Wartha from Belarus recently released the epic album “Azure Lakes” on Soundage Records. With a decidedly darker sound then previous releases, I was definitely interested in finding out why the change came about. Luckily, Oleg Zelyankevich (the main member of Wartha) was able to answer that question and a few others in great detail……
Continue reading →The Real McKenzies – ‘Rats in The Burlap’ (2015)
By: Grinning Beggar Rating: 9.5/10 Release: 7 April 2015 Label: Fat Wreck Records There are not many bands in the Celtic Punk genre that work as hard or have the staying power of The Real McKenzies. In the three years since releasing their album “Westwinds”, they have kept a very … Continue reading →
Paganfest 2015
Paganfest Extended 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands (22-03-2015) Photography: Paganfest Extended, Turbinehalle, Oberhausen, Germany One of the places to be if you are into pagan, folk and viking metal is the annual festival Paganfest. After being cancelled last year, the Paganfest tour has returned to Tilburg with an XL tour, featuring … Continue reading →
Interview with Wintersun
About Tons of Metal and a Lack of Oxygen
When the Paganfest tour came to Tilburg, we took the opportunity to talk to Jukka from Wintersun about what Wintersun had been up to the last months, their 70.000 tons of metal show and of course about Time 2, the album we are all so eagerly waiting for.
Continue reading →Tharaphita – ‘Ülestõus’ (2014)
Rating: 8.5/10 Release: 27 July 2014 Label: Vaarang Records Estonia’s Tharaphita have been relatively quiet of late, but have returned in a big way with “Ülestõus”, their first release of any kind in seemingly 6 years or so. I would categorize them sound wise maybe to more Viking metal acts … Continue reading →
Vetten Äpärät – ‘Sydäntalven Viha’ (Single 2015)
Rating: 7/10 Release: 27 March 2015 Label: Inverse Records A Finnish folkmetal band that had trouble completing their line-up for years. After 7 years of struggle they finally are able to release a first single called Midwinter anger, or in Finnish, Sydaentalven Viha. Of course a keyboard intro with a … Continue reading →
Slane – ‘Insomnia’ (Single 2015)
Rating: 6.5/10 Release: 21 March 2015 Label: Independent Celtic Metal from Russia? I’m always curious what’s behind these kind of bands. Celtic Metal, is just like the celts, spread across a wide territory, with it’s own rites and tribes. From Japan to Argentina, and as it seems now they’re in … Continue reading →
Celtachor interview
Celtachor have returned from the mist shrouded hills of Ireland and have finished recording their 2nd epic album “Nuada Of The Silver Arm” being released on Trollzorn Records on April 24th. I was able to get responses from Steve, David, Fionn and Anais regarding the new album, the concepts behind it and now being part of the Trollzorn record family…
Continue reading →Tengger Cavalry – ‘Blood Sacrifice Shaman’ (2015)
Rating: 7/10 Release: 18 May 2015 Label: Metalhell Records The mighty Tengger Calvary has returned with another new full length (of sorts) with “Blood Sacrifice Shaman”. When I say “of sorts” I mean it will be new to most of us as “Blood Sacrifice Shaman” was originally released in 2010 … Continue reading →
Interview with Paolo of Furor Gallico
“Folk metal does not exist,
Folk metal is what the hell we chose to do!”
‘Folk-metal.nl’s own’ Eline had a nice chat with Paolo of Furor Gallico.
Congratulations on your new album ‘Songs from the earth’, could you please tell me more about the making of this album?
“Thank you so much! This album has been an opportunity to improve ourselves from how we started with the debut album. We did not want to lose sight of our origins, so we tried to add some new details to our music.
In some tracks we tried to conceive a sound not so easily linkable to other music.
As for the technical aspects of the album, we spent the last two years refining its sound. Moreover, several technical hassles put back the release date (the album had been recorded in 2013) and so, once it was finally out, we couldn’t believe our eyes!”
How has the album been received by the fans and critics?
“So far, so good! We are absolutely glad to see that our fans like both songs on the album whose sound and atmosphere are closer to our debut album, and other songs, such as ‘Diluvio’ or ‘Steam over the Mountain’. Those two songs are rooted in our idea of how we see folk metal, which is: “Folk metal does not exist, folk metal is what the hell we chose to do!”
At our first gig supporting ‘Songs from the Earth’, many people already sang some of our new stuff, from the beginning to the end! That was definitely touching!”