A nice introduction to Barren Earth in the form of EP ‘Our Twilight’ arrived toward the end of last year and the prediction that the forthcoming album would be one to look out for was made. Now the ‘Curse Of The Red River’ is here and it is indeed it’s a great solid album that is different to easily classify. At first I was thinking “is this death, or doom, or perhaps prog? Is it deathdoomprog?” Then I decided it was much easier to go with the flow (no pun intended) and let this river carry me off however it damn well pleased. The band itself are a bit of a supergroup of Finnish talent including members of Swallow The Sun, Moonsorrow, Waltari, Kreator, Mannhai, Amorphis, Arthemesia and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It would take a very stupid reviewer to say that it sounds like a combination of all those bands as it would be impossible to mix them all into one melting pot; in fact it sounds nothing like you would perhaps expect apart from a few nuances here and there.
The opening and title track has a sort of Egyptian melody as the intro which is not surprising due to theme. Vocals roar in from Swallow The Sun man Mikko and he keeps them rough and growling as the track meanders with the guitar department adding a dash of Opethian sound to things before the chorus comes in with some clean vocals, which with the melody behind actually reminds me a lot of Therion. So we already have a complete range of styles here mixing together in one fluid movement and that is without those progressive moves which keep cropping up from the instrumentation. Lots of guitar soloing and noodling is also going on and you could easily singe a pharaoh’s beard with some of these excellently played flaming licks. Following this is one you may have already encountered, ‘Our Twilight’ but before we get to that there is a passage of flute straight out the school of Jethro Tull.
I have to admit this album has sat on my review pile longer than most and received more plays than many before getting committed to words, there is a lot going on and even though it is instantly enjoyable it’s not going to properly unveil its charms on just a couple of listens. The classic and fantastically melodically folk enthused ‘Forlorn Waves’ is a really uplifting song and one that if I had to pick a closest sound to would plump with Amorphis which is a good thing as far as I am concerned. It strikes that the spirit of the Kavela is definitely running through it. ‘Flicker’ has its own trick in the form of an austere keyboard line parping up at key points; there is something of ‘The Final Countdown’ about its holler and it could be a clarion cry to get athletes lined up for the Olympics. I really like ‘The Ritual Of Dawn’ with a swaggering Goblin sounding keyboard peel and a following Hawkwind infused guitar line running through it. These combined with the death growl make you kind of wonder which decade this particular one staggered out of. ‘Cold Earth Chamber’ injects a more death laden vibe into things before melodiously adding some clean vocals and it is the second half of the album that I feel I perhaps have not quite fully engaged with although it is growing on each listen.
It would be very interesting to see Barren Earth live but the chances of arranging a tour are no doubt going to be a logistical nightmare considering the amount of other projects the members are involved in. For the moment they have a couple of Finnish shows on the go but the rest of us will have to make do with gazing at the Travis Smith artwork and listening to the music within. Perhaps if they add a couple of festival dates we might have got completely to grips with this by then.
http://www.barrenearth.com
http://www.myspace.com/officialbarrenearth
