Treue & Verrat

ARATHORN released what I thought was a pedestrian black metal album over a decade ago. It consisted of long songs that wanted to be epic yet ended up just being long and pretty boring. The album went largely unnoticed and the band disappeared only to resurface as a one-man project with a new full-length. The remaining member Skoll had a lot of time on his hands to consider where the band should go next. He came up with the idea of combining his affinity of neo-folk music with whatever leftovers were lying around from the old black metal days. Whether it works or does not is a matter of opinion of course, but I have to argue for the latter.


Take the second track SIEGFRID VON XANTEN, which appears to be the centerpiece of the album. This long twelve minute piece consists of alternating acoustic and blackened segments. Just what the man had in mind, eh? Here Skoll makes exactly the same mistake he did on his debut record. Length does not automatically make a song epic.


The leftover blackened parts sound like an excuse to play a couple of uninteresting background riffs over a random drum pattern and some pseudo symphonic keyboards. It all sounds like something to which the author could point just to claim the black metal pedigree. The folk segment in the middle is also way too redundant, be it the flute melody or the vocal harmonies, almost naively so, to be worthy. Come to think of it, it is the worst song on the album, all things considered.


FRAGENS VERRAT employs the same formula but fares slightly better despite an annoying flute melody. Or could it be that it is just shorter in length? There is a nice, albeit very short, instrumental segment that starts towards the end of the fourth minute up until the beginning of the fifth, but of course soon enough it is back to the flute again.


SIEGFRIDS TOD is by far the best neo-folk segment of the entire album, much better than, say, the opening track. RAGNAROK is actually a decent track with some thought put into it. It finishes things off in a more atmospheric fashion and actually possesses a good amount of epic feel, particularly on its second half. There is a nice leading guitar melody along with a neat blend of acoustic guitars and keyboards. It is the only song sung in English, which may or may not diminish its impact. German would fit much better here methinks.


The record ends much better than it starts, which is a good thing I suppose, but it is too little too late, as there is not nearly enough here to recommend. I doubt it will find much audience either. Black metal fans will be put off by the lack of, well, black metal, while neo-folk fans have much better things to spend their time and money on. It looks to be another ten year break for Skoll unless he seriously cleans up his act.