22:14 - K7, is that you? 21:53 - @karlabos I mean most of the reviews are like 'I know the name of the singer' and '.i like that song' etc but with a proper english, lyrics is smth u can discuss if it consists a main theme but not too straightforward 21:14 - Leviathan has the best logo out there. 21:10 - Obviously the new Rosemount Hill is going to be album of the year, if not decade.
Put that on your radar. 20:33 - Dunno if anybody visits these parts of the forum but I made a topic about my recently revived solo project. Give it a shot if you will 19:58 - New Forest of Stars in the works as well, that might be coming out next year. 19:40 - Portal, Tribulation, Chaos Echoes, Wormlust, the Martrod debut. Not to mention, the Meads probably have their new album planned. We's gonna be in for some goodies. Reviewer: N/A 139 users: 8.19 Band: Album: Release date: September 2012 01.
The Cracking Glow 02. Suncatcher 03. How Stands The Glass Around? Storm Along 05.
Vaunting Veins 06. The Coasts Of High Barbaree 07. The Dying Californian I like to imagine the guys in were all sitting around the dinner table, probably with some really fantastic beer in one hand and a leg of lamb in the other hand. One of them says, 'I used to love folk metal but these days it's getting lame; everyone is doing the same tired shit over and over.'
'Yeah' say the other guys to nods of agreement. They all rip a bite of lamb off the bone and contemplate this statement. One guy has an epiphany and breaks the silence with, 'What if what if we made a folk metal album that wasn't lame? What if we just did things a little differently?' Everyone's chewing slows to a halt.
They stare at him, wide-eyed and mystified. 'Tell us more, brother.' And thus begins the saga of Olden Tales & Deathly Trails: an album for lovers of folk metal but one that just approaches it a little differently.
It's hard to put your finger on HOW they're different. Perhaps it's the variation in instruments, in tempos, and that this isn't just a non-stop assault. In fact, it's rarely an assault at all. The use of acoustic guitars and mandolin during the more intense parts of some songs, plus the sheer variety in others, makes me feel like sometimes listens to people like Gogol Bordello and the in addition to all the classic folk metal bands we know and love. Both epic and straight forward, symphonic and bare, and with well-done clean and extreme vocals, if there is something you love about folk metal then does it. The best part is that despite the variety this is remarkably streamlined and cohesive. They really find the shining middle ground between everything that is good and wonderful and badass about the genre.
Perhaps overall it's a bit more on the melodic side of things, but it's free of cheese. No, that's totally a lie; it's just not cheesy in the same way most melodic folk is. There are no flute solos, no female vocals, and no visions of smiling fairies dancing in an open field to welcome the rising sun. This is the kind of cheese that makes you defensive about it. The fuck you gonna to do about it, huh?!'
Then you bitchslap the hater and give the album another spin. I love this album because it's actually AMERICAN folk metal.
Not that I'm some patriotic moron, but so many American folk metal bands are just trying to chase Ensiferum's coattails, and for that reason the American folk metal scene is mostly a bunch of bland cliched crap. But Wilderun is a breath of fresh air.playing glorious folk metal a la Turisas, but using American folk melodies and instruments in healthy doses.
Wilderun Olden Tales
The end result sounds like Aaron Copland wrote an album with Mathias Nygard, and it's awesome.
Usually I don't believe the hype. In fact, I've grown quite hostile to it, because in most cases the real thing doesn't come close to adding up to the wind-driven claims of how great a particular band happens to be. So, when I started seeng people talk up Wilderun I was hesitant.
I didn't knee-jerk into opposition, because the people making the claims weren't fickle scene kids who shit their pants over a Ghost song. These were musicians I knew and admired that were saying, no, seriously, they're really good. I didn't get a chance to hear them until we shared a stage with them. If you could call it a stage, really. It was a postage-stamp sized corner of a dive bar in Philadelphia with a severely underpowered PA, so meager that Wilderun couldn't even run their orchestration tracks and had to play raw. For a band who heavily integrates orchestration into their music, this can be a significant challenge. Yet it was one they conquered with ease and rueful smiles.
As the speakers bled horrific feedback into their faces and the band all winced in agony at varying points, the compulsion of their brand of seafaring folk metal still shone through the wall of noise. They got to play three songs.
It was enough for me to buy their CD, though, and it's one of those purchases that has paid me back in more ways than I can articulate. This self-released album is the culmination of work by guitarist/singer Evan Berry, who started the project in 2008 and recruited drummer Jon Teachey, bassist Dan Miller, and guitarist/vocalist/orchestrator Wayne Ingram to turn a one-man project into a full band. A side note- one of the things I noticed a lot about my limited time with Wilderun is their chemistry. Sometimes bands can be a hodge-podge of members who fill the need in the moment but it's nice to see a band that doesn't look like a team of mercenaries.
Anyway, this band from Boston finally came together to meld amazing storytelling, American folk music and tales, and original, flawlessly executed metal into one cinematic score that will keep you entertained for days on end. Try as I may I have not been able to find a flaw in this gem. Olden Tales has the precise balance of a gyroscope. No element is too present or too sparse. It feels like an album and not a collection of songs; the flow is incredibly smooth and the current of the songs is unbelievably strong.
Listening to this is effortless and because of that, your mind is free to wander. This album stimulates my imagination like few have in my 40 years of life. Because this album is executed so well it's hard to find the right words to tell you how it sounds. The performance is amazing, the orchestration works on every level, and yet, I've heard several of those songs without orchestration and they are still just as powerful.
Wilderun Olden Tales Movies
The production is such that everything can be heard, nothing is overcompensating for anything else. The metal elements may seem a bit dialed back at first but then you realize that it's done so to give much more depth and space for the songs as a whole to shine. I could go on complimenting Olden Tales & Deathly Trails forever. I could keep writing until I run out of laudatory adjectives and then start inventing new ones.
I usually don't gush over albums like this, but when I tell you it hasn't left my CD player in two months, I mean it. And I've looped it over and over again easily a hundred times.
And when I am not listening to it, I am hearing those songs and melodies in my head taking me away to a different world. If an album can do that, you know it's worth getting. And seeing them live?
Wilderun - Olden Tales & Deathly Trails
Well, that's an experience in and of itself, that's why I posted the live video above and not just a link to a studio track. Enjoy this one, fellas.