Mondvolland - d'Olde Roop
Mondvolland combine folk and black metal for their debut, 'd'Olde Roop.' It's entirely in the Dutch language, so that adds a bit of mysticism to the album's style along with the melodic black metal side through the harsh vocals and additional flute and violins and clean male 'gang' vocals that highlight the folk elements. Tracks like "Stemmen In De..." feature a rough guitar style with plenty of cymbal work from the drums and often a drawn out melodic black metal riff style with either long, mournful clean vocals or harsher black metal snarls, like one might hear a band like Heidevolk. Mondvolland are not a complete copy, but fans will definitely draw specific connections between both bands. Some tracks are mostly black metal such as "Der Roep Der..." with only subtle folk influence; they tend to be buried in the background. Others like "De Witte Jufer..." feature tons of violin and flutes right from the start and they stay constant throughout the track amongst the guitars and drums. Sometimes on tracks like these the music can feel a bit repetitive as the vocals may change, but the violins and guitars tend to play the same five notes over and over for some time before pausing for an interlude and then picking back up again. Still, a track like this is much more organic and folkish- especially during the interlude with the flute and drums- than many of the others which just seems to draw more on only using the violin and melodic black metal riffs.
Indeed this is certainly more varied as a whole compared to so many other folk metal bands. Sometimes the clean vocals can seem a bit dulled and uninspired, but the musical side is certainly energetic, even if it can be hard to understand for those who don't know the language. One cannot deny the great merge of folk and metal with a track such as "Als de grijze..." which has some great violin sections that make for some catchy parts and the tremolo based black metal side of the guitars that are interspersed with longer, drawn out chords every once in a while with some thick drumming. Usually it will feel like the folk elements are introduced separately from the metal side, such as the guitars going off and then pausing for a flute or violin solo before picking up again, but not on this track. Everything smoothly flows together; especially when it comes to the vocals, which sometimes feel extremly out of harmony or begruded on so many other tracks, now here the clean ones just sound fantastic and all falling into the right note. Mondvolland have created a very engaging/ standout track with one of their closing song, and hopefully it signifies a lot more harmonic and organic folk metal to come.
Indeed this is certainly more varied as a whole compared to so many other folk metal bands. Sometimes the clean vocals can seem a bit dulled and uninspired, but the musical side is certainly energetic, even if it can be hard to understand for those who don't know the language. One cannot deny the great merge of folk and metal with a track such as "Als de grijze..." which has some great violin sections that make for some catchy parts and the tremolo based black metal side of the guitars that are interspersed with longer, drawn out chords every once in a while with some thick drumming. Usually it will feel like the folk elements are introduced separately from the metal side, such as the guitars going off and then pausing for a flute or violin solo before picking up again, but not on this track. Everything smoothly flows together; especially when it comes to the vocals, which sometimes feel extremly out of harmony or begruded on so many other tracks, now here the clean ones just sound fantastic and all falling into the right note. Mondvolland have created a very engaging/ standout track with one of their closing song, and hopefully it signifies a lot more harmonic and organic folk metal to come.
- Stemmen in de avond
- De vuurman van Papendal
- De roep der gevallen helden
- 't Oudreemsterveld
- Daar, waar Donar dondert
- Vastelavond
- De witte juffer van Kernheim
- ...als de grijze sluier over de wouden danst
- Hoefslagen in de verte
Apollon Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Feb 25, 2011
Feb 25, 2011
Next review:
Kosmophobia - Kosmophobia
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