Over the course of the 12 tracks which comprise their 2nd album, "Born Again", Blood Axis explores an epic yet human universe in which gods are summoned, kingdoms rise, riddles are unlocked, love is lost, and worlds crumble. Whereas early Blood Axis music was marked by keyboards and samples, Blood Axis in 2010 is stripped down to an essential core of natural instrumentation - electric and acoustic strings, melodeon, piano, highland bagpipes and Galician gaita, marching percussion, the mysterious Annabel-a-tron, and Bobby BeauSoleil's growling, prison-vintage guitar eruptions circa 1976. Underpinning the album and propelling much of the music is the traditional Irish bodhrán, recorded here with unprecedented power. Moynihan's ominous voice is well matched by Annabel Lee's elfin intonations, just as her violin finds a perfect counterpoint in Robert Ferbrache's protean guitar parts. Shot through by myth and romance, the expressive lyrics on "Born Again" have their roots in ancient and modern poetry, archaic invocations and tragic laments. Both unclassifiable and unforgettable: neither folk nor rock, traditional nor avant-garde, modern nor archaic, it is simply Blood Axis. To everything there is season. For those who are cursed, a time to die and to be forgotten. And for the blessed, a time to be born again: to live on, beyond death, in the minds of men. Now is the time for Blood Axis to be Born Again. Packaged in a beautiful gatefold outsize cover with foilblock lettering and a 24-page booklet.
UK 13£
Europe 14£
World 15£
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HEKATE - 'Goddess (Luxus Edition)' 2 x CD (Auerbach Tontrager)
11 tracks mainly inspired by European myths and legends. There's the legend of Europa, based on Cretan and Mycenaean traditions, the bull dance from Minoan culture, Spanish history and the cultural influences of the Moors. The album continues with the German myth of Barbarossa and the Kyffhaeuser, the Grail legend involving the Cathars of Castle Montségur in France, and the wonderful legend of Morgan le Fay, the "Lady of the Lake", symbolizing the Old Way in Celtic myth. Music-wise, they create a successful mixture of classic Folk, medieval melodies, and modern elements, all linked by the drum-parts ranging from magic-ritualistic to classical-orchestral and trance-electronic. The rhythms and the vocals of Susanne Grosche and Axel Menz are the main feature of this mature album recorded with an array of diverse instruments. Lavish deluxe digipak Luxus Edition including a bonus CD featuring remixed versions of various Hekate tracks from Arcana, Beam Team, Chorea Minor, Flatline, Gae Bolg and the Church Of Fand, La Nef Des Fous, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio and Sieben.
UK 16£
Europe 17£
World 18£
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HERBST9 - 'The Gods Are Small Birds, But I Am The Falcon' CD (Loki Foundation)
The latest album of Herbst9 is a step further into the depths of the Assyrian and Asian mythologies, using authentic audio and visual fragments of sacrifices, lamentations, prayers and ancient rituals. The result is a deep labyrinth of sounds with meditative percussions, ghostly vocal fragments and singings which melts with detailed and multi-layered tones of various traditional instruments. All this is constructed around a core of dark and ongoing floating drones creating an atmosphere of true archaic music which has been developed by Herbst9 to perfection. This soundtrack is the secrecy from the deep and hidden places of the sacred earth transcending us beyond the real world to the inner realm of ourselves. The CD is presented in 6-panel digipak.
IRIJ is a one-woman-folk project brought to life by Eluveite violinist Meri Tadic in autumn 2006. Her compositions range from mere instrumentals all the way to a cappella songs. It's a journey through a Slavic soul devoted to tradition and sincerity. IRIJ is mentioned in Slavic mythology with almost oppositional meanings. Its the celestial residence of pagan gods as well as the here and now and the materialistic world. Her music sounds bewitching and bright, but dark and plain at the same time. It catches up with what is in between, a world between the worlds. 23 minutes of stunning Balkan Folk music. Digipak.
LINGUA FUNGI - 'Tlapallan Pantonal' CD (War Office Propaganda)
'Tlapallan Pantonal' is a personal interpretation of Central American mythology. This album is inspired particularly by the myth of Quetzalcoatl - one of the most important and greatest gods of Mesoamerican Indians. More than utilising the sound of native American music tradition, this record is made entirely around the mood that the great stories personally evoked. Sounds vary from purely abstract ambient to acoustic folk passages. Yet another very interesting record of Lingua Fungi. Digipak.
LIYR - 'Fragments Of Dust' CD (War Office Propaganda / Rage In Eden)
LIYR is a French martial act born in 2008. Heavily inspired by neoclassical, bombastic percussion and industrial martial sounds Liyr creates his own characteristic atmosphere. Behind the harshness of the percussion, there is an esoteric thought about Celtic tradition and legends - LIYR is the God of Sea in Celtic myths. But the main idea is that we all live in a changing world dominated by sort of feelings like hate and love, fear and pleasure - in his music and lyrics LIYR talks about all these feelings. Digipak.
PROCER VENEFICUS - 'Convoy (Pt. 2)' CD (God Is Myth)
After releasing the stunning "A Summerhaze Array for August Nights" boxset, now comes this new effort from Procer Veneficus. "Convoy (Pt. 2)" takes off in a slightly different direction in terms of composition and form but make no mistake, this is Procer Veneficus' greatest and most absorbing / thought provoking work to date. Almost an hour of psychedelic Black Metal delivered like no other. Digipak.
"Songs of Remorse" is the debut album from Italy's Stroszek, who play dark melancholic doom / emotional acoustic music. Stroszek comes from the Werner Herzog film of the same name and is the perfect moniker for a band with such a gloomy atmosphere. While the band contains members of Black Metal act Frostmoon Eclipse, this should be looked upon as a separate entity and not just a 'side project'. Carefully strummed minor key acoustic guitar...deliberate yet restrained piano lines...bursts of heaviness added for texture...and deep, lush clean sung vocals that relay a sense of dread lurking beneath the surface. Digipak.
SVARROGH / DEFILE DES AMES / ARNICA - 'South European Folk Compendium' CD (Ahnstern)
This three-way CD is a unique compendium of South European folk music, inspired by Balkan, Catalan and Hellenic traditional culture. The sources and the stylistic devices of the three artists are quite different and descending from three different cultural regions, but there is just one intention and one deep mythological spirit, that unites the musicians to build up an axis through the Mediterranean sunlit landscapes. On this album you will drown in the ritual, Alpine-Folk shamanism of Árnica, using a wide range of traditional instruments and the spirit of Catalunya - Svarrogh drags you to the deep and dark forests of Bulgaria by slavic chants, where you will meet the god Veles in his wooden shrine – and you will waft through a droning and apocalyptic haze to the powerful and emotional hellenic spheres of Défilé des Âmes from Greece.
UK 11£
Europe 12£
World 13£
QUANTITY
WOLFMANGLER - 'They Call Us Naughty Wolves' CD (God Is Myth)
D. Smolken (also of Dead Raven Choir) returns to the God is Myth stable in the form of his slow, grim and noisy chamber doom outfit Wolfmangler. With the spirit of past Wolfmangler releases where covers of folk songs, classical music pieces and jazz standards are the main lifeblood, this latest work entitled "They Call Us Naughty Wolves" is the band's unique take on pop music from yesteryear. The results are very much reminiscent of a blackened burlesque chamber ensemble funnelled through a broken radio in a post-apocalyptic wasteland picking up distorted pieces of hits from the 1930s.
