Folk

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Corde Oblique – The Stones Of Naples (2009)

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    Corde Oblique is an Italian band that is the brainchild of Riccardo Prencipe who composes all the music, but in the recording of this album used the help of an impressive list of musicians (for more go to their site),  and when performing live he is helped by Claudia Sorvillo (vocals), Edo Notarloberti (violin), Alessio Sica (drums) and Umberto Lepore (bass) who also contributed in the album.

    The band plays acoustic music that is of the highest level of quality and beauty. I listen to and appreciate all kinds of music regardless if they are metal or not, and acoustic music is one of my favorites.  I really like bands like Antimatter, Brillig and Ashram just to name a few, and Corde Oblique is in the same alley.

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    Fejd – Storm (2009)

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    Fejd provides us with a very solid debut album. This Swedish band plays folk music, with almost no elements of metal, so don’t expect distorted guitars or anything like that. The most ‘metal’ aspect of the band is probably the drumming. The bands music incorporates a wide variety of medieval instruments and they all blend to perfection, creating an album very rich in different sounds.

    While I’m no expert in folk music, I can appreciate a good album when I hear one. You can clearly listen to the Hurdy-gurdie, bag pipes, and violin among several other instruments. The fusion of instruments is done to perfection creating very cohesive folk melodies that will have all the fan of medieval music dancing and chanting along the vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Stille Volk - Nueit De Sabbat (2009)

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    I've been listening to Stille Volk since the 1997, and they have most of the time releases good albums (except [Ex-uvies]). They are very consistent with their Medieval Folk style, and they don’t have any traces of Metal anymore, but still makes for a nice and different thing to listen.

    This two man band provides a great variety of wind and string instruments that are perfectly complemented with Patrick's vocals and several bagpipes. All songs are very consistent of the style of Stille Volk and will surely please all their fans. All instruments from what I can tell are very well played and they mix together perfectly.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Blackguard – Profugus Mortis (2009)

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    The Canadians of Blackguard used to be called Profugus Mortis until they won a Nuclear Blast contest on myspace and got a record deal with them. I must say that I’m impressed with this band evolution from a symphonic black metal to a more Folk/Black metal band.  While they still maintain they black metal vocals, the music has been greatly revamped with folk influences giving the band a more dynamic sound and removing them from the ‘symphonic black metal’ clone band category.

    The only thing I’m disappointed they removed was the violin that separated them from other symphonic black metal bands. Other that this all their bombastic keyboards layered on top of excellent drum and guitar tracks gives this band an edge over any band from North America that plays this genre, and puts them in a competitive level against European bands that are masters of the trade.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Suidakra – Crógacht (2009)

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    This releases is the 9th full length album of Suidakra, and like it’s predecessors it’s very good and different. In this release the Celtic influences are predominant in most of the songs, but the traditional aggressiveness of their musical style is always present. All songs feature a higher technical quality than most of the bands previous work.

    “Crógacht” features nine tracks that will leave you begging for more. The intro track will give you a very good idea of what to expect through out the rest of the album. And then “Conaloch” hits with a combined aggressive and melodic aspect to it that will enthrall any listener. In this release the keyboards mark the overall Celtic atmosphere of the whole album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nachtgeschrei - Am Rande der Wel (2009)

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    Nachtgeschrei hails from germany and they play Folk rock/metal. This band has some clear similarities with In Extremo, but they manage to have a sound of their own. This release features a more rock oriented music, than their previous album “Hoffnungsschimmer” and while this is not necessarily bad the band might loose some followers over this.

    “Am Rande der Wel” features song very catchy songs and nice mixture of metal/rock guitars with bagpipes and very distinctive vocals. The album kicks of with two great songs (after the intro): “Musipili” and “Herz aus Stein”. The rest of the songs do sound very similar, but if the music is good (like in this case), then this is not a problem. There are many parts that are perfect for sing-along moments during live performances.

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