Fallwind

I first stumbled across this Dutch foresty black metal project in search of more woody, atmospheric black metal in the vein of the excellent Wędrujący Wiatr or Ygg. In other words, bands that take the massive swarming beehive guitars of Walknut and inject a bit of autumn foliage into that band's wintry bleakness. The band's 2008 demo is a good listen, though the band's mixture of super dense fuzz, which turns the guitars into a formless shape of texture, and generally weird and effervescent atmosphere made it a difficult little record to come to really appreciate.

So, six years after the release of that very first demo, the band have finally surfaced again to treat us to the massive, seventy-minute arboreal masterpiece that they've apparently spent the last half-dozen years tirelessly working on to get every last minute detail absolutely perfect. Even the magnificent cover art, depicting a pine forest clinging to the side of an abstract mountain form while swirling waters rage in the background and some strange celestial orb emanates stars and snow in equal measure, all appearing to be carved from pure ice of the deepest blue by way of some sort of arcane forest magics.

If only that were the case. Instead, we get this two-song EP. The opening song, the title track of the release, comes out of the gate swinging. There's a richer, if still deliciously fuzzed out, guitar tone that plays a riff that's more immediate and satisfying than almost anything from that old demo. The drums have gone from a background timekeeping afterthought to a lively and active part of the band's sound, sometimes blasting away and other times taking the lead with inspired fills. Layers of rich harmonics creep out from all of the saturated guitar multitracking, sounding something like some subtle keys way back in the mix, though I'm pretty sure it's just a side effect, though probably an intended one. The vocals are a pained banshee wail, stretched out more by the compression, delay and reverb that's applied to them than by force of lungs. By the time the haunting leads come in during the last third or so of the song, I'm ready to hunker down and get ready for something truly breathtaking for the longer second track.

But then, a couple minutes into the the contemplative cello intro to the song later, you realize that the whole thing is a cello intro. It sounds like that Bach cello piece from the diamond commercials, with additional ambient layering, all on a serious dose of codeine. It's pretty, I guess, and would make a fine soundtrack to footage of a funeral in some historical action/epic starring Mel Gibson or something, but really I would be much happier with this seven-minute song if it came at the very end of my hoped-for 70 minute Irrwisch opus, a necessary calm to relax your soul a bit after the emotional beating you just endured. Here, it takes up over half of the running time of the whole EP and just sort of sours the whole thing for me.

Artists can do whatever they like, and I really have no right as a fan to make demands, but I can't help but be a bit steamed that after six years we only get one good, albeit somewhat short, song and seven minutes of outro soundtrack music. It would almost work as a companion piece to the 2008 demo rather than something that really stands on its own if it weren't for the fairly large differences in production and even the general songwriting approach between the title track and the material from that first release. This really isn't bad, though the cello piece does start to drag a bit, but really it leaves me more disappointed than satisfied.