Weh - En Natt Kom Doed
For those expect Weh to be in the vein of the former Black Metal/ Viking Metal oriented Windir that was once a part of Erik E.'s life, think again. Weh is a side project full of lush acoustic melodies that are highly folk oriented and a far stretch away from anything really 'Metal.' There are no snarling vocals here, no heavy guitar passages or thundering drums and percussion. Everything here sounds as clean and quiet as communing with nature itself, and it works perfectly to the whole atmosphere of an album. Unlike the failure of the Finnish Ajattara which put an acoustic, but dry spin on Black Metal with basic guitars and snarling that completely contrasted, Weh is much more somber and uses deep, haunting clean vocals that are very similar to what Ulver did on 'Shadows Of The Sun.' It is very dreamy, lulling, and perfect for a relaxing listen overall. While there isn't too much variety between tracks with them all being acoustic, it is still a fun experience to go through each one to see how the music is structured. On "Oedegaarden" there is almost a banjo tone to the guitars while the vocals are overlapped with spoken word sections amongst the clean singing while still maintaining the dark atmosphere. "A Testament Of Time" further explores the spoken word aspects and touches on the cleaner types of tracks that a band like Agalloch would do, keeping up with the whole storytelling aspect of the music.
On other tracks like "La Onde..." the vocals have a bit of an electronic tinge to them making them even more harmonic and much more like what was heard on Ulver's work. On the other hand, the main focus is the vocals as the guitars are less versatile and tend to play just the same five notes over and over without too much variation in between unlike the opening track. "What Is Written" is slowed down quite a bit with the guitars much louder, the singing clearer, and overall a much louder sound that doesn't feel as low key or downtuned and depressing; here the folk elements are much stronger. The closing "Helvete" is perhaps the strongest track simply for the end. It starts out with plinking guitar and closes on just the vocals humming which adds a strong monk like chant to the music and polishes off the perfect 'spiritual experience' for the album overall. This is defintely one of the more eye opening simple pieces of Atmospheric Metal/ Folk Metal that should not be overlooked for its quiet nature as it provokes listeners to think, rather than just headbang.
On other tracks like "La Onde..." the vocals have a bit of an electronic tinge to them making them even more harmonic and much more like what was heard on Ulver's work. On the other hand, the main focus is the vocals as the guitars are less versatile and tend to play just the same five notes over and over without too much variation in between unlike the opening track. "What Is Written" is slowed down quite a bit with the guitars much louder, the singing clearer, and overall a much louder sound that doesn't feel as low key or downtuned and depressing; here the folk elements are much stronger. The closing "Helvete" is perhaps the strongest track simply for the end. It starts out with plinking guitar and closes on just the vocals humming which adds a strong monk like chant to the music and polishes off the perfect 'spiritual experience' for the album overall. This is defintely one of the more eye opening simple pieces of Atmospheric Metal/ Folk Metal that should not be overlooked for its quiet nature as it provokes listeners to think, rather than just headbang.
- Oedegaarden
- A Testament Of Time
- Demon Av Natur
- La Onde Guder Hvile
- The Unborn
- En Natt Kom Doed
- What Is Written
- Helvete
