Falkenbach
Tiurida

There is something damnably fascinating about following one-man bands. These are solitary artists who, once closed in a recording studio, become multi-instrumentalists to transform their premeditated compositions into music. Needless to say, the quality of the pieces that emerge will depend solely on the executive skills of the musician in question. Thinking about heavy music, the best-known example of a one-man band is of Northern European origin, and the man in question is Varg Vikernes, the sole member and founder of Burzum. The project was launched with the release of the self-titled album in 1992, offering the public an anti-technical ambient black metal with a linear structure and long, obsessively repetitive compositions. In the discography of the Swedish Bathory as well, there are works composed solely by the founding member Quorthon; one of these is the "Nordland" saga, which happens to be one of the most intense and profound works in all of viking metal. The exaltation of Odinism and Norse folklore are the main themes of the one-man band we will analyze in this article. The project in question was born in the late nineties, at the same time when the idea of composing and performing heavy music entirely alone had just been conceived in the Scandinavian countries. We are talking about a German musician who used his sole abilities to conceive a series of works of substantial artistic quality: the fascinating Falkenbach.

For those who are not adept at approaching the pagan chants of Vratyas Vakyas, the proposal is that of a folk metal with direct and linear structures, yet so engaging and fascinating that it manages to touch the heart from the first listen. The lyrics boast numerous references to the religion of the Germans, an ancient tribe partly connected to the pagan beliefs of the Scandinavian peoples. This "Tiurida" (released in 2011 as the fifth album of unreleased music for Falkenbach), is the musical transposition of all this.

The beginning is disorienting: after the charging signals of the restless intro (with the Viking horns reproduced by the keyboards), one would expect the sudden explosion of a sonic frenzy, but that's not the case. Instead, we have an acoustic guitar and a synthesized flute, which create a pleasant and sunny melody that has the task of launching the first mid-tempo of the album. The opener is called "Where His Ravens Fly", which is a clear reference to Odin, and to Huginn and Muninn, the faithful ravens of the Nordic god. The myth tells that these birds fly over the mortal world every day to gather information, then return at sunset, landing on Odin's shoulders, intending to whisper what they have seen. Unmissable is the refrain where Vratyas invokes Wuotan (that is Odin, in the ancient Germanic dialect).

A wall of malignant guitars introduces the next track "Time Between Dog and Wolf", a piece with strong black tones, harmonized by Nordic choruses and supported by the obsessive screams of the vocals. At this point, the album recovers the folk atmosphere of the opener, which comes back to the fore first with the rustic "Tanfana" then with "Runes Shall You Know" (one of the hits of this album), which hides some robust epic passages within the instrumental parts. But the best is yet to come: "In Flames" is pure Nordic fury, for the most viking track of this work. A song that smells of Viking raids, where the raw vocals return, and the guitars become grave and solemn, while the drums mark their imposing and authoritative pace. The power of the track is (partially) held back by the acoustic phrasings, in the background. Finally comes "Sunnaved", the conclusive and final ode to Teutonic folklore, whose echo seems to come out from the scaly pines scattered among the mountainous and untouched forests of the north.

There is also a bonus track, available only in the digipack edition: "Asaland" is undoubtedly a pleasant instrumental, but it smells too much of filler. The reason for its presence is perhaps justified by the short duration of the album (seven tracks for forty minutes of music), so it is likely that Napalm Records wanted to include four more minutes, which however do not add value to an album already exciting in its ordinary form.

Federico "Dragonstar" Passarella.