Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Folk Briefs, Part 6

Folkin' Shit Up Again

Fejd: Nagelfar (2013)
3.5 out of 5 stars


The album art on Fejd's Nagelfar is befitting a mighty Viking banner. It should be seen only as the cover of this album, or billowing on the t-shirt of a 400-pound man riding victoriously through Wal-Mart on a power chair, drenched in the sweat of his heroic exertions. The music on the album is Swedish folk with metal drumming added in to make it much easier for us metalheads to get into. To people like me, who can't necessarily tell the difference between Scandinavian and Finnish folk music, it will sound like Amorphis without the metal guitars. Which is pretty cool, by the way. Not pillaging your local Supercenter cool, but cool.




Sangre de Muerdago: Deixame Morrer no Bosque (2013)
3 out of 5 stars


Sangre de Muerdago is mostly acoustic guitar with the kind of production that lets you hear the string noise. I like that. There are other things that peek in here and there, like nature sounds, electronic noises, soft male and/or female vocals, and other instrumentation (e.g. strings), but the acoustic guitar is what it's about. Sometimes, it sounds a bit Spanish, as you might have guessed from the name. It's remarkably well done, but I don't feel an overriding urge to listen to it a second time.



Kimi Kärki: The Bone of My Bones (2013)
2 out of 5 stars


The Bone of My Bones is some really nondescript, gentle acoustic Nordic folk with breathy male vocals. It starts to get interesting when it takes on a psychedelic, hypnotic aspect, but it never fully embraces that Hexvessel/Comus vibe. Which is too bad, really.

Svart Records
Go here to listen.

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