De stemmen van het woud

Meanwhile writing this review, I am cowering on my bed, it is getting late and today has taken the last of my energy. As I keep staring at the cover of 'De Stemmen Van Het Woud's package laying on the blanket, while listening to the album on my headphones, distress slowly dissolves and the music eases my strained mood, seizes my exhausted mind. It is magic.

The whole atmosphere of the five songs is so very captivating that as soon as the first piece, 'November' ends, more than eleven minutes pass as if time became faster and the ethereally saturated, gentle melancholy slips away and the tired mind begins to miss its comfort, the sweeping beauty of echoing, naturally-sounding guitars. It is like walking through an early autumnal forest's vapour, sensing as it is forming a thin deposit on the naked skin. Chilly and free; this song is a solace from untouched nature, forged into music – soothes, salves the distressed spirit.

The second song, 'Als Een Koude Adem Door De Bomen' – a very sensuous and pleasant piece of wild, seething and honest melancholy. This song, particularly the weary guitars and except the vocals, remind me a bit of depressive groups like Hypothermia, Sterbend and such acts, though this one of Folkstorm's songs manifests a more positive message than those do. It is an adventurous, slower atmospheric metal composition, interlaced with nice acoustic parts here and there, simple and majestic. So far both mentioned tracks have included various sounds of nature, like birds' singing, crows' cawing and murmuring, grey waving of wind-slashed water which can be heard in the end of 'Als Een Koude Adem Door De Bomen' – for me, personally, this song has been one of my all-time favourite off the album.

Two entirely ambient tracks were placed on the release, entitled 'De Stemmen Van Het Woud' and 'Elfenliederen', they are similar to Burzum's ambient conceptions. Here can be found the first weaker point of the album: the ambient parts are too loud and harshly standing out, compared to the traditional musical surroundings. They could have been built up with a softer background sound, although there is nothing wrong with their contents. Another, and at the same time, the last weakness of the release is the lack of deeper, bass-played parts, they would have added more contrast to the whole picture, though the guitars fill in and mostly balance this absence.

The fourth song, entitled 'Zonsondergang' must be my second picked out personal favourite. Bittersweet, sorrowful guitars reveal the swinging atmosphere of this track, it has also got a slight taste which recalls some kind of heathen range of emotions. The simple, frail sadness captures the heart of the listener. Once again, more than eleven minutes is not enough of this embrace either.

As for the vocals, they remind me a bit of the distinct organ of Agalloch's singer, John Haughm. The production is pretty good, the sound is fair, perfectly matching the raw, nature-inspired music. Throughout the complete album, the created atmosphere had been representatively melancholic, which is a very good point.

The reason for why is this disc so enticing and enjoyable is that that 'De Stemmen Van Het Woud' is a honest album. It reveals glimpses of emotions and channels real feelings, it heals wounds and gives solace to the lonely and longing. Hopefully Folkstorm will create more of this wonder in the near future, I would recommend the continuation of this direction, since it was very well-done in the case of 'De Stemmen Van Het Woud'. This album and this young band are worthy of being mentioned among the greatest names of similar musical acts, like Drudkh and Agalloch. All the lacks I described above can be improved and accomplished in a smoother, more matured way later, since in general, there is time for everything and Folkstorm's conception is a well-chosen path for creating art.

For now, I think, thanks to 'De Stemmen Van Het Woud', I've got rid off many of my burdened thoughts after this listening. It is all better. I am grateful for this and I am sending my hugs and best wishes to the author of this release. Really – it is magic.

First things first – this is NOT the Folkstorm of Nordvargr fame, but a Dutch pagan black metal band of the same name. This Folkstorm is a young atmospheric black metal band hailing from Wijk bij Duurstede in the Netherlands, originally formed as an ambient project by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sigurd (a.k.a. Ruben Wijlacker, who also plays in Mindroth), but soon shifting styles to melodic black metal infused with paganism and nature mysticism. 2009 saw Folkstorm’s first demo release, From The Pale Woodlands, appearing on Darkness Shade Records, swiftly followed by Spells Of Foresight Predict Our Paradise, a split tape on Thorn Laceration shared with Mørktår and Blackspell, and now we have the debut album, De Stemmen Van Het Woud (‘The Voices Of The Wood’), limited to a mere 100 copies on CD in a digipack sleeve.

Folkstorm’s MySpace page originally described the band’s sound as ‘Ariosophic black metal’ and bore a quotation from Ron McVan of the extreme right-wing Odinist organisation Wotansvolk, a major influence on Rob Darken of Graveland (see the liner notes for Graveland’s Creed Of Iron album) – clues like this and the ‘14’ in Folkstorm’s MySpace address (www.myspace.com/folkstorm14) suggest an ideological alignment with the völkisch black metal of bands like Burzum or Drudkh, although at the time of writing, these references have been removed – it seems as though Sigurd might have had second thoughts about his political position. Be that as it may, the five tracks of De Stemmen Van Het Woud display an obvious indebtedness to the music of those bands, with three of the five tracks being instrumentals, two of which (‘De Stemmen Van Het Woud’ and ‘Elfenliederen’) are composed entirely of ambient keyboards, with smooth chord progressions and ethereal ‘vox humana’ accents evoking an autumnal atmosphere of valediction and loss, ‘Elfenliederen’ (‘Elven Song’) fading the album out amid a numinous twilight glow. The opening track, the 11 ½-minute ‘November’ works differently, with birdsong and the cawing of ravens leading into distant, fuzzy tremolo riffing and programmed drums, interspersed with quiet acoustic guitar interludes. The guitar tone is kept quite mellow and clean, its melody developing a diffuse, mesmeric power through repetition and slow drift, encouraging quiet contemplation and romantic visions of pastoral beauty.

In between these three instrumental pieces are the album’s two full-on black metal tracks, ‘Als Een Koude Adem Door De Bomen’ (‘Like A Cold Breath Through The Trees’) and ‘Zonsondergang’ (‘Sunset’). Sigurd’s vocals rasp out in approved BM fashion, adding roughness and texture to the melodic lines, ‘Zonsondergang’ in particular being suffused with painful, hopeless longing. ‘Als Een Koude Adem Door De Bomen’ is the album’s hardest track, with a mid-paced Burzumeque riff and plodding drums (similar in pace to ‘Beholding The Daughters Of The Firmamant’) providing the backdrop to growling vocals and icy storm-wind effects, but ‘hardest’ is a relative term, and compared to the annihilating extremes achieved by a lot of black metal, this is not so very cold and grim.

There’s little new ground being broken here, and it’s possible to argue that the album is just too smooth, with little sense of aggression or darkness, but the simple, heartfelt authenticity and passion of Folkstorm’s music is evident, making the band stand out in an overcrowded, often formulaic pagan metal scene. All in all, this is a reasonably promising debut album, which will be enjoyed by all those with a taste for the bittersweet romanticism of Burzum, Drudkh, early Bergthron, or even Prophecy bands such as Empyrium, Tenhi and Alcest. The bad news is that the 100-copy Thorn Laceration Records edition of this album is sold out – surely a re-release would be a good idea? This album deserves a wider audience than only 100 people. Since the recording of De Stemmen Van Het Woud, Folkstorm have recruited Haatzaaier (a.k.a. Bas van der Perk) on drums, which should ensure that future releases have a punchier, more organic sound. The first fruits of this expanded line-up will be a five-track EP called The Weeping Willow, currently in production and to be released on an as-yet undisclosed label, with a second full-length also in the works.

This review was originally written for Judas Kiss webzine:
www.judaskissmagazine.co.uk

In January 2009, Folkstorm was originally intended to be an ambient project but eventually changed direction towards black metal. Folkstorm hails from the Netherlands and has been quite busy in its relatively brief existence with both a demo (From The Pale Woodlands, Darkness Shade Records) and now a full-length album, De Stemmen Van Het Woud, to its name. The demo was apparently raw black metal while the debut is an album of a completely different nature.

Folkstorm plays atmospheric black metal thematically structured around nature with folk and ambient influences. The one interesting element to their sound is the infusion of shoegaze-type atmospheres on a couple of songs. Alcest gave the metal community collective wood when it combined the style with black metal on Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde. I always thought that album was much more shoegaze than black metal, yet the way both styles fit together was undeniably beautiful. The same can be said for its use here, as Folkstorm have crafted some beautiful atmospheres while remaining more rooted in black metal.

Musically, there is nothing overly sophisticated going on throughout the album. The songs are typically structured around simple chord progressions yet beautifully executed. There are minor variations thrown into the mix through changes to the drum patterns, acoustic leads and interludes, other leads or nature-based samples. Most of the attention here, however, is on atmosphere with lead melodies and vocals being sparse. Of the five songs on the album, three of them are instrumentals and two of those instrumentals are simply keyboards.

The material can be essentially broken down into two categories: the instrumentals and the traditional songs. The opening song "November" brings about the first instrumental and the first opportunity to hear the shoegaze-like influence. The tremolo riffs and keyboards are well suited for one another as the two provide a constant, gentle atmosphere. The title song, "De Stemmen Van Het Woud", and "Elfenliederen" are ambient instrumentals by solely the keyboards. These instrumentals really provide a serene and tranquil counterpoint to the more abrasive black metal style of the other songs.

"Als Een Koude Adem Door De Bomen" is the bleakest song of the lot where the brief acoustic leads shimmer in contrast to the colder rhythms. The other traditional song is "Zonsondergang", which features the strongest melodies on the album. The song is sort of a tale of two halves with the front half of the folk variety while the back half goes the atmospheric-shoegaze route. These traditional songs have a mild bite to them, yet the folk rhythms and acoustic leads keep them from getting too grim.

I do not listen to a great deal of atmospheric black metal, yet I feel Folkstorm accomplishes what was intended by creating very natural atmospheres whether it be the cold winds of the traditional songs or the warmer instrumentals. I certainly have a stronger attraction to the traditional songs as opposed to the instrumentals, but only because I enjoy something a little more tangible with my music. Those who enjoy folk-inspired ambient or atmospheric black metal (think a mix of Burzum, Drudkh, Alcest and Empyrium) should definitely try the album for themselves - it is certainly a beautiful effort.

(Originally posted at: http://www.kingcripple.blogspot.com/)

"De Stemmen Van Het Woud", or "The Voices of the Woods", is the debut full-length album of the Dutch band called Folkstorm (before this album they've released a very limited demo and a split, also in 2009). Just a week before I finished this review the self-description of their style on their myspace page was "Ariosophic Black Metal", and now that description has gone, and instead of it there's "Pagan Black Metal", looks like the guys are too young and still aren't sure about their views. Nevertheless, there's nothing really pagan or ariosophic on this album. What we have here is nature-inspired atmospheric black metal, influenced by Burzum and, probably, Drudkh.

At the first listen I was a bit surprised, as the music here is quite listenable and without obvious fails, which is rather rare among the young bands. Though after listening to this album many times, it becomes boring, as you realize that there's nothing really new here that you haven't heard before, everything is standard, one more atmospheric black metal/ambient band and nothing more. Here we'll find long, slow and monotonous songs with repetitive riffs, creating general cold and depressive feeling. The opening track - "November" - is an instrumental and, in my opinion, it's the best track on the album, with memorable riffs, sounds of nature and some acoustic parts. One more thing that pleases my ears on this track is the real drums with a good deal of fast double-bass kicking woven into the slow main rhythm. The second and fourth tracks have vocals, which are not bad, but a bit tiresome. Acoustics and nature sounds are presented here as well, but they are not as prominent as in "November". The two remaining tracks are pure ambient, again, nothing really remarkable, but at least they fit here well, completing the general picture of the album.

Not a bad debut for this young band, but it needs more work, more variety and originality. It can be recommended for those who enjoy Burzum or Drudkh, or those who like anything slow, atmospheric and monotonous.