Reviewed - 02/07/05
A
Nordic Poem
[Stygian Crypt Productions]
Folkearth has got to be one of the most unique and cool band concepts I've ever heard in metal. What this band is, is a cooperation between fourteen folk and metal musicians from around the world, hence the name "Folkearth". That's unique in and of itself, but there's more to this band than that in that none of the members from the differing nations have ever practiced together, nor have they ever even met each other! All the members recorded their parts on their own and then sent those tapes in to be mixed together in one spot. I love new ideas in music, especially metal, and this concept of using members from all over the world just reeks of integrity and originality. On their newest album "A Nordic Poem", we are treated to a damn fine example of what people can do when they come together. Well not "come together" so much as "work together" even from long distances as such the case may be.
As its base, the music on "A Nordic Poem" is centered around folk and Viking metal. The thing is with so many different band members from so many different bands and countries, the sound changes on almost every song depending on who is singing or playing on that track. This helps the album have an air of variation through its entirety and there seems to be a new idea or two running through each track. Some of the band members include Athelstan and Wulfstan from the English band Forefather, and their is also a member for the folk/viking metal band Yggdrasil among Folkearth's ranks. So while all of the tracks contain a similar Viking theme folk metal sound, the tracks done by the Forefather guys have a slight Forefather sound to them, and the songs done by the guy from Yggdrasil sound a bit like that band and so on. The tracks done by the guy from Yggdrasil sound quite a bit like Otyg, so fans of that band may want to check this album out just for that reason. These aforementioned musicians and all eleven of the other metal and folk musicians on this album are very professional sounding and all sound like they are well seasoned musicians with a lot of experience behind them. Some of the folk instruments you'll find on this album are acoustic guitar, Uilleann pipes, tin whistle, bodhran, mouth harp, keyed fiddle, violin and cello. As you can guess by this list, the music on "A Nordic Poem" is very folky almost at all times. Mix this with the sometimes epic and sweeping and sometimes fast and black Viking metal and you have a sound you can't go wrong with.
The vocals, as can be expected, are just as varied as the music on the album is. There are a total of seven different vocalists singing on here and each one of them bring their own style to the album. Some vocalists sing in a very clean, slow and epic style, others help out with some narration, and others sing in a blackened style. All of these different styles on one album is great because you aren't forced to endure one vocal style for the entire album. The lyrics are written in and sung in English for the most part aside from one track written and sung in Swedish. They are extremely well written and focus on Norse Mythology and fantasy elements as you can probably gather from the song titles.
The sound on this album, to put it bluntly is pretty crappy. This production is the one and only thing that stopped me from giving the album a perfect score. It's kind of odd because the first intro track where there's just a female vocalist and pipes playing come through really well, but when the second song kicks in with all of the instruments, things go downhill fast. Don't get me wrong, all of the instruments and vocals sound good on the album and the production isn't tinny sounding or muffled, but the overall mix of the album makes it sound like the music is playing way off in the distance. It's like no matter how loud you turn your stereo up, you just can't hear it very well. I've never heard a production like it really, but it's a bit of a letdown and hopefully they can get a better production on the next album.
The layout of the C.D. is excellent. The cover art shows an image of a group of clouds that have swirled themselves into the image of a Viking warrior. Surrounding this image a circle pattern of Celtic knotwork. It's one of the coolest album covers I've seen in a while actually. The inside of the booklet contains all of the lyrics and a huge list of all the members that took part on this album and all of the instruments they play. I wish they would have added what bands each members play in on this list though.
I really wish I could have given this album a perfect "10/10" score because the music deserves it, but the production unfortunately made that impossible. That should not deter Viking and folk metal fans from getting this album though because the music is phenomenal! Even with the subpar production "A Nordic Poem" has, it is definitely worth getting because of the excellent and near flawless music contained on the album. And to whoever it was in this band that thought of the concept of using musicians from around the world, my hat's off to you. That is such a great concept and I hope you do this again in the near future.
[Stygian Crypt Productions]
Folkearth has got to be one of the most unique and cool band concepts I've ever heard in metal. What this band is, is a cooperation between fourteen folk and metal musicians from around the world, hence the name "Folkearth". That's unique in and of itself, but there's more to this band than that in that none of the members from the differing nations have ever practiced together, nor have they ever even met each other! All the members recorded their parts on their own and then sent those tapes in to be mixed together in one spot. I love new ideas in music, especially metal, and this concept of using members from all over the world just reeks of integrity and originality. On their newest album "A Nordic Poem", we are treated to a damn fine example of what people can do when they come together. Well not "come together" so much as "work together" even from long distances as such the case may be.
As its base, the music on "A Nordic Poem" is centered around folk and Viking metal. The thing is with so many different band members from so many different bands and countries, the sound changes on almost every song depending on who is singing or playing on that track. This helps the album have an air of variation through its entirety and there seems to be a new idea or two running through each track. Some of the band members include Athelstan and Wulfstan from the English band Forefather, and their is also a member for the folk/viking metal band Yggdrasil among Folkearth's ranks. So while all of the tracks contain a similar Viking theme folk metal sound, the tracks done by the Forefather guys have a slight Forefather sound to them, and the songs done by the guy from Yggdrasil sound a bit like that band and so on. The tracks done by the guy from Yggdrasil sound quite a bit like Otyg, so fans of that band may want to check this album out just for that reason. These aforementioned musicians and all eleven of the other metal and folk musicians on this album are very professional sounding and all sound like they are well seasoned musicians with a lot of experience behind them. Some of the folk instruments you'll find on this album are acoustic guitar, Uilleann pipes, tin whistle, bodhran, mouth harp, keyed fiddle, violin and cello. As you can guess by this list, the music on "A Nordic Poem" is very folky almost at all times. Mix this with the sometimes epic and sweeping and sometimes fast and black Viking metal and you have a sound you can't go wrong with.
The vocals, as can be expected, are just as varied as the music on the album is. There are a total of seven different vocalists singing on here and each one of them bring their own style to the album. Some vocalists sing in a very clean, slow and epic style, others help out with some narration, and others sing in a blackened style. All of these different styles on one album is great because you aren't forced to endure one vocal style for the entire album. The lyrics are written in and sung in English for the most part aside from one track written and sung in Swedish. They are extremely well written and focus on Norse Mythology and fantasy elements as you can probably gather from the song titles.
The sound on this album, to put it bluntly is pretty crappy. This production is the one and only thing that stopped me from giving the album a perfect score. It's kind of odd because the first intro track where there's just a female vocalist and pipes playing come through really well, but when the second song kicks in with all of the instruments, things go downhill fast. Don't get me wrong, all of the instruments and vocals sound good on the album and the production isn't tinny sounding or muffled, but the overall mix of the album makes it sound like the music is playing way off in the distance. It's like no matter how loud you turn your stereo up, you just can't hear it very well. I've never heard a production like it really, but it's a bit of a letdown and hopefully they can get a better production on the next album.
The layout of the C.D. is excellent. The cover art shows an image of a group of clouds that have swirled themselves into the image of a Viking warrior. Surrounding this image a circle pattern of Celtic knotwork. It's one of the coolest album covers I've seen in a while actually. The inside of the booklet contains all of the lyrics and a huge list of all the members that took part on this album and all of the instruments they play. I wish they would have added what bands each members play in on this list though.
I really wish I could have given this album a perfect "10/10" score because the music deserves it, but the production unfortunately made that impossible. That should not deter Viking and folk metal fans from getting this album though because the music is phenomenal! Even with the subpar production "A Nordic Poem" has, it is definitely worth getting because of the excellent and near flawless music contained on the album. And to whoever it was in this band that thought of the concept of using musicians from around the world, my hat's off to you. That is such a great concept and I hope you do this again in the near future.
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Tracklist:
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| Rating: 8.5/10 | |
| Release Date: 2004 | |
| Length: 39:40 | |
| Review By: Britton Dicks | |
| Total Reviews: (1) | |
| Bands Website: Go Here | |
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