The Unseen Passage / Hidden Stream

Isaford
Inconsistent
55

Isaford are from Norway and they have released four songs. These appear on a demo entitled The Unseen Passage as well as on this split release with Nest. As they have split-up already, some likeliness is given that nothing more will be heard of them and after listening to their music it becomes obvious why: they have some problems in finding their pathway; the title The Unseen Passage is a somehow ironic one.

Their music is a mixture of black metal with a symphonic touch as well as having folk and gothic influences. Actually this mixture could be interesting, but the songs are quite bland and lack of fascination to motivate in the long run. They are occasionally overloaded and the listener does not get the impression that the band does know where they want to go to and how everything fits together; some sort of a red line is missing.

The compositions are no complete failures, but give the impression of a bunch of musicians taking their first steps in recording music. Even though the ideas are not bad, they are unable to unfold their potential and remain in 'an early state'. There have been worse bands than Isaford of course, but better ones can also easily be found.

The Unseen Passage, yes, this is what the band did not saw. They had some nice ideas, but failed to use them in a way that might help them to overcome this obstacle; to find enlightenment and to proceed further.


Nest
A different approach and a foreshadowing
60

The second release by Nest appears on a split and parts of the music from the Fabled Lore demo appears here again; Land Behind the Mist & An Oaken Citadel. What is offered is in vain of the early works with the exception of Enchantment for Few. There some of the characteristics of the succeeding Woodsmoke as well as Trail of the Unwary albums can be found; but what would these be?

In contrast to the other tracks lie the emphasis of the atmosphere on the play with the motives and the use of field recordings of animal sounds. This gives the music a new touch and while the 'music' - or better said the instruments as the drone-like textures continues - halt while the birds chip, sing or what else they might do, a mystic touch has been brought into the concept and the broaden of the spectrum had a positive effect on the concept.

Sadly, only the first track with its nice ideas and samples is able to stand out on this release. Somehow do the other ones and especially those from the first recording sound odd and fail to create this magic touch with which the band was able to fascinate me on their first recording. Maybe it is the larger emphasis of the guitars, maybe it is the change in the mix and sound, but whatever the final reason might be, I have some problem with enjoying it.

Again, a dreamy atmosphere is created by the combination of kantele and keyboards, but they are joined by metal guitars now and then. Another difference is the amount of vocals as they appear on three out of five tracks now and vary between some whispering and croaking like style. Some drums have also been used as well as some other percussion instruments, but their impact is not too large. The music of Nest lives from the combination of kantele and keyboards. Of the dreamy and slightly sad atmosphere not much is left on Hidden Stream as it has changed to a state of being mystic.

This release is still interesting but lacks of coherence. Would it not be for the first track by Nest, then the score would be lower.


Final bits and bytes
Nothing outstanding here, but music that is still listenable.

I stumbled across this band by doing a search for “nature” in lyrical themes, for my geography class, and decided to check it out. Well, this really should not belong on this site, since it is far beyond metal, except maybe some of the lyrics. That does not really matter for the review though, as it is still quite beautiful music.

All this music, according to their site, is influenced by the beauty and solitude of nature, and that is definitely seen in the delicate structure of the songs and the organic rhythms used throughout. Now most people would start screaming WORLD MUSIC here, and write it off as garbage, and I have to say to that that it is definitely teetering on the knife edge between World Music and art (world music is wankery).

Now for the music. It is mostly folk-inspired music, with the Kantele as the lead instru-ment, helped by keyboards, bass, and occasional drums. Vocals are whispered over the music, like wind blowing through a forest. They add to the atmosphere of solitude and beauty portrayed by this music. Minimal orchestral drums create a sense of movement, but generally do not take over the music. What can definitely be considered metal are the distorted guitar blasts in the third song, Harbinger of a Greater Winter. This seems to me to represent a sort of disruption of the equilibrium of nature represented. Most of the mu-sic is very lush instrumental music with barely noticeable vocals, that work great as more relaxing, but brooding music. There is always a hint of sadness in the songs though, which make the whole EP quite melancholy. This EP is not as refreshing as Woodsmoke, their full-length album, but it does the job.