Soulwinds

I recall a line from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings adaptation, when Boromir is talking to Aragorn about his remembrance of the white city of Minas Tirith : "Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?".
I'd like to make my own turn of this phrase to introduce this album to you : "Have you ever heard it, dear reader? The Realistic Sound Engine of GuitarPro, resonating to your audial senses like songs of pearl and silver, its programmed sounds reproducing faithfully the carefully written notes in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of computerized imitation of orchestral sounds?".

Necrofeast's "Soulwinds" is an album that sounds like if it was entirely programmed, including its thin guitar lines. It is uneasy to tell exactly how this recording was technically done, and if the poor sounding guitars presented here are either real or programmed, but the keyboards (and drums) are, quite obviously. Only Dagon's enthusiastic rasps and Krieger's clean vocal parts come provide an organic contrast to this otherwise very digital sensation. From the liner notes, it appears that this epic symphony was produced in a studio in Den Haag that I can only presume must be the home studio of Krieger, the mastermind behind the band, and benefitted from a further professional mastering, which allows the weak respective sounds of the guitar, keyboards and drum machine to gain much relief, although still not perfect.
But enough spoken of the inappropriate sound, let's get back to the music itself. After an acceptable though not especially remarkable debut album à la "The Return..." era Bathory, the flying dutchmen of Necrofeast decided to take a whole another musical direction, quite reminiscent of Summoning's "Minas Morgul", with lushes of solemn and passionate keyboards and heroic themes. And it was definitely a good choice, as they seem infinitely more in their element here than in raw, blasphemous old-school black metal.

The album opens with a majestic composition executed with cheap keyboards before all hell breaks loose, blastbeats and screams leading suddenly the listener into a battle of epic proportions. The songwriting transcends the unconvincing sound and bring us into another world, of bravery, mysteries as old as the earth, terror and amazement. The cold winds beat endlessly on the vast battlefields of "Soulwinds in the Battle Sky", before "Runendans", a magical ambient piece reminiscent of Burzum's "Die Liebe Nerþus", awakes us in a deep forest near a stream. The battle we were fighting is now far away and memories hardly come back to our blurred mind, but a chill runs through our spine and "Roep van de Raaf" is the soundtrack to our desperate search for an exit from these endless empty woods, wandering crazed amongst the giant trees, fearing the worse has happened, filling our soul with urge. But as "Sacrifice to Ingvi" opens, voices are heard in the distance. A heathen ritual is taking place. A druid prepares the sacrifice of a small creature in a last hope of getting back the favour of the gods. A marvelous electro-styled break sends us through all a specter of chilling emotions. After the ritual has ended, we follow the lonely druid to his shelter in the woods, where he sings to us of times forlorn. We know at this moment that the battle we fought has been lost, yet a handful of loyal men resist in the shadows. "Spirit of Death" presents us with the gift of rage, and seals the promise of revenge in our heart. "Secrets of the Shadowdancer" ends the saga with some of the most amazing and glorious keyboard lines of the album, like an outburst of unleashed hatred, heathen faith and cosmic revelations, aided with dark mystical lyrics. Finally "The Halls and Glory of Walhalla" open their grand gates to us, and we feast together with our ancestors, victorious in our quest for revenge. A superb cover of Countess' "Bloed in de Sneeuw" with some clean vocals brings us back to the memories of what we just lived, like a beautiful and appropriate song during the credits of a memorable movie. The album ends with a weird, gloomy ambient track followed by some sort of nordic electro music, and we are left begging for more adventures in the company of those fierce dutch warriors.

Despite its very technical limitations, "Soulwinds" is a true underground gem that takes you on an engaging journey through the mesmerizing mysteries of ancient western Europe and will leave its mark in many a listener's heart. Would it have had a better guitar tone, real, fine drums and maybe, why not, audible bass (there is not any to be heard in there anyway), it would easily win at least ten points on my note and rival without problem with the masterpieces of such a great act as Summoning, which it sometimes makes me think of, though not especially seeming to take that much inspiration from them and being pretty much a unique experience. A warmly recommended release.