folk, neofolk & acoustic

Hibernaculum is a series of re-recordings of old “classic” Earth “tracks” in the “new” (for 2007) semi-acoustic, washed out western / Americana style Earth adopted from say 2005 onwards (or thereabouts). The songs are given a new life here, and it was the right move to put “Ouroboros Is Broken” at the start. For me, I find that track dominates the very early Earth days and it also dominates here. Hibernaculum gets more “droney” and…

Cool shit. Very meditative. It’s got that undercurrent of heavy drones / dense distortion that crops up now and then through the ritual-like folk chants. Pure “Roadburn-core” haha. I’ve had this record on my “check out” list since 2011. 15 years. That’s absurd. Anyway, this review sucks, but the record is pretty cool if you wanna fire up a medicinal cigarette.

The once (and possibly still) elusive companion piece to Various Failures. I never found much value in it myself, because I owned an original copy of The Burning World, but for a very long time, Forever Burned was like the missing puzzle piece for fans who only had Various Failures. You have to remember for a very long time, before all of these recent reissues, the only way to get a lot of Swans was…

Like a transitional album with many elements from Gira’s previous project, The Angels Of Light. I bought the 12″ of this at a Swans show in Cardiff in 2010 and I swear there was like 50 people there. It was crazy seeing them in the following year (We Rose / Proto-Seer era) and how much their sound and audience had developed. I was really gobsmacked! Anyway, My Father… has some incredible songs on it, namely…

Steve Earle’s “Feel Alright,” the opening track here, appears in Season 2 of HBO’s critically acclaimed The Wire. I think for that reason, it feels more like a closing track than an opening one, but here it is in its original format, steering us into the smokey world of Steve Earle a la 1996. Steve’s been through some shit. I know nothing about the guy and I’ve only heard this one album, but this guy…

Great dark and interesting folk music with intense tribal rythyms and deep, ritualistic vocals. Really interesting, fluid and dynamic songwriting that successfully presents a series of variation on this theme, helped along by a clear yet organic sounding production. Really cool!

Side A of the 7” version has “Saved”, which if you’ve heard The Burning World then you are no doubt already in love with. Side B has “No Cruel Angel” which to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. It’s very morose and beautiful at the same time, as was a lot of the stuff released around this time. Jarboe does very little here, a few backing vocals here or there but that’s…

Initial reaction was not great, but I sat with this for a while and it really started to grow on me. The mix of acoustic folk and black metal is stranger than it reads on paper. There is something endearing about the tracks, especially the closing title track, which has a really nice vocal melody. Leave your production expectations at the door, however.

Not sure what to say about this one. It really does need to be heard to be believed. Expected fractured collages of sound and introspective atmospheres.

Interesting vibes and songwriting, ranging from folk to the slower, more “traditional” elements of “pagan black metal” stripped down to its very core. This is another project of Alexey from M8l8th, but the star of the show here is his wife Ekaterina, who’s vocals breathe life into these tracks. Not my usual type of thing, but a pensive and enjoyable listen all the same.

A beautiful pairing of songs. Old folk songwriting meets modern production and sound. Great stuff.

Whilst not reaching the dizzying heights of the magical debut, Emptiness x 3 is a fabulous neofolk record with some wonderful songs and atmospheric passages. Speaking of the latter, perhaps “Algir Naudir Wunjo” and closer “Reficul” do not need to be quite as long as they actually are, especially the latter, but they are still great all the same. Very chill, very mystical, very (refreshingly) not fashy lol – a decent sophomore album.

The main problem Goat have is that they will never be able to top their debut album, World Music, which is wall to wall, front to back, banger to banger – a total classic. Requiem is much the same as Commune before it in that it is an absolute pleasure to listen to; the production is glorious as is the various instrumentation (in particular the percussion) but none of the songs hit home with the…

An excellent split (if you discount the cover art). Graveland tracks are prime cuts for this latter area; clanking, clattering drum programming and triumphant riffs, with the trademark Darken croak. Shup up and take my money! Bialy Vitez use a lot of traditional instruments and folk elements, which ties right in with their split mates. The production is fantastic and the mix of metal and olde worlde instruments is done to near perfection. More often…

Very relaxing, evocative neofolk that seems genuinely steeped in traditional folklore and tales as olde as time. Totally however, as a cohesive album, it’s a bit inconsistent, and also a little bit on the long side, but that’s OK. You can really lose yourself in this one.

The Snow Bunker Tapes is the same set of songs from Peaceful Snow but instead of piano we get the tunes in an OG Di6 configuration of acoustic guitar with additional sparse twinkles of percussive affectations. In some cases this works well, the guitar matching up well with a lot of the songs that failed to wow on piano (just do a side by side listen for both versions of opening track “Murder Made History”…

A beautiful piece of neofolk, of which I’m happy to report blends effortlessly with other genres, such as displayed in some of the more electronic offerings found in the latter half of this album. Admittedly, I had not heard of Sonne Hagal until recently, and I feel that I am very late to the party. Glorious production reigns throughout, with twinkling guitars and instrumentation accenting the typical neofolk “low key” chilled yet anxious kind of…

A beautiful and evocative debut. It took me a few listens to “get” the whispered vocal approach, which felt like a bit of a cop-out at first. Once I had gotten over this personal hurdle, the full impact of Nighttime Nightrhymes could be fully appreciated. For me, it is an embodiment of the perfect neofolk sound; that dark acoustic simplicity augmented by various other stringed or wind instruments helps develop a sound that is fresh…

I’ve never been much of a fan of Johnny Cash but do enjoy a spin of the covers now and then. There is a morose feel to the whole record, which is known primarily for “Hurt” let’s be honest, but despite this, sadness and perhaps a weariness permeates every second of this thing. The production is simply gorgeous, allowing the rustic Americana of these interpretations to fully shine. A classic record, for sure.

I’m new to the music of Sturmpercht, but more or less completely in love with it after only a few short weeks. Geister Im Waldgebirg filters traditional Alpine folk music (a type of music that I am admittedly not familiar with) through the medium of neofolk, resulting in a morose acoustic experience that sounds confident and authentic. The record cannot be dismissed for following repetitive acoustic folk structures however; for each campfire acoustic guitar track…

Death In June clone this may be, but it has its moments of genius and songwriting flair. I commend these moments of brilliance, but they are often mixed in with other less inspired passages and some just downright terrible arrangements. A mixed bag, but when it’s good, it scratches that neofolk itch perfectly.

Great traditional single release of smoky, dark folk music, with Side A being by far the strongest. Dude and Wolfe play off each other brilliantly and really make for a captivating duo.

What an unusual and endearing sound. First impressions come across like a mixture of Oi! and the post-punk recipe perfected by groups such as Joy Division. An interesting mix for sure. Comparisons to acts like Black Magick SS would not be incorrect to make (particularily in regards the ethereal wails found in opening track “Sailing To Other Lands”), but there is a more of an earthy, grounded feel to the songwriting from Longbow (and overall…

I take no pleasure in declaring that this has to be one of the worst things that I have ever heard. Musically I suppose it’s quite strong, but generally the songwriting is appalling and both vocal performances here make me cringe so hard I feel like I’m going to have a stroke. When I say things like “folk rock band based in Elder Scrolls lore” or “it sounds like The Handsome Family for fans of…

Beautiful little EP / single, but one that is over fairly quickly. The takes of Cathedral Of Tears are great, as are the live tracks from early albums performed live in a slightly different style. Really solid, but stops short of being great because the release on its own is fairly pointless. Would have been better as a split or a longer, more substantial issue.

Walks a fine line between kitsch and being one of those mysterious pieces of work dripping with indecipherable artistic merit. Black Ships… is a great example of Tibet’s neofolk that has its song structures more or less falling off the bone.

What the ever-loving fuck is this? I checked it out because the cover looked like a Radio Free Innsmouth YouTube thumbnail. Expecting some low quality NSBM, instead I stumble onto a… a… what is this exactly? I suppose it falls into the neofolk category, especially with the reworking of a Death In June song towards the end. I must comment Atlantean Blood for conjuring a wholly unique atmosphere with their record here but damn, this…

I think I am going to have to admit to myself that Peste Noire is not the band for me. As I work my way through the group’s discography, I’ve gone from absolutely astounded to bored to fucking tears. I have no idea what’s going on here, I guess there is some sort of artistic vision that I simply “do not get”, specifically in the mix of French folk and black metal. I’ve given Ballade…

This is probably the first time that I have felt bad giving a record 3.5 out of 5. Everything Is Good Here is so achingly beautiful that I feel it deserves more, but the reality is that there are quite a lot of songs on this album that just don’t really stand out for me. If Sing Other People didn’t exist, then Everything Is Good Here would probably be my least favourite Angels Of Light…

I wish that I had some sort of big brain take on this record, only because it offers far more in its lyrical content than I can hope to ever analyse, but I only truly stumbled upon this because of the Death In June connection. Nevertheless, In The Rain is a beautiful record, one that I have listened to many, many times over the last few months to truly acclimatise to the songs it possesses….

Completionists item showcasing some rough cuts from the early three piece post/martial punk days. Unless you are absolutely madly, deeply in love with the Guilty… & Burial era, then there’s nothing really worth checking out here. An interesting listen all the same.

Infinitely more well produced (and sung) that most neofolk that I’ve heard in my limited lifetime. Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro sounds like 00s Anathema, the first Bastille album and Death In June all rolled into one confusing ball. Sprinkle in some mixed vibes and hey, presto! Despite everything that Rome has going for them in regards to their talented frontman and extended palette of musicality, then let themselves down with the uniformity of their music….

A lovely little package, but definitely another item in the Di6 discography that is for the die-hards and collectors only. There are much better live albums from Douglas, but the studio sessions here on disk 2 are actually worth checking out for those who are curious. There are some excellent reworkings of “Runes and Men” and “Fall Apart” as well what’s almost an acapella version of “Death Is The Martyr Of Beauty”, with Douglas yapping…

I have disparaged all of the Death in June sound collage stuff over the last few years. Operating Hummingbird, and parts of albums like the latter half of All Pigs Must Die literally do nothing for me. I was surprised then, when returning to Take Care And Control, to find that it was incredibly listenable, enjoyable and of a high production quality. Now, I know Albin Julius did all the music here (this should have…

A really great acoustic EP from this fantastic project. Both songs comprise of the same elements but are also very much completely different. Both tracks, particularly the B-side, “Talisman”, sound very similar to bands like Rome or Death In June (is the controversial cover image also a nod?) but with some added black metal vocals for the hell of it. All in all, great atmospheres and great song writing.

Some of the critical responses aimed at Peaceful Snow are incredibly harsh. Do I understand where such criticisms are coming from? Of course I do – the depth of Miro’s piano playing really brings out the “one trick” aspect of Douglas’ voice; something that works well in its own way, but it is definitely something that is left wholly exposed against the beautiful backdrop of keys that Snejdr provides. But, Peaceful Snow was an excellent…

Swans are one of those special bands that sound completely different on each record. The early stuff is some of the hardest music you can possibly want to hear. You could also argue that the sound began thawing on Holy Money or Greed, albums that came before this, but the way I see that instead is that the band added more elements to their work, rather than stripping back their work. Children Of God was…

This has to be one of the stupidest and creepiest things I’ve ever heard. From the album cover, to the recurring themes of Satan and, weirdly, drunk people in there songs, to the creepy ass delivery of the vocalist who comes in on the choruses (I’m not sure which brother it is). Honestly, everything about this is fucked but musically it’s pretty fun. Oh, I also now know where the “Hell is a real place”…

Random listen is random! If I could be so bold this artist immediately reminded me of Lurleen Lumpkin from The Simpsons (I’ve probably spelt that wrong). Hazel Dickens makes workin’ class country music for the workin’ man (or woman). Songs are about the struggles of life and low wage employment, relationships and other difficulties us proles face whilst running the gauntlet of existing and trying to stay alive. All of this is delivered with an…

The forbidden knowledge has to be, that mixing dungeon synth and raw black metal in this way is a winning combination. Sometimes the brightest truths are the ones that are there in plain sight, waiting to be grasped. LOL Anyway – Gate Master is the project centralising around founding Cradle Of Filth member Paul Ryan (who’s been out of the band since the debut record). The black metal is raw, disgusting and frenetic, which is…

A later-day effort from the legendary and enigmatic project that is Di6. Honestly, whatever weirdness the band is going for here completely misses the mark. Operation Hummingbird comes across more like a pointless collection of sound collages than it does a tangible album. Which is a bit of a shame, as the live album for this era is really good.

I learned about this record whilst listening to one of Christopher Dunn’s talks on the great pyramid being a power plant. I can’t recall the exact point he was making, but it was about the resonant properties of the granite within the pyramid’s King’s Chamber. Now, I’m not really in-tune with these new age types, but the pyramids fascinate me, so I gave this ago. It’s a good idea. Live recordings from inside one of…

2-Bulah-Bell 2: Bak 2 Da Belle was an unexpected drop from Mike Oldfield. And by unexpected, I mean, it was not expected for me when I found there was a sequel, a third, and a bunch of crappy remix albums all riding off the success of the first record in this series. Now, I love Mike Oldfield, anyone who can play that many different guitars is good in my book, but 2-Bulah-Bell 2 gets way…

Not a very good effort from Death In June, although it has its moments. Expect lots of sound collages and other pointless shit, let’s be honest here. The art is pretty iconic though, and there are appearances from regular collaborators such as Rose McDowall and Boyd Rice. Oh, and this album has “Fall Apart”, which is one of the best Di6 songs in my opinion.

I remember years and years ago, when I was doing GCSE art. My teacher, someone who introduced me to all sorts of obscure shit like Unseen Terror for example, had this CD with him one day. He put it in front of me and said “what do you think that sounds like?”. I didn’t know what I was looking at back then, but the image of Douglas in that mask, holding a knife to the…

This album may have some pretty bad cover art, but it makes up for it sonically. What I like alot about Tauromachine is the presence of shorter, more easily digestible songs. This is still pummelling noise done in the way only Merzbow can do so well, but what this has over predecessor 1930 and even Pulse Demon is the less-intimidating track lengths. It really makes the difference for me, as pausing half way through a…

Solid later-career effort here from everyone’s favourite Third Reich fetishising grandpa. Even after my own in-depth analysis, I still have no idea where Di6 stands politically, at least not in regards to the music that the project creates, but thankfully the overt and endless Nazi references are somewhat subdued here on The Rule Of Thirds (unless of course I’m just too stupid to notice the dog whistles). Honestly though, after an experimental period it was…

I may be something of a novice when it comes to the Handsome Family, getting into them through them being featured as the theme song to the first season of True Detective, but damn, this stuff is unsettling. I’ve enjoyed the band’s misty, unnerving country music immensely, so I was shocked to fire up Odessa and find a brand of music more in line with the grunge. The guitar work hits incredibly hard though, and…

I did a lot of digging into Death In June’s politics recently and a lot of people pointed me at Current 93’s “Hitler As Kalki”, which is on this album. It contains a lot of wishy washy references to Kalki and places Hitler in there as the one who will come to destroy the world (or whatever), but for the most part this stuff is so esoteric and dare I say rambling I see no…

This is probably the best live album I’ve heard from this project so far. It seems to offer something interesting aside from the usual 1 man acoustic renditions of all the hits. The recently deceased Albin Julius is a part of the live show, providing a layer of electronic sounds. This live document was taken around the Operation Hummingbird era, so that makes sense. But yeah, a lot of classics from various eras of Di6’s…

I enjoyed the previous King Dude record heavily (if you mean Love then that was several albums back – Ed). It seemed to blend the mystique of the neofolk world with that of a more Type O Negative sensibility, if you get what I mean. Sadly, on Sex, King’s stripped down occult swagger is replaced instead with fairly basic rock and roll. There is still a Satanic feel to it, and your Dude here still…

The World That Summer is the third album from Death In June. It still retains a lot of the dance / drum machine elements of Nada! but Douglas’ experimental and acoustic sides are starting to flourish more. The album as a whole has a treacle-like pace, despite a few popping beats here or there. The music doesn’t match the pitch black cover art. It’s super chill, though.

I’m going to have to address Douglas P’s politics at some point. Probably in the form of a YouTube video so nothing is lost through hard text. That is an unfortunate reality I am faced with have now covered several Death In June records here. I love Death In June. There is no other band that sounds quite like them, despite them being a highly imitated pillar of the neo folk movement. In the early…

Burial is a dissapointing transition between The Guilty Have No Pride and the absolute classic that is Nada!. What we do get in the way of genuine new material is fantastic, I personally enjoy “Sons Of Europe” and “Death In The West”, even the seemingly hated “Black Radio” sound collage. Unfortunately side B is crammed with nothing more than a shitty live recording, so to call Burial a second album by this band is really…

I stumbled onto Kim Larson’s White Chamber after hearing her contribution to Offermose’s Stilhedens Tårn record (the first track, I believe). As with many times before, Discogs led me down the garden path, where I found this little EP resting next to a (digital) pond. Similar to Offermose, White Chamber is initially coming across like a mix of a foundational base of Berlin School, coupled with the spooky, folky electronics of earlier Death In June…

Well then, now I know who does the voice at the beginning of Death In June’s “Tick Tock”. I could never understand why Douglas P would attempt such a bad American accent (like all those 00s post-something bands. You’re from Pontypridd mate, not LA!). Anyways, now that I finally know what Boyd Rice’s voice sounds like, it all makes sense to me. Honestly, this is all kinds of fucking edgy. And fuck if I know…

Commune is the second album by hippy-dippy (sorry) experimental project Goat, who burst into the world with the phenomenal World Music record. Commune, in comparison, is a little bit more muted. Things develop at more of a crawl than they did on the rather spectacular debut. It took me a while to realise that Commune isn’t necessary boring or without the spark that Goat made upon their unleashing to the world, its just that the…

I can’t remember where I picked up Jandek as a recommendation. RYM, perhaps? Anyway, these are some intense and bizarre, even unsettling fragments of acoustic guitar and insane rambles. These are some female vocal additions too, but for most of the tracks, the recording quality is quite lo-fi and the sound is abstract enough to invoke all sorts of moods and thought patterns. One day, I will unearth more from this artist. I am intrigued.

Geek The Girl is a cool, somewhat twisted and impressively composed record from Lisa Germano. Granted it is the only Lisa Germano record that I have heard at the time of writing, as this was culled from some RYM greatest albums list (a good place for hipster dickheads like me to learn about new stuff). Lisa’s voice is fantastic and suits some of the slightly more unsettling subject matters addressed here. The instrumentation can sometimes…

Admittedly, I’m no aficionado when it comes to this kind of depressing, jangly acoustic business. My knowledge of the existence of Mr Cohen only came from Godflesh’s many title-stealing tributes to his work. Songs of Love and Hate is gorgeous however. The opener, “Avalanche’, is purely phenomenal. There is a lot of variety, but the overall theme, to me at least, appears to be rather morose. All in all, this was well worth the listen…

I’ll admit, first impressions of this were not amazing. It sounded almost lazy, but I was listening to it in a car park in the rain. Recently, I have returned to this record to give it a second chance, and whilst I must admit that Douglas P sounds a bit tired, there are some beautiful tracks here. Whether its worth making new Death In June records at this point is not up to me to…

This is just glorious. I have, admittedly been snoozing on Earth recently, so I was energised to go back and find that this solo record brought so many of those classic 90s Earth vibes with it. Conquistador is a smokey record, carried with that wild west swagger, but delivered like a low voltage dose of electricity coursing through your body. These riffs are simply alive and it is nothing less than an absolute pleasure to…

Now this is just great. Mysterious, occult-heavy acoustic hymns are presented in the form of washed out guitars and the deep baritone delivery of the King himself. The whole thing is bathed in reverb, to the point where the album sounds like it was recorded down a well or something, but I’ll be honest with you: it works.

The Angels Of Light took the heavily textured work of late 90s Swans and moulded those sound collages into moving, gorgeous folk songs. It is of course, in reality, a slightly more complicated story than that, and there is a lot to unpack here, a lot of nuances, however there is a beauteous simplicity to the tracks that betrays the denser roots that lay beneath the sparkly surface of these melancholic hymns. I find New…

How I Loved You is beautiful, stunning, eery and lush. A cut of morose sadness dashes the otherwise bright and sun-kissed veins of sparkling instrumentation and twinkling percussion. This was the album that made me fall in love with Angels Of Light; after a few unsuccessful listens elsewhere, everything clicked. “Evangeline” and “New York Girls” have to be two of the greatest songs ever written.

I’ve always found this record to be much gentler than the other Death In June offerings that I’ve heard. That sub-level of sinister atmosphere seems almost completely devoid from these glistening neo-folk hymns. For once, it almost seems like positivity and hope undercuts the morose songwriting, rather than echoes of pestilence, death and sadness. Yes, some of the lyrics allude to some darkness, but generally the vibe is much more twinkly than happy that I…

Here we have the Earth EP by South Wales based acoustic singer/song writer Craig Watkins; a well put together collection of soulful acoustic material, with lots of raw energy and passion coming through, with a very real sense coming off of it all as an artist (real in the sense of you can tell he’s passionate about what he’s playing and what he’s singing about, which is always great to hear). Production wise the EP…

Nada! is my favourite Death In June record. Brown Book is kind of similar but I prefer Nada! for its dominating dark 80s synthpop vibes and martial background. There’s also less Nazi imagery flirtation going on here, which is always a plus. I believe that this album was the last the group did as a three piece; and seems a fry cry from the acoustic solo project that Death In June has been for so…

Death In June is one strange-ass project. For something as simple as acoustic, folky shit, DIJ sure do have a wide, eccentric discography. Brown Book is pretty weird. Death In June’s lazy campfire strumming and monotone vocal meets 80s-to-the-max drum programming and fairly awful female vocals. It kinda sounds like a poor man’s mid-career Swans. I might be slightly biased here however, and even factually incorrect as Death In June were doing this kind of…

To me, We Are Him is the “heaviest” of all the Angels Of Light material, for lack of a better way of describing it. In hindsight, their final album was a precursor to the reformation of Swans in 2010. It mashes together the usual artsy, folky vibes of earlier Angels stuff with heavy bass lines and thumping percussion attacks. Listening to the first ten seconds of “Goodbye Mary Lou” is enough to cement that We…

I’ve recently been playing catch up with Anathema. They are a band I have now known about for years, but I only own a very small amount of their albums. Thank Zombie Jesus then, for the Amazon marketplace with it’s sometimes insanely cheap prices. A used copy of A Natural Disaster ended up costing me almost next to nothing. And to be honest, I’m really glad. The first thing that surprised me about this record…

Yes yes, I know you’re all probably thinking the same; “not another bleedin’ Anathema post!”, but tough shite! I’ve done a lot of listening to Anathema recently, and that’s how Lines In Wax works; I don’t randomly just pull reviews out of my arse, I generally try to write about what is fresh in my head to give a more accurate, in depth review. That’s why there isn’t any tangible order to the stuff I…

This is the closest that Angels of Light ever came to Gira’s bare bones solo work; …Other People is a stripped down acoustic, folky romp that sees Gira and co. writing homages in song form to people that…well, deserve songs written about them, I guess. It’s all very artsy-fartsy, and whilst I don’t feel it’s the best Angels of Light album in any universe, there is still a fair dollop of good tunes here. The…

This post is dedicated to Michael Gira’s dog Nina, who passed away last week. Songs for a Dog is essentially the vinyl version of what would become The Milk of M. Gira on CD. Both act as compilation albums of Gira’s self-released acoustic stuff, which is all out of print, limited edition and worth a fucking fortune. This was originally put together by a British label called Lumberton Trading Company back in 2006. It is…

In my last Anal Cunt post I mention briefly that Limited Appeal Records put out some fantastic records, and this here slab of ridiculousness is a prime example. Regardless what you might think of Anal Cunt’s Picnic of Love record, the pressing itself is a labour of love; the front has whole new artwork from the original, each one is hand numbered (I have 13 out of 311), the art and text on the labels is hand done; and…