Reviewed - 09/30/04
Basoaren Semeak
[Goimusic]
One of my favorite folk black metal bands finally return and release yet another excellent slab of Spanish folky blackness. For some reason, even though I tried like hell for a year, I never could find their second album. But that's almost an okay thing because their new album "Basoaren Semeak" has plenty to offer to keep me satisfied until I can find that elusive second album. In all honesty, "Basoaren Semeak" is so good, that it's one of the best albums I've heard thus far in 2004.
If you are not familiar with Numen, they are a black metal band from Spain that incorporates Basque (Spanish) style folk music within their music. That makes this folk metal band unique from the get-go as not many bands incorporate Spanish-styles folk music into their sound, if any. Mago de Oz does at times, but they more often than not have an Irish style of playing. While technically a folk black metal band, Numen is not a band to use folk elements all the way through their songs. They'll use them as intros and outros to songs, and a few songs will have folk instruments playing within the main body of the song, but they definitely don't drench their music in folkiness like a lot of other bands in the genre do. For me, I say the more folk the better, but this just kills anyway you look at it. The metal aspect of "Basoaren Semeak" is extremely fast, raw, and dirty black metal. Blast beats mix well with a slower and more epic approach the band uses from time to time, but most of the time it's just balls out raging black metal. There's not a single fault I can find within this music, and all of the musicians whether guest folk musicians or permanent members in the band, are very proficient at what they do.
The lyrics are written in and sung totally in Spanish. The vocalist is great and he seems to sing on this album in a more "grim" style than he ever has in the past. His vocal style on this album sometimes reminds me of the vocals on Mayhem's "De Mysterious Dom Sathanas". That is the style he uses most often, but from time to time he will incorporate a few death styled vocal parts as well as some "clean" almost Viking metal styled singing.
The production is great and is far better than the production on their debut album "Galdutako Itxaro Penaren Eresia". As I mentioned earlier, the folk elements aren't many on this album, and what's there is more or less in the background. But even though they are in the background they never get lost among the other basic metal instruments found on the album.
The artwork found within the packaging of the album is fairly decent, if nothing great. The cover art is a photo of a forest scene at night, and this is similar to the rest of the photos found within the booklet. All of it is done with a green tint, which makes everything seem more natural I guess. All of the lyrics are printed in the booklet, but unless you're fluent in Spanish these will be useless to you. Also, Numen wins the award for "most indecipherable logo award". If one isn't already familiar with the band, there's no way they'd be able to make out what the logo said.
A few years ago I fell in love with this band's debut album. It was a totally unique folk black metal experience, and even though they seem to be sadly losing some of their folkiness, "Basoaren Semeak" still is a better album than that debut album in my opinion. All of the folkiness is not gone though as not only are there a few folk elements within the songs, but the great last track on this album "Hilbeteko Gauetan..." is a completely traditional and acoustical folk track. Numen will probably never make the jump to a folk-filled black metal band, but I don't want them to. They are unique in more ways than one, and this is exactly the way they should stay. Now, where's that damn second album at?
[Goimusic]
One of my favorite folk black metal bands finally return and release yet another excellent slab of Spanish folky blackness. For some reason, even though I tried like hell for a year, I never could find their second album. But that's almost an okay thing because their new album "Basoaren Semeak" has plenty to offer to keep me satisfied until I can find that elusive second album. In all honesty, "Basoaren Semeak" is so good, that it's one of the best albums I've heard thus far in 2004.
If you are not familiar with Numen, they are a black metal band from Spain that incorporates Basque (Spanish) style folk music within their music. That makes this folk metal band unique from the get-go as not many bands incorporate Spanish-styles folk music into their sound, if any. Mago de Oz does at times, but they more often than not have an Irish style of playing. While technically a folk black metal band, Numen is not a band to use folk elements all the way through their songs. They'll use them as intros and outros to songs, and a few songs will have folk instruments playing within the main body of the song, but they definitely don't drench their music in folkiness like a lot of other bands in the genre do. For me, I say the more folk the better, but this just kills anyway you look at it. The metal aspect of "Basoaren Semeak" is extremely fast, raw, and dirty black metal. Blast beats mix well with a slower and more epic approach the band uses from time to time, but most of the time it's just balls out raging black metal. There's not a single fault I can find within this music, and all of the musicians whether guest folk musicians or permanent members in the band, are very proficient at what they do.
The lyrics are written in and sung totally in Spanish. The vocalist is great and he seems to sing on this album in a more "grim" style than he ever has in the past. His vocal style on this album sometimes reminds me of the vocals on Mayhem's "De Mysterious Dom Sathanas". That is the style he uses most often, but from time to time he will incorporate a few death styled vocal parts as well as some "clean" almost Viking metal styled singing.
The production is great and is far better than the production on their debut album "Galdutako Itxaro Penaren Eresia". As I mentioned earlier, the folk elements aren't many on this album, and what's there is more or less in the background. But even though they are in the background they never get lost among the other basic metal instruments found on the album.
The artwork found within the packaging of the album is fairly decent, if nothing great. The cover art is a photo of a forest scene at night, and this is similar to the rest of the photos found within the booklet. All of it is done with a green tint, which makes everything seem more natural I guess. All of the lyrics are printed in the booklet, but unless you're fluent in Spanish these will be useless to you. Also, Numen wins the award for "most indecipherable logo award". If one isn't already familiar with the band, there's no way they'd be able to make out what the logo said.
A few years ago I fell in love with this band's debut album. It was a totally unique folk black metal experience, and even though they seem to be sadly losing some of their folkiness, "Basoaren Semeak" still is a better album than that debut album in my opinion. All of the folkiness is not gone though as not only are there a few folk elements within the songs, but the great last track on this album "Hilbeteko Gauetan..." is a completely traditional and acoustical folk track. Numen will probably never make the jump to a folk-filled black metal band, but I don't want them to. They are unique in more ways than one, and this is exactly the way they should stay. Now, where's that damn second album at?
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Tracklist:
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| Rating: 9/10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Release Date: 2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: 39:51 | ||||||||||||||||
| Review By: Britton D. | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Reviews: (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| Bands Website: Go Here | ||||||||||||||||
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