Six Organs of Admittance - Days of Blood (C)

I picked up this album at the Century Plants/Sunburned Hand of the Man show I went to back in February but never really gave it a proper listen until now. I don't know much about Six Organs of admittance, and even less about the album. When I bought it I wasn't really sure what it was, it was a bootleg being sold by a member of Sunburned Hand of the Man who is also a member of Six Organs of Admittance… And that's about it. Well I was inclined to give the album a much-overdue listen after I finally got my turntable set up, and I must say I was quite upset that I waited so long. Now, I was a bit surprised since I was somewhat familiar with them via the split with Om, and knew that they were Psych Folk… But the album starts in a more straight forward acoustic piece which lasts for almost the entirety of the first side, with a brief foray into the world of those familiar psych-folk sonicscapes we're so familiar with. The second side is practically an inversion, with a bit of that acoustic folk giving way to nearly an entire side of psych-folk. The best part about the second side is the closing, however, which is a clear transition into a sort of bouncy unapologetic folk-rock with distinct 6OA flavor. The album really becomes a strange and varied voyage across the sea of psych folk, but not manages to remain a cool and calming voyage.

Just a few notes about the album however… I guess it's a live album, I'm not really sure. There's clapping at the end of the last track, but I didn't really notice anything else anywhere. The album came with a cool little interview booklet thing that alluded to a lot of obscure gigs and such I didn't really understand, but yeah. Definitely worth a check out any time.

Current 93 – Black Ships Ate the Sky (J)

The kingdom of neofolk hails its king, David Tibet, whose groundbreaking solo project, Current 93, has kept a firm grip at the head of the neofolk movement (with good friends Death in June and Sol Invictus). Throughout its 24 year existence, Current 93 has covered vast expanses of music in his consistent, year-by-year releases, experimenting with industrial/post-industrial, classical, medieval, noise, a capella poetic readings, and, of course, folk/singer-songwriter.

At first glance, the CD cover of “Black Ships Ate the Sky,” one is reminded of David Johnston’s work (see my review of Jandek’s “Ready for the House” if you wish to learn about “outsider music.”), silly, childish, and irreverent, thanks to the crude Jesus in the center, most likely drawn in crayon. Released in 2006 Anno Domini, “Black Ships Ate the Sky” is an in-depth journey into the obsessive madness that is David Tibet.

“Black Ships in my eye! Black Ships ate the sky!”
“Black Ships” features many, many guest vocalists, including (in track order) Marc Almond, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (a personal favorite), Baby Dee, the mysterious Antony, Clodagh Simonds, Cosi Fanni Tutti, and Shirley Collins. Most tracks feature David Tibet’s strange, atonal storytelling voice, but thanks to these guest vocalists, David is able to concentrate more on his songwriting, as well as experiment with different styles within his folk realm, such as Appalachain-tinged blues (note the banjo on the first “Ideumea” with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) and Nick Drake “cluster (jazz) chords.” Think of this album as an expansion on the “Inmost Light” trilogy (“Where the Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight),” “All the Pretty Little Horsies (The Inmost Light),” and “The Starres are Marching Sadly Home (theinmostlightthirdandfinal)”).

Emotion and tone on this album range from, but definitely are not limited to, madness (“Black Ships in the Sky”), resign (“Ideumea” w/ Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy), and thoughts on religion (“The Autistic Imperium is Nihil Reich”). Tibet’s lyrics have been fairly consistent, regardless of delivery: The earlier recordings reflect his preoccupation with death, Christ, mysticism, Aleister Crowley, Tibetan Buddhism, Gnosticism, Weltschmerz, nihilism, Noddy, and a variety of occult notions. The later to present-day period of Current 93’s recordings increasingly reflect Tibet’s interest in Christian mysticism.
Though most had thought David Tibet had reached his pinnacle long beforehand, “Black Ships Ate the Sky” is here to prove us all that Tibet has many, many more albums left in him. Expect a new release later this year or early 2009.

For fans of: Death in June, Sol Invictus, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Nick Drake, Birch Book/In Gowan Ring, Comus, Agalloch, and much, much more. A very accessible release.

Nature and Organisation - Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude (V)

The lineup: NAO itself is the child of longtime Current 93 member Michael Cashmore, and this album features guestwork from David Tibet, Douglas Pearce, Rose McDowall, and Steven Stapleton. Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude features all the usual elements: soft acoustic guitar, mixed percussion, keyboards, strings, woodwinds, industrial noise . . . really, all the elements. And they're all well-done. And all the songs are excellent. And there's incredible variety. "Beauty Destroyed" would almost fit in on a more harsh Nadja record - but there's enough Nadja in this issue. "Obsession Flowers as Torture" starts off with classical guitar and moves into incredible heavy martial industrial sounds.

Since this is Michael Cashmore's project, not a vocalist's project, there's a LOT more going on instrumentally here than with most neofolk albums. In Gowan Ring comes to mind much of the time, particularly with the well-developed interaction of strings and guitar. Tibet's lyrics are as bizarre as ever. The melodies are beautiful and thoughtful. The rendition of Paul Giovanni's "Willow's Song" is beautiful. "My Black Diary," notwithstanding the heavy ambient music at the beginning, would fit wonderfully on a Death In June album. The record as a whole flows beautifully, with connected themes and lyrics throughout. Definitely recommended, for anyone.

October Falls - Sarastus (J)

After months of searching, today I finally got my hands on Sarastus, the lesser-known of the 2 EPs released last year by October Falls's mastermind Mikko Lehto.

Unlike the other release, "The Streams of the End," "Sarastus" is a pure acoustic guitar, flute, and piano release, much like previous releases "Marras" and "Tuoni."

These songs convey similar atmospheres to aforementioned releases, though these songs tend to lean more towards the complex side with many guitar tracks and harmonies galore, unfortunately sacrificing length for complexity, much like Opeth's "My Arms, Your Hearse."

On this release, the guitar tone takes more of a later-Empyrium-like sound, rounded and soft, as opposed to the slightly-sharper acoustic sound of other releases.

A real surprise is track 7, an acoustic rendition of "White Northern Soils," the second track off of the "Streams of the End" EP, one of the more powerful songs off of the 4 song EP.

Overall, this EP is nothing short of wonderful, though I will take off 2 points due to the shortness of this release.

Herbst - I: Prolog (J)

I came across this band a few weeks ago on M-A and I pretty much searched day in and day out until I finally got my hands on a copy of I: Prolog today. Needless to say, this cd is absolutely wonderful and original.

The cd is pretty much comprised of neo-folk and black metal, leaning more towards neo-folk, hence the genrefication on the main page: "Neo-folk Black Metal." For once, along with the band Dormant, I fully agree with said statement. The first two tracks, Aufbruch & Reise, both rather short, are gentle acoustic guitar driven neo-folk songs with vocals ranging from the almost operatic to even black metal rasps for variation. The third track, Endzeit, then precedes to kick you in the face with blasting, nostalgic, sad black metal. His vocals are almost a howl; very powerful and fucking LOUD, a real plus. The drum programming can be a little tedious at times, it's the same thing throughout the song, but the songwriting and the vocals make up for the lacking in the percussion department.

Der Weg brings us back to neofolk with a new twist, he plays piano! The piano adds on a lot of atmosphere and is almost reminiscent of Tenhi with the jazz-like drumming in the background. Nice and calm; a break from the last track. Almost making the cd a dream with recurring nightmares that are then overcome by the dream yet again.

Am Bachlein is yet again another neofolk song, but more drawn out. There are some dissonant parts in here that build up into an almost, I want to say, epic neofolk song, which is awesome. The other folk songs on this disc should be as drawn out and built up as this one.

The last song, which does not have a title, is a midpaced depressive black metal piece. When I say depressive black metal, I don't mean that monotonous shit like Xasthur and Leviathan, I mean it is just profoundly sad. The longest track on the cd, Untitled has a chance to build into it's full form, which is absolutely wonderful. I won't go too much into detail, because I want people to experience this firsthand and not expect what is going to happen.

Overall, this is a very good cd, though I think it lacks an identity. Yes, it is neofolk, and yes, it is black metal, but there isn't really much of a mix of the two.

Recommended for fans of: Dormant, Dornenreich, Agalloch, Velnias, Bergtagen, Noltem, Ulver, Neun Welten...