant-garde doom metal from Canada. Do I really need to say more to pique your interest?” So said I a little under five years ago, closing out my Things You Might Have Missed feature for Völur’s Death Cult. The Toronto-based project launched itself to the top of my end-of-year list in 2020, owing to their expert fusion of an impressive blend of sounds and genres primarily rooted in doom metal. Wielding the violin like a sledgehammer, Death Cult featured intelligent, clever compositions that really impressed me in 2020. Now, at last, they’re back for their fourth full-length, Breathless Spirit, with one key change: a collaboration with Cares—UK/Canadian producer James Beardmore—whose influence aims to transcend an already-impressive trio to Valhallan heights. However do they fare?

But first, a correction: in reviewing Death Cult, I noted that “the guitars do not dominate, nor do they crush the listener; instead, they unsettle, distort, and act as anchor for the vocals and electric violins that make up the true meat of the music.” Völur has no guitarist—only Lucas Gadke (Blood Ceremony), who plays bass (in addition to vocals and piano). The electric violins are indeed the “true meat of the music;” Völur create their uniquely haunting sound through intense distortion on Laura Bates’s violin and viola,1 giving them a surprisingly heavy metal basis to work with—certainly I’d never have thought there’s no guitar in the blackened doom mania that is “Windbourne Sorcery II,” and I’m still not 100% sure I believe it. Previously, I compared the group to a gloomy “Apocapyse Orchestra meets King Goat” project, but, in hindsight, Apocalyptica might have been a better base point to use.

Realistically, though, none of that matters because Völur is unique in too many ways to build adequate comparisons, and Cares has only strengthened that position. Where Death Cult emphasized the heavier, doom metal basis of Völur’s material, Breathless Spirit leans more classical, a change that highlights the incredible range of the music, passing also through doom metal, black metal, folk, jazz, and drone along the way—and all of it done with “just” a violinist, bassist, and drummer (Justin Ruppel). What’s extra interesting (on an already very interesting record) is that Cares contributes piano, synthesizers, theremin, and textures. His production adds layer upon layer of grimy, modern darkness that contributes heavily to the metal feel of Breathless Spirit. It is, put simply, extremely experimental. It also works magnificently.

From the classically-inspired2 “Hearth,” Breathless Spirit’s instrumental intro whose motifs just keep reappearing, to the towering doom metal conclusion of “Death in Solitude,” Völur are as engaging as they are unpredictable. I mentioned that “Windbourne Sorcery II” has the album’s blackened highlight, with Bates’s utterly unhinged shrieks atop a steady alarm of urgency from her violin. That same song has an almost funeral buildup, a chilling passage I compare favorably with Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper3. The title track is the highlight for me; Gadke’s roars are front and center, and all of his vocals have depth and command to them, recalling Barren Earth’s On Lonely Towers.4 Guest vocals from Amy Bowles (ex-Hollow Earth) are a fantastic counter to his baritone cleans, and the brief improvizations a third of the way in is chaotic and delightful. You can dance to the haunting middle section, but it ends on a sense of heavy, epic urgency. Whatever style they try, Völur & Cares can’t help but create something beautiful. Much credit also belongs to Ruppel, whose measured drumming keeps Breathless Spirit grounded in a steady, doom-laden theme that serves it well.

I’ve run out of words, but there’s so much more to say. Breathless Spirit is a hard album to describe with any level of brevity. It explores worlds I’ve only hinted at here, and is much stronger than the sum of its parts. It’s not perfect—”On Drangey” is perhaps a touch too long for my preferences—but it hardly has to be. Breathless Spirit should enshrine Völur and Cares as experts in the experimental. Equal parts beautiful, haunting, and dark, Breathless Spirit defies my vocabulary—you simply must listen for yourself.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Blackthrone Productions
Websites: volur.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/VolurDoom
Releases Worldwide: August 8th, 2025

#2025 #40 #ApocalypseOrchestra #Apocalyptica #Aug25 #BarrenEarth #BellWitch #BlackthroneProductions #BloodCeremony #BreathlessSpirit #CanadianMetal #Cares #DoomMetal #Drone #FolkMetal #HollowEarth #Jazz #KingGoat #Review #Reviews #Volur #VölurCares

OCTOPLOID – Beyond The Aeons
https://eternal-terror.com/?p=67454

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://facebook.com/octoploidmusic/

It has become almost a custom among heavy metal (and rock) artists that members of well-established and successful bands either make solo albums or join other bands while remaining active in their main abode. It used to be (80s and 90s), due to time and space constraints (both now completely overcome by the rapid advance of […]

#Amorphic #BarrenEarth #BeyondTheAeons #Finland #folkMetal #Helsinki #JÓNALDARÁ #melodicDeathMetal #MikkoKaKotamäki #Octoploid #OLLIPEKKALAINE #PETRIESKELINEN #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMelodicDeathMetal #REIGNINGPHOENIXMUSIC #SwallowTheSun #TommyJoutsen

Iotunn – Kinship Review

By GardensTale

When Jón Aldará does something, we pay attention. Between Barren Earth, Hamferð and Iotunn, the Faroese friend of the blog has been involved in banger after banger after banger the last few years with no signs of slowing down. Iotunn’s Access All Worlds was my well-deserved Album of the Year in 2021 and reached third place in the aggregate list, so expectations for Kinship are through the stratosphere. Not content to repeat the same trick twice, however, the theme has shifted from the expanse of space to the expanse of the soul, to human connection and their dissolution at life’s end. But does Kinship shift into a slump or does Iotunn remain stellar in the absence of the stars?

I’ll admit I was hesitant looking at the almost 70-minute running time. Access All Worlds was plump; Kinship was looking positively girthy. But by and large the musicianship and composition quality are astronomical, surpassing its much-vaunted predecessor across most of its running time. Introductory epic “Kinship Elegiac” does start off a little unsure, but it finds its footing as it unfurls into a sumptuous banquet of majestic progressive death. By the time it arrives at its conclusion, a bombastic yet anguished reprise of the song’s opening, it’s hard to believe 14 minutes have passed. This time-dilating effect is present throughout Kinship. Every track feels like an exhilarating adventure in its own right, very different yet a vital part of the whole, and none of them feel anywhere near as long as they are because of their impeccable composition. This goes as much for barnstormers like Song of the Year candidate “Earth to Sky” as it does for the blackened thrill-ride “Twilight” or the gorgeous introspective ballad “Iridescent Way.”

The musicianship of Iotunn’s members is stunning across the board. Drummer Bjørn Andersen has a knack for playing with minor variations between bars that keep the tracks lively, but he awes when pulling out all the stops for “The Coming End” or “Earth to Sky.” Of course, Aldará catches the ear immediately with his attention-grabbing baritone wail and crunchy growls, and he puts in a few of his best performances here, with the solemn majesty of “I Feel the Night” and the opener’s heartrending conclusion a few particular highlights. But the guitars are worth the admission price on their own, with a fantastic array of imaginative riffs, trills, and licks. In lesser hands, “Mistland” would not be so effortlessly grand, the subtle shifts in harmony creating a surge to the heart. We wouldn’t have the beautiful yet aggressive cascades through the chorus of “The Coming End,” nor its intelligent riffs that play with inversing ascending and descending scales, or the epic harmonic midsection. Not to mention the solos; I declared “Waves Below” to have the solo of the year last time, but half the tracks here could qualify to the same, such as the melodic rollercoaster leading up to the finale of “Kinship Elegiac” or the shimmering tremolos of “Mistland.”

If Kinship had stuck the landing, it’d be a shoo-in for my Album of the Year. Alas, “The Anguished Ethereal” draws a shrill contrast with all that precedes it. With too much repetition and a lack of life and energy, the 11-minute track is the only one that feels longer rather than shorter. It takes half its running time to develop into something interesting, and just when it really seems to start taking flight, it ends in a dull fade-out. It’s a disappointing finale, and its drag makes the overall length of Kinship weigh heavier. Replacing the closer with the opener would be the fastest way to make a great album into a nigh-perfect one. Even the production, Iotunn’s biggest prior stumbling block, has made strides, though there’s still room for improvement there. The master has a little more breathing room and the drums sound more natural, but the mix can still feel a little crowded at busier times, and the bass is buried altogether.

The stumble on the finish may have cost Iotunn the crown, but how well Kinship holds up in spite of it is a testament to the band’s peerless songwriting and craftsmanship. It combines a deeply compelling sense of melody with fluid, progressive songwriting and an overwhelming sense of grandeur that nonetheless evades pretentiousness. The thought that there may be a Iotunn album in the future that is as brilliant as Kinship’s first hour with even better production does moisten my loins, but the present is pretty fucking great as it is.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: iotunn.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/iotunn
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

#2024 #40 #BarrenEarth #DanishMetal #Hamferð #Iotunn #Kinship #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Oct24 #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews

Hamferð – Men Guðs hond er sterk Review

By Angry Metal Guy

Like so many things doomy, Hamferð doesn’t move quickly. Back in ’18,1 these Faroese doomsters—fronted by my golden-voiced arch-nemesis and all around begrudging ‘friend o’ the blog’ Jón Aldará—released their second album Támsins likam. The album was my Record o’ the Month and would go on to be my Record o’ the Year because it was an incredible accomplishment of dour and sinister, but simultaneously fragile, funeral doom. But Evst—the band’s debut full-length2—was released in 2013, so already then, Támsins likam was 5 years in the making. At an Orphaned Land-esque speed, Hamferð has plodded back with its third full-length, Men Guðs hond er sterk (But God’s Hand Is Strong). And I’m not going to be coy; it’s a doozy.

Conceptually, Men Guðs hond er sterk focuses on a tragedy that took place in 1915, where 14 men died in a whaling accident that was witnessed by the local inhabitants of Sandvik in the Faroe Islands. This focus on a very real tragedy is a new beginning, as Hamferð’s debut MLP (Vilst er síðsta fet), and previous LPs Evst, and Támsins likam shared a basic story. The album’s name is derived from the key quote from an interview from a survivor,3 who rather than focusing on just how tragic the event was, instead focused on the miracle that some people survived. “But God’s hand is strong,” he says, in the part I understand, before explaining his own miraculous survival (I surmise). These facets help to structure the album to my ears: a descent into tragedy, foreshadowed through the storytelling, with a mournful—but almost hopeful—turn at the end.

The thematic duality between tragedy and hope that characterizes the narrative is made manifest in the music. The quote that became the album’s title encapsulates the mixture of despair, sorrow and hope contained herein. Compared to its predecessor, Men Guðs hond er sterk is often quite energetic—fast, even—featuring what I’ve previously referred to as “eighth note doom”—which you can often hear in the cymbals (“Ábær,” the chorus in “Marrusorg”). This energetic narrative stands in contrast to the crushing pace and seas of white space featured on Támsins likam.4 The mournful wrinkle to the tragedy is reflected not in grief following the event, but rather in the hushed, melancholy tones that characterize the storytelling. Tracks like “Glæman” and “Marrusorg” feature an Opethian swing and with beautiful melodies and delicate vocals. The two sides, of course, work together to build tension towards a coming tragedy, before the tragedy (“Hvølja”) that becomes Men Guðs hond er sterk’s denouement.

It helps, of course, that everything about Hamferð’s new opus sounds incredible. Engineered and mixed by guitarist (and primary composer) Theodor Kapnas, the album clocks in at a roomy DR 8,5 and is distinguished by a smooth, organic sound. A strong, well-balanced mix emphasizes the nuanced songwriting and performances (love the variations on the guitars in the build in “Fendreygar,” for example), and I continue to be impressed by how tight they are, even eschewing a click-track in their recording process. Furthermore, the tone choices demonstrate excellent taste that perfectly communicates the band’s message. And I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Jón Aldará (Iotunn, Barren Earth6) sounds as good as he’s ever sounded. Aldará’s voice bridges the unknown—incomprehensible lyrics—and the listener’s feelings with ease. His emotive voice, with his idiosyncratic and throaty7—yet strikingly clear and brassy—delivery carries the emotional weight necessary to listen to an album in Faroese and feel just as moved as if it were in my native language.

Hamferð’s strengths are abundant and Men Guðs hond er sterk leverages each of them to land a coup de maître. The one complaint I could imagine about the album is that it is simply not as heavy as the band’s earlier material. For me, this feels like a consequence of an album written to its concept. Yes, I would gladly listen to more of the band’s crushing, quarter/half-note doom á la Támsins likam, but good concept albums like this one are more than the sum of their individually excellent parts. And when it comes down to it, the record’s flow is impeccable, the writing is subtle but addictive, and the glimmer of sorrowful hope is just what I need to help me get through my days right now.

Rating: Excellent
Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR mp3 | DR: 8
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: hamferd.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/hamferd | instagram.com/hamferdofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 22nd, 2024

#2024 #45 #BarrenEarth #DoomMetal #Evst #FaroianMetal #FuneralDoom #Hamferð #Iotunn #JónAldará #Mar24 #MenGuðsHondErSterk #MetalBlade #Opeth #Review #Reviews #TámsinsLikam

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11 Black Metal Bands You Might Be Missing Out On Part 2
Featuring Shuyet, Ild, and Ene.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2023/11/20/11-black-metal-bands-you-might-be-missing-out-on-part-2/

#BlackMetal #MetalMusic #GothicMetal #PostMetal #BarrenEarth #ThyAntichrist #Narvik #SaturnianMist #Elderwind #RevelationOfTheDaleks #HighLonesomeSound #Vargrav