In essence, ‘we’ at Concreteweb.be are a Rock-‘n’-Metal based webzine particularly. But there is a difference in between ‘we’ (that’s why I did notify it in my former phrase in italic) and ‘ME’ (there is a [subjective yet evident] reason to have this in capital letters; but that’s another story dealing with my eternal modesty and superiority), for the ‘me’ also tries to focus on other genres. There are several reasons, but I will not go too deeply into the subject. Let’s just say: many ‘fans’ of ‘my’ genres (Funeral Doom, Sludge, Black Metal) do also adore genres like (Neo / Apocalyptic) Folk, many kinds of Drone, Industrial and Ambient, darkened Electronic / Gothic, Noise, and / or atmospheric Neo-Classical Music; many ‘artists’ perform several of these genres under different monikers (cf. the guys from Summoning, to give you one single example); and several labels release stuff from all these genres (ConSouling Sounds, Satanath, Burn Ward, Cold Spring, Vomit Bucket and many more)…
Anyway, I do have the pretention to contact labels and bands that have nothing to do with ‘Metal’ in the literally sense. And that’s whhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Skip it, here’s the review for Myths & Muses, the second full length album of UK’s Serpentyne (after Stella Splendens). This second effort, full of Medieval World Folk Rock, lasts for an hour and it gets released about five years after the debut.
Myths & Muses collects both traditional interpretations of (medieval) songs and newly written ones, balancing in between the traditional execution from many centuries ago at the one hand, and modern(istic) elements at the other hand. That’s already clear when the first piece, Boudicca (Queen Of The Celts), begins. Hurdy-gurdy, flute, mouth harp and percussion go hand in hand with electronic devices, and pretty soon a name like Qntal might occur – especially when taking notice of the vocal timbre of Maggie-Beth Sand. A couple of tracks also include Arab elements (melodies) (like Alexandria), some others rather dwell in dimensions of Celtic Folk, shamanistic traditions (Gaudete), or then again in the vein of haunting mysticism. Serpentyne do a great job with this mix, for the result sounds incredibly organic. There is the non-deniable importance of variation in between the individual compositions as well, yet throughout the whole experience with a very honest and natural cohesion.
Oh yes, just for your info: some other instruments used are: didgeridoo (quite important too), nyckelharpa, bouzouki, citole, lute, harmonium etc…
Once again, the lyrics are partly based on older poetry, and done in different languages, being mainly English, yet with some French stuff too this time.
For fans of, well, everything à la Omnia and Blackmore’s Night (without the Metal/Rock elements), Qntal, Faun, Haemallaerde, Tanzwut, Helium Vola, Cesair, Beltane, Corvus Corax, Steeleye Span and the likes...