Mortifero - The Death Ballads

Now this is a fascinating one. Emerging from Groningen as a side project for a group of black metal musicians with long histories in the scene, Mortifero is a gorgeous dark acoustic project. These bleak songs, very much in the vein of King Dude or even Lana Del Rey make for an emotional and powerful EP that will leave you staring death in the face. It's exactly the sort of wonderfully bleak music that you want to kick off your Tuesday with. What's not to love about the sorrowful ministrations and minor key melodies of their debut EP, The Death Ballads. 

Despite the relatively minimalist arrangements there is something surprisingly rich about this record. The breadth of the compositions and the haunting vocals come together to give us something really emotionally powerful. It's a delight to really sink your teeth into what Mortifero are doing, it's the sort of logical continuation and triumphant next step that you WANT to hear from this kind of band. There is a very elegant poetry behind the music that will keep you coming back, eager for more and desperate to uncover the hidden secrets of The Death Ballads. It's exactly the sort of surreal sonic poetry so many of us long for. 

Mortifero have done an excellent job of executing on The Death Ballads. It's a record that speaks to all of the potential of these musicians and so much more. The more time I spend uncovering the myriad layers the more entranced I am with the overall product. The Death Ballads is potent, powerful and surprisingly elegant, a record that you can really lose yourself in. It's a delight to experience these elegantly executed odes to the end of all things. Dive into the magic and experience these acoustic songs for the heart with me - it's worth it.

Matt Heckler - Blood, Water, Coal

Now this one is a delight. Blood, Water, Coal is the latest project from veteran violinist Matt Heckler. It sees him borrowing from a deep variety of folk music cultures and pointing towards a uniquely human approach to the instrument. Matt Heckler is a figure practically born out of legend showcasing a love for everything from Appalachian folk to traditional Romanian music with a healthy dose of Irish balladry. Yet somehow Heckler makes sense of all of this and crafts something truly exciting and deeply impressive. 

Blood, Water, Coal also charms because of the sheer talent that Heckler brings to the table here. Yes he's mainly a violinist, but god damn can the man sing. Meanwhile, his guitar playing on the ballad 'Forgive Me Mother' is a masterwork of understated brilliance. In fact, the relatively minimal and organic sounding production that dominates Blood, Water, Coal is a big part of the appeal. Matt Heckler has done an amazing job of really showcasing just what makes his work special and encouraging listeners to sit down and really get lost in the simple and sublime poetry of what he is continually executing on. It's beautiful. 

Join me in reflecting on life with the sorrowful and emotionally powerful artistry that is Blood, Water, Coal. It's dark and twisted, a stunning look deep into the heart of Appalachia by way of folk cultures from across Europe. Blood, Water, Coal is a record you are going to find yourself totally enamored with and really sinking your teeth into. It's dark and emotional, a reflection on the pain we all have to face in our day to day lives and it is practically guaranteed to leave you in awe. What more could you want from an album?

Buy the album!

https://anticorpmusic.com/collections/matt-heckler/products/album-matt-heckler-blood-water-coal-cd

Lindsay Schoolcraft - Worlds Away

 

Now this is an interesting twist from Lindsay Schoolcraft - the Canadian multi-instrumentalist perhaps best known for her work in the band Cradle of Filth. For years - Schoolcraft has made no illusions about her love for playing harp. So in many ways hearing her put together a full harp record is in fact sort of a fulfillment of all her promise. A record full of profoundly beautiful music, Worlds Away is an elegant and thrilling offering that will take the listener on a somber journey as they walk through vast soundscapes side by side with Ms. Schoolcraft. 

If anything - Worlds Away reminds me a lot of the solo material of Kari Rueslatten, the former singer of Third and the Mortal who know releases truly beautiful folk. The music here has a magical quality with pop frills counterbalacing some of the more esoteric moments. I think the real appeal here is simply that Lindsay Schoolcraft is making no pretense, finding something transcendent and capturing the imagination with music that speaks from the soul. These songs are intensely personal, often telling stories about her own life. Its easy to feel her raw emotion and see the pain she is seeking to share with this powerful offering. 

This is a record that invites you to get lost in it. It's an offering that lilts from peak to peak and continually proves that Lindsay Schoolcraft's powers are still not fully revealed. There are so many layers to sink your teeth into even though the record is relatively sparse in its arrangements. This is an interesting listen, and I gotta say - it's not every day I hear a harp record. There is a certain sense of purity, both in song and emotion behind Worlds Away that makes it a compelling listen. So grab this record, join Lindsay Schoolcraft in her magickal forest glades.

Find her on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/schoolcraftofficial/

Eryka Fir - Vice & Avoidance

It's always weird reviewing your homies band because like - what if they suck? Then you have to figure out a delicate way to explain that their album is terrible. Fortunately this is not the case with my friend Eryka Fir's debut full length, Vice & Avoidance, which despite some of the limitations any artist has when releasing their first full length is actually one of the best things that I have heard come out of the dark folk/doom adjacent scene in a while. Just a woman, her guitar and a few vocal layers, Eryka Fir has crafted a truly beautiful piece of art. This is the sort of project I could see gracing the stages of Roadburn in a few years.

There is something truly magical about Vice & Avoidance in the way that Eryka Fir has been able to craft something deeply emotional, with rich layers of production making her sultry voice all the more engaging. The croon on a track like 'Surround Me' is stunning. While the influence of bands like Windhand is definitely apparent, Fir brings something else to the table. More than just another artsy fartsy folk side project, this is an album that has a very real emotional depth. The very earthiness of the band is what makes it such an engaging and fascinating listen - a record that continually grows on the listeners heart.

I listen to a lot of music, there aren't a lot of things I routinely come back too. This however is something that even on my second or third listen sounded fresh and interesting. The ideas are fairly straightforward and Eryka Fir isn't breaking new ground, but she's goddamn great at what she does - and that's what really matters. Her mesmerizing multilayered chants and elegant acoustic guitar accompaniment are all that she needs to make Vice & Avoidance such an incredibly delightful listen. Dig in folks, there's a lot to enjoy.

Listen on Bandcamp!


https://erykafir.bandcamp.com/album/vice-avoidance


Find her on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/Eryka-Fir-2342778185740819/

Neun Welten - The Sea I'm Diving In

Prophecy Productions is really one of those labels who succeed as curators of taste. They are a label who can put out even genres of music I would never normally listen to and make me love them. So I knew that when Nuen Welten's The Sea I'm Diving In hit my inbox that I was in for a good time. Nuen Welten is the sort of potent and highly ambient dark folk band who force you to question what folk music can be and its role in our society, pushing the genre to new heights and guiding the listener through beautiful waves of sound. 

I can't help but to love the beautiful and strangely archaic vibes that Nuen Welten so gleefully curate on this record. The rolling textures of the production, perfectly balancing lush acoustic guitars and gentle synths make for an album that you can't help but want to get lost in. There is something inherently comforting about the way their downtempo vibes ease their way into your heart. Maybe I'm just a sucker for minor key German music but there is something I think transcendent about Nuen Welten. Sure they might be a little bit on the nose now and again, but that's part of what makes this record so fascinating. 

The Sea I'm Diving In offers infinite possibilities and encourages you to, well, dive in. This is a band who are not afraid of the beauty of their sound and who are going to work their way into your mind time and time again with endless and romantic compositions. When this albums comes to its tear jerking conclusion you can't help but to feel that you witnessed a truly great piece of art unfolding before you. Nuen Welten are masters of their craft and will leave you with a smile on your face and passion burning in your heart. 

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/neunwelten/

Chelsea Wolfe w/A Dead Forest Index in Paris (@La Maroquinerie 18/11/2015)

The week following the dramatic events in Paris was most certainly a rough one for its concert venues. With the city still on edge and on high alert, a lot of artists understandably chose to cancel their French and Parisian shows, whereas some chose to withstand the tension and courageously maintain their parisian date on their tour schedule. Fortunately for her Parisian fans who’ve eagerly waited for her return, Chelsea Wolfe was part of the latter group; La Maroquinerie was booked full and our diva of darkness visibly had no intention of delivering any less than the her very best performance for the grieving city.

A dark-pop duo going by the name of A Dead Forest Index were given the task to start off the show for the evening and did a solid a solid job at that. The guitar and drum combo from London did a surprisingly good job at creating an immersive, full sounding musical experience all the while retaining the dynamic possibilities offered by their two-piece formation. With clear, soft yet confident vocals accompanied by the pummelling, spacious drum grooves and swelling guitar riffs ambiences bordering post-rock and shoegaze-driven influences, A Dead Forest Index made for a captivating first act.

Then came the time for Chelsea Wolfe to take to the stage and mark her long awaited return.

Being that I had yet to listen to her latest full-length effort, this night was my first time hearing her widely anticipated set of new songs and boy was I in for a surprise. Having seen Chelsea Wolfe on her previous european tour, I was certainly not expecting such a heavy and doomy set of songs. Wolfe was visibly determined to show her teeth to her metalhead demographic, put a heavy accent on her latest pitch-dark release Abyss with its twisted, distorted sounds and its nightmarish ambiences. Armed with a heavy dose of distortion and a crushing low-end, Chelsea Wolfe made one thing clear; she certainly knows how to sharpen her live sound for maximum effectiveness, as audiences were treated to a brilliantly paced set balancing out a hard-hitting opening and closing act with a mellower, more melancholic core. Chelsea Wolfe’s chilling and crystalline vocals were absolutely flawless in delivery and vivid in their emotional imagery, so much so that one would never suspect her recent fragile health (her show in Austria having been cancelled earlier that very same week). The band made for an equally great and equally important part of the exceptional set, displaying an impressive ability to perform with an exceptional sense of finesse and versatility.

While some fans seeing Chelsea Wolfe for the first time may understandably regret the absence of some of her most popular singles in her setlist (notably Feral Love, Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter, Tracks (Tall Bodies)), one can only give Chelsea the utmost praise for bring such a brilliantly craft and explicitly arranged show to life with such ease and poetry. 

Overall, Chelsea Wolfe’s set was yet of another testimony to her ever expanding creativity, outdoing herself with a set perfectly complementing her previous tour. By putting a stronger accent on the darker and heavier side of her character, Chelsea Wolfe and her band put on a magnifient soirée of somber yet moving musical lyricism.

A huge thanks goes out to Marie Xxme and to Kongfuzi Booking, without which this live report would not have been possible.

A Dead Forest Index

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/adeadforestindex/

Bandcamp

https://adeadforestindex.bandcamp.com/

Chelsea Wolfe

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/cchelseawwolfe

Official Website

http://www.chelseawolfe.net/

Bandcamp

https://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/

Aerial Ruin

Dark acoustic folk music from a dude who collaborated with possibly the best pure doom band of 2015? Yes please! Aerial Ruin mastermind Erik Moggridge previously known for his work in Epidemic and Old Grandad and having more recently played on the Bell Witch records has simply blown my mind with his stuff. This is the kind of grim and almost Neurosis derived emotionally heavy music I so often crave. With ethereal and occasionally watched out vocals uttering quasi poetic lines that use all manner of delicate imagery it's easy to fall in love with what Aerial Ruin does. The often arpeggiated chords help to create deliciously understated soundscapes that leave the listener begging for more. Though the sonic motion can at times feel overly static there is certainly a sense of magic to Aerial Ruins new record Ash Of Your Cares that hints at great things to come from this Portland artist.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aerial-Ruin/147339635318278