Diurnal Aural Experiences: Fyrnask’s Síaida from Eldir Nótt

Enjoy!

 

Music Review: Fyrnask’s “Eldir Nótt” (2013)

 

Germany’s Fyrnask is a black metal band whose music revolves around nature, sorrow, and ritualism (per Encylopaedia Metallum).  Again, much like the other bands this week, I’d never listened to them until very recently.  Their second release, Eldir Nótt, comes out on Temple of Tortuous records on 9/23/13 and can be found here. Black Metal is an interesting beast in that it comes from a very independent place and lends itself well to experimentation.  There’s no one black metal real “pure” take on the sound, regardless of what the True Kvlt would say regarding that comment.  Generally, it has been an interesting previous two years in the sub genre, with bands taking the time to experiment with tone and space.  Fyrnask seems dead set on investigating the use of space in their particular brand.

They are never quite ambient though they use synths, keys, strings, rain sounds, and throat singing to help contribute to this sense of space (see “Virgil,” “Jardeldir” and “Suonnas sedir”).  For what it’s worth, the long compositions are where the metal is on its most redolent display: guitars churn tension, blast beats echo through the points, vocals shriek indignation.  Each song builds, weaving through and around itself, to its climax, providing the much needed catharsis that I find necessary.

Fyrnask are straight forward, really, and the only subtlety is found in the atmosphere evoked alongside the more pensive moments of their songs and in the instrumentals.  Remarkably, it’s the use of the instrumental that seems most important to this album as they tend to bleed into the next long composition; e.g.: “Suonnas sedir” is echoed through out the heaviest song on the album “Saltrian.”  Conversely the long pieces fade well into the dark, vacuous instrumentals that serve to offer respite from the acidity of the approach.  I refuse to hide my appreciation of the music from “Suonnas sedir” through “Samas stígr.”  This haunting 16 minutes relies off all the elements that makes this album good: chanting, throat singing, acoustics (guitar and what sounds to be lute), hand drums, and strings.  Perhaps this is a bit over the top, but you can genuinely feel the use of space here.

“Síada” is their most ambitious composition on the album, combining all elements of their sound together into the real payoff of the album.  It brings all those earlier atmospheric instrumentals together with the venom of their metal.  Droning at points, abruptly twisting at others, this is by far the best individual composition on the album; yet its point would be completely missed without the preceding runtime.  The album fades out on “Sút” in an expansive sound that perfectly ends the ritual.

Fyrnask’s approach to Black Metal is a welcome addition to an all ready interesting year in the sub genre.  It’s not overly progressive; however, however it is overwhelmingly dramatic and worth the payoff.  You are not going to miss much if you’re listening for its chamber music qualities, but you are not going to be disappointed if you pick it apart.  It is very much the purest Black Metal album I’ve reviewed all year, and for all intents it’s one of the best thus far.

 

Music Review: Vom Fetisch der Unbeirrtheit’s Vertilger (2013)

 

Vom Fetisch der Unbeirrtheit (to be known further as VFdU for the remainder of this review) are a German experimental band, focusing on exploration of the philosophical meaninglessness of life through their sounds.  Their album, which will release on 9/23/13, is Vertilger.  Billed as combining black metal, industrial noise and experimental sounds, VFdU do nothing to disappoint fans of that genre.

The album opens with “Lachenvieh” a seven and a half minute meander through an apiary found in an old warehouse.  The singer’s voice lends itself to panic with his harsh, garbled vocals sounding a mixture of croakals and screams.  To be frank, the song reminds of a djent approach to black metal that combines the electric/noise soundscape of Circle Meets the Square or Ministry.  The metal sounds are stunningly raw in comparison to the noise components, but serve seem to serve to focus solely on the rhythmic side of the party rather than the melodic.

“Schabenbrut” expands on this approach, opening with possibly the most disconcerting mixture of electronic noise and pained howling I’ve ever heard in song.  The 20 minute long production suffers no moments of emotional intensity, throwing any number of schizophrenic soundscapes at your ear in a never ending assault of the senses (how we got to an electronic component that included the stereotypical music of a French cafe, I’ll never know).  Ultimately, the song’s core centers around its math rock structure; though when VFdU get to the point and hit you straight with their black metal that transitions into acoustic parts while still being accented with electronics, the song comes more clearly into view (see: 12 minutes through the end of the song).

“Multiformale Lieberdimension” is essentially an instrumental electronic piece topped with ominous spoken word that bleeds to “Kadavermeer” that opens with a gentle swath of warm guitar tones behind the singer’s wail, who evokes a German Nick Cave warble on the song.  Unfortunately, this does not develop further as it breaks back into the band’s djent styled Black Metal, where the tremolos hum in the background before breaking back into a more logical extreme section.  Ultimately, this composition is my favorite on the album, if only for its ambition. “Prothesensucht” continues the intensity of this approach, exploring the ideas further.

Fans of this genre should find some redeeming qualities here; however, the first half the album comes across to me as intensity porn.  The heady ideas of exploring meaningless (while I did not read the lyrics) do not come across in song, rather they are hidden in a senseless dance of schizophrenic soundscapes.  The last half of the album actually details a logical progression of soundscapes and twisting turns in the style of DEP or other math rock stylings.  Fans of France’s The CNK and Ministry or even Grindcore or Noisecore music should find something here. Yet, I’m sitting here at the end of this review, wondering whether or not I listen to music or an amalgam of sounds.  If that’s the point of their philosophical approach, then I guess it worked.  This listener just didn’t get it.

 

 

 

 

Diurnal Aural Experience: Fyrnask’s Bluostar

With an impending release this year from Temple of Tortuous, here’s Fyrnask’s Bluostar.