Today we reach the 10th part of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the two I’m announcing today, click here. I’m still not positive how many more parts remain, but I have resolved to finish before this month ends.
If you’re not familiar with today’s two additions to the list, you’ll soon understand why I grouped them together. They’re the least “extreme” of the songs featured so far, and I suppose some folks might argue they don’t belong on this list at all. But as different as both songs are from what I usually pass my days hearing and writing about, both of them lodged firmly in my head and have meant a lot to me since I first heard them. So they’re here, and so are you, and on we go…
FALKENBACH
Falkenbach is the German one-man project of Vratyas Vakyas. Since 1996 he has released six albums on an irregular and unpredictable schedule, the most recent being 2013’s Asa. By coincidence, it appeared on a late-breaking year-end list we published this morning, with these words:
“With multiple styles present, Asa sounds atmospheric and epic, Vratyas Vakyas putting forth excellent performances in everything he’s done with this album. The contrasting vocal styles are well done and may rival some of the best bipolar voices in metal, but the use of acoustic guitar may actually be the highlight of the album. I can envision Asa being what campfire stories at night would sound like with backing guitars and drums as others go forward to to do the deeds being sung about back home…. Falkenbach remains one of folk metal’s standard bearers, Asa showing exactly why.”
There are some devastating, more traditionally black-metal songs on the album, but the track that has stayed with me most strongly isn’t any of those. It’s “Eweroun”. From the beginning introductory passage, which features acoustic strumming and a somber folk melody voiced in a clean baritone, straight through the balance of the song, with heavier instrumentation joining the acoustic guitar and the vocals rising in range, it’s extremely memorable. The main acoustic lead, in particular, just will not let go of me. “Eweroun” makes a virtue of simplicity, though it’s far from simplistic. The lyric video for the song is also beautiful:
https://www.facebook.com/falkenbach
THE LION’S DAUGHTER AND INDIAN BLANKET
A Black Sea, the collaborative album created by two bands from St. Louis — The Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket — seemed to come out of nowhere, but man, did it leave a mark. BadWolf reviewed it for us, and I’ll quote these excerpts — with which I completely agree:
“A Black Sea is the sort of album that one can listen to from front-to-back and then re-start. Both Indian Blanket and The Lion’s Daughter carry a versatile array of styles, and employ every one of them on this album. As a result, even though the overriding mood stays bleak, the album winds from churning sludge to delicate acoustic passages—it feels every bit like a journey across the titular sea, or into the foreboding, prehistoric forest depicted on the cover….
“The union of Americana and folk metal has yielded some of the finest fruit in the past few years. I speak of records like Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit, Panopticon’s Kentucky, and Cobalt’s magnificent Gin. Earlier, Islander meditated on what albums we, as metalheads, might consider—for lack of finer terminology—works of art, and the albums I just mentioned fall into that category for me. My assessment may be premature, considering how little time I’ve had to digest it, but so far A Black Sea absolutely stands with such esteemed company, for me. This is one hell of an album, and one that may be sadly slept on my the metal press at large. Give these fine gentlemen and women your attention—these young masters deserve it.”
The first song I heard from the album, and still my favorite, was “Wolves”. The music seamlessly integrates the kind of dark folk music that fans of Leonard Cohen would eat with both hands and the massive chords of sludgy funeral doom. The melody is bleak but unforgettable, and the pairing of contrasting vocalists from the two bands is a match made in heaven, if heaven were a shattered, black place. A deeply affecting song that has been my companion many times since its first airing, it’s the newest addition to my list.
(P.S. I failed to write about an official video for another song from the album (“Swann”) when it debuted a couple weeks ago. It’s a great song, too, and so I’m making up for lost time by including the video below as well).
https://www.facebook.com/thelionsdaughter
https://www.facebook.com/indianblanketfolk
xx
11 Responses to “OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 10”
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In my opinion the list could as well been named ‘Most Infectious Metal Songs’. All good metal is Metal! These days the most exciting happenings is in Extreme Metal or closely related categories anways.
Back in november, when you asked for contributions (https://www.nocleansinging.com/2013/11/14/help-a-brother-out-we-need-yore-songs/) I listed 7 tracks as “NON-Extreme Metal tracks”. Amongst these were Falkenbach – Eweroun, Cnoc An Tursa – The Lion of Scotland and Tengger Cavalry – Cavalry In Thousands, that you have now written about.
I still don’t concider them as Extreme, but what the hell… They are extremely good, and that’s what counts 🙂
HA! I had forgotten that. We are clearly operating on a similar wavelength. I’m not sure whether I should look back at your list now or not (though when I compiled my master list of candidates it included every song that anyone suggested in that post). 🙂
In that case they’ll emerge in this series if you like’m.
When I read ‘infectious’ I thought ‘catchy almost on the verge of commercial music’, so I wrote down the best songs that was most likely to get stuck in yer head, so to speak.
I think my wavelength is a bit shorter. For one thing, I’ve got a mild allergy towards core related metal. :p
Agreed, all good metal is metal.
A Black Sea was definitely a highlight of the year for me. While I love the whole thing I really find myself gravitating more towards the dark folky parts of the album. They’re just perfect.
So, people whose fingers are closer to the pulse of metal than mine, does it look like American folk/metal hybrids are going to become more of a thing in 2014? Between this release and Panopticon’s Kentucky I’d say there’s proof that this is fertile ground.
I’d also include Thrawsunblat on that list. Sure, they’re Canadian, but the union of Maritime shanties and black metal is certainly cut from the same cloth as the bands you mentioned.
I’m going to check that out!
two unexpected yet excellent picks, very nice
Love that Falkenbach album. Best stuff out of them in some time. “Bluot Fuër Bluot” gets stuck in my head about as often.
One of the things that came to mind when I was listening to Asa was that some of the music was haunting (in a good way), “Eweroun” being one such example.
I meant to get that Lion’s Daughter/Indian Blanket release back when BadWolf wrote about it, and then a few other times after that as well. Dammit brain, why can’t you remember important things like this?