Neo-Folk / Dark / Ambient genres

[JayKeeley]

I wanted to dedicate a thread to the folk arts. Some of us here are fans of Prophecy Productions, and for those who don't shop/browse there, they support bands such as Empyrium, Tenhi, and Autumnblaze.

Beyond that, a good example of neo-folk music for these purposes is Ulver's Kveldssanger, which I know you're all pretty much familiar with. From that, you can pretty much gather that any resemblance to 'traditional' metal is almost negligible.

There's a good site/label called Equilibrium Music: www.equilibriummusic.com. Worth checking out if you're interested in this side-genre, they have a good catalog. One band you've GOT to read up on is AGHAST. Their music is performed from the depths of the Norwegian forests by two witches named Nebelhexe and Nachthexe, and their music rituals were captured using the same microphone that once belonged to Dead of MAYHEM. How funny is that? For what it's worth, the MP3's sound pretty damn creepy.

Anyway, I'd really like to expand my collection to include some more dark/folk music, and perhaps we can use this thread for discussion/ideas.

 

[J.]

I'm not much into this sub-genre. I've got Kveldssanger (sp?), so I've got one of the better representations. I also have Agalloch's stuff.

I do want to check out Empyrium though. What is the best starting point?

As far the more ambient stuff goes, Pazuzu is lots of fun. 'And All was Silent' and 'Awaken the Dragon' are great ambient albums and are fairly creepy. Excellent music for video game playing.

Two darkwave-ish band to check out are Dargaard (ex-Abigor vocalist's band) and Die Verbannten Kinder Evas (project of Protector from Summoning). Dargaard is the better of the two. Very dark, with haunting female vocals.

 

[spaffe]

i like wongraven's only cd, it's got a very "medival" sort of feel to it, the demo band october falls play dark accoustic music which i really recomend, think his page is down atm though :|

will check out aghast, sounds very promising

 

[JayKeeley]

I do want to check out Empyrium though. What is the best starting point?

Anywhere. Start at the beginning with A Wintersunset... perhaps, but they are all outstanding. Weiland affects me the most - extremely sorrowful at times. Also, you might like Sun of the Sleepless, a side project of Schwadorf that is more extreme than Empyrium. Erik did a review for it.

I've actually been meaning to check out Abigor at some point, in particular their debut, so Dargaard sounds interesting now.

 

[JayKeeley]

will check out aghast, sounds very promising

For the record, I don't own their CD. I just heard the MP3's at Equilibrium Music and thought that this was pretty freaky shit. And then I kind of laughed at the fact that they got hold of Dead's microphone somehow.

 

[J.]

Anywhere. Start at the beginning with A Wintersunset... perhaps, but they are all outstanding. Weiland affects me the most - extremely sorrowful at times.

Listening to some samples. This dude's voice kind of throws me off.

 

[JayKeeley]

Listening to some samples. This dude's voice kind of throws me off.

Empyrium (I think) for the most part sing in German across all the albums and utilize all kinds of vocal styles. As with any neo-folk though, you have to be in the right setting so you can't just throw it on willy-nilly. Having said that, I suppose this applies to any music.

 

[Erik]

Listening to some samples. This dude's voice kind of throws me off.

His voice is weak on the debut. Get samples from "Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays", "Weiland" or "Songs of Moors and Misty Fields". The song "Mourners" would be a very good introduction to the more metal side of Empyrium.

 

[Demonspell]

I'd start with Misty Fields and then move on to the folk-noir albums...

 

[spaffe]

For the record, I don't own their CD. I just heard the MP3's at Equilibrium Music and thought that this was pretty freaky shit. And then I kind of laughed at the fact that they got hold of Dead's microphone somehow.

haha well i didn't mean that the fact that they got a hold of his microphone was promising i think nebelhexe/hagalaz runedance is pretty good and i like my music eerie and dark so i sounded like a good choice. i listened to the samples once yesterday so i can't really say if i like it or not yet, but it sounded promising.

 

[JayKeeley]

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas (project of Protector from Summoning)

Hey, is Summoning still an active band?

 

[GONETribalchemy]

I don't think Summoning stopped (http://www.summoning.info/) ?

Perahps not neo folk but about Dark ambiant I can recommend Nordvargr (mz412 side project), you also find it on Equilibrium,
The uk band Endura, very dark also, and Wyrd (Azaghal side project), more dynamic Pagan BM with ambiant passages...

 

[Burkhard]

Anyway, I'd really like to expand my collection to include some more dark/folk music

Have you already checked out Garmarna (www.cabal.se/massproduktion/garmarna) from Sweden? Several of their (mostly traditional) lyrics are pretty dark and so´s the mood of the music of many of their songs. However, there are also some livelier tunes. If you haven´t heard any of their albums yet, I´d recommend "Guds Spelemän" (my favourite songs on this album are "Herr Mannelig", "Varulven" and "Herr Holger") and "Vedergällningen" (listen to "Gamen", "Vedergällningen", "Nio år", "Bläck"). Vocalist Emma Härdelin (she also sings in a project called Triakel - they play much more traditional sounding folk music) really has an excellent voice!
The vocalist of Gjallarhorn (www.gjallarhorn.com) reminds me a little bit of Emma´s voice. Gjallarhorn are from Finland, though most of their lyrics are Swedish. I think their music is somewhat "softer" and less dark than Garmarna´s. What adds some kind of special flavour to their music is the didgeridoo. I would recommend to give their debut album "Ranarop" a try.
Värttinä (www.varttina.com) are like Gjallarhorn from Finland, but they sound much livelier and they sing in Finnish (sounds to my ears!). Currently they feature 3 female vocalists - before they had 4! I only have got their latest three albums "Ilmatar", "6.12." and "Iki". I think their live album "6.12." would be a good start to get an overview of what they sound like. It also features a video of "Äijö", one of my favourite songs - especially the "curse"-part in the middle of this song!
Another recommendable band are Hedningarna (www.cabal.se/silence/nyhedning/index.html - it seems their website hasn´t been updated for years, but they still do exist) from Sweden (the three male musicians) and Finland (the two vocalists). Compared to the bands mentioned before, they are more "crossover/avantgarde/what-the-heck-you-want-to-call-it", at least on their albums "Kaksi", "Trä" (my favourite) and "Hippjokk" (this album only has got some male vocals), whereas their so far latest album "Karelia Visa" sounds more "traditional".
Together with Garmarna and Hedningarna, my favourite folk(-influenced) band from Sweden are Två Fisk Och En Fläsk (http://hem.passagen.se/tvafisk). They are also female-fronted. Compared to Garmarna, their music is definitely livelier, whereas the lyrics are not as happy as the music might sometimes suggest. There are some "nice" disharmonies on some of the songs on their second album "Jungfruburen" which I prefer to their debut album. Unlike Garmarna and Värttinä, I haven´t seen Två Fisk Och En Fläsk live yet, but I´m convinced they are an excellent live band!

As for "dark" music: Have you already heard The Third And The Mortal´s "Memoirs"? It´s quite different from their previous albums (which also conveyed a rather dark mode - IMO), but I like it very much. My favourite songs on "Memoirs" are "Zeppoliner", "Good Evening Mr. Q" and "The City" cool: ).

If you want it really dark and heavy, look for Fear Of God´s "Within The Veil" and listen to Dawn´s (R.I.P.) haunting voice! ("Powerlines...steel webs confine...violating the brownish sky. Hard grey smothers, earth, like cancer. Cracks revealing, ground below broken and bleeding every seed every stone...")

 

[Doom]

What I've heard of Garmana and a couple of other Swedish folky bands (can't remember the names) wasn't particularly dark. Folk music that isn't dark and sad doesn't really do anything for me. However, the dark and depressing stuff rules!

Aghast are ok, but what I've heard was a bit boring. Hagalaz' Runedance are the project of one of the women in that band and they are much better. Really, really good dark folk.

As for the bands mentioned, Tenhi's debut is absolutely beautiful, and I really love it, but I couldn't get into their second album all that much. Empryium's folk albums are also fantastic, but not as good as their metal stuff ("Songs..." is my favourite album ever.) His vocals aren't a problem at all on the folk stuff, as it's predominately some other guy. They never bothered me anyway. Sun of The Sleepless are another Prophecy band that are pretty good. Not as good as most, but I'd still recommend them. Also, Orplid are on Propechy too and are very much neo-folk. They sound pretty good, though I've only heard samples.

As for some stuff not mentioned:
Forseti - could well be the best dark folk band I've heard. I have both albums, the second is the best. I'd strongly recommend anyone interested in this sort of stuff to check them out.
Nest - quite good folk/ambient stuff, but all the songs sound pretty much the same.
Sonne Hagal - German band again I think. I have one album (can't remember the name) but they're much like all the rest. That's still very good though.
Wedjas - Polish I think. Again, kind of ambient/folk, but pretty good.
Northaunt - dunno where they come from, but are another good example of dark folk. Only have 1 album.
Stille Volk - includes quite a lot of neo-folk stuff, but lots of weird stuff too. Never really got my head around them. Still, they might appeal to some.
Naervaer - another Prophecy band, again only has some folk stuff, but nearly all of it is dark in some way. Can be very weird at times, but they have some simply amazingly beautiful songs (see "En Som" for an example of this).

There's tons of ambient stuff that you might be interested in, though I'm not exactly an expert on it. I'd suggest checking out some Cold Meat Industries bands though. Arcana are quite a good example.

 

[JayKeeley]

This thread rules.

 

[Doom]

Not sure why I wrote "Sun of The Sleepless" in that post. I meant "Of the Wand and the Moon". Sun of The Sleepless do rule though, but just aren't really appropriate in this thread.

 

[JayKeeley]

They are related though, through Empyrium.

 

[JayKeeley]

As for the bands mentioned, Tenhi's debut is absolutely beautiful, and I really love it, but I couldn't get into their second album all that much.

There is an EP as well called Airut:Ciwi which I think came out after the debut, Kauan. It is excellent - the songs could be stuff that never made it to Kauan. Vare is beautiful, but it's very ambient. It's definitely a sleepy nighttime/massage therapy type album.

Empryium's folk albums are also fantastic, but not as good as their metal stuff ("Songs..." is my favourite album ever.)

Songs is just pwning me these days. When I hear it, I just want to rip my chest open and hand them my heart on a fucking silver platter.

 

[JayKeeley]

Wow, old thread for the bump.

Jeebus, I haven't heard this in years. Put it on tonight and it's never sounded better.

"Sól Ek Sá" makes me want to cry like a girl.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

I saw this thread and thought "Uh oh, JK's gonna start listening to Current 93 and Death in June..."