Is there anything a band can really do without? Drummers and bassists are indispensable. Guitarists summon the magic and give the punters something to throw things at. Keyboardists? Well, sometimes they’re OK. The dude with the bagpipes? Folk Metal is the new Sex.Continue reading
Brazilian avant-garde Black Metal act Lice probably thinks its name evokes horror, decay, and disease. For me, it mainly brings back memories of my childhood, as I had bottle after bottle of insecticide poured over my head because my leprous sibling had picked up yet another infestation from his dirtbag mates, and we all had to be deloused again. But I digress.Continue reading
The calliope-like entrance to Atlas Pain’s Tales Of A Pathfinder (Scarlet Records) heralds the auspicious story that encompasses the journey of a lifetime. It’s a wonderful ride that reveals a new world and the pinnacle of the folk metal sound. In true folk metal sound, the sound is jaunty and evokes a visage of happy square dancing in a courtyard. From start to finish, Tales of a Pathfinder feels like what Hobbits and Dwarves having a party together would play for their guests. You get the sense that the mead is flowing generously and some sort of beast is being slow-cooked on a spit over an open flame.
Formed in 2002, Swiss Folk Metal act Eluveitie were thrust almost immediately towards the front line of the burgeoning, so-called Viking Metal/Battle Metal scene as it erupted around them during the middle of that decade. Metal inspired by Vikings and Folk music can be traced back to the likes of Bathory and Skyclad, if not before, but such was the explosion of bands around this time, you couldn’t get out of bed for tripping over accordions, fiddles, animal skins and antlers.Continue reading
Avant-garde and dark Danish metallers Heilung have found their world crossing paths with Game of Thrones! The bands’ music made it into the HBO Latin America trailer for Game of Thrones season 8, which you can see below. Warning, there are spoilers for the entire series and the books by George R.R. Martin in this trailer! The band just announced plans for their second album, Futha, due out 28th of June 2019 via Season of Mist. The band is about to kick off a huge run of tour dates and exclusive festival appearances, including Roadburn, Coppenhell, Tuska, Midgardsblot and many more! Continue reading
Never have I listened to a band that made me want to learn about more about mythology, the band’s country of origin, their heritage, and their language all in one sitting. If you’re a Týr fan, you’ve most certainly been down this rabbit hole every album cycle – I can’t count how many times I’ve spent my spare time doing endless Google searches learning about mythology and Vikings as well as reading and reciting Faroese lyrics while getting lost in the beauty of their music; it’s like getting high without doing drugs.Continue reading
Metal and Folk go back decades. From the inception of the genre in the 1960s, folk literature and myths became a staple across a variety of Metal genres with their fantastical themes and imaginative escapism. However, the sonic and musical marriage of Folk and Metal is very different from those lyrical thematics both genres now share. Some amongst the Metal community would argue that the inclusion of ancient instruments such as panpipes, fiddles, and flutes makes the music sound corny and cliché and thus diminishes the aggressive nature of the metallic component of Folk Metal.Continue reading
The most interesting bands are not the ones that come out of the box ready made to ingest. The best shift like a sea at storm, creating and destroying, adding and taking back what it wants. Downfall of Gaia too has continued to adapt and improve, pushing themselves and everything else outward with every release. After a few years absence, the band has returned again with their new album, once again aiming high as they can. Continue reading
Seven days into 2019 and I had my first of many shows for the year. The “Two Paths” Tour with Ensiferum, Septicflesh, and Arsis. When this tour got announced, I immediately got excited, as Arsis is always a good time and I just saw them a few months prior on the Bloodletting Tour back in October. Septicflesh has always been one of those bands that I love but never actively think about, but they are always a band that I could sit and listen to for hours. Ensiferum is just an all around good time. That being said, this tour is also a bit of a mixed bag of styles, Arsis is a band that used to regularly tour with the likes of Cattle Decapitation, Dying Fetus, and Misery Index. So seeing them on a tour bill with Greek Symphonic Death Metal (Septicflesh) and Finnish Folk Metal (Ensiferum), I knew this was going to be an interesting and worthwhile show… so let’s jump right into this bad Larry!Continue reading
Swallow The Sun ended 2018 with a terrific new EP, and now has followed that up with a new single from their upcoming full-length. ‘Upon The Water’ is the first track from their new album When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light, which will be released on January 25th, 2019 via Century Media. Listen now!