I have certainly enjoyed the three download albums that arrived from Bindrune Recordings recently. The label’s artists obviously share kindred ideals that embrace both nature and spirituality. I was not really versed in any of their artists apart from the UK’s contribution to their roster Wodensthrone previous to these. With only nine groups currently signed to the label I am guessing they will be selective with their artists and considering some of the rubbish the bigger labels splurge out that can only be a good thing and I look forward to more from them in the future.
Last one that I am tackling are the strangely named Nechochwen from West Virginia. Like others on the label they embrace the history and heritage of the Native American Indian, which one can at times hear shining through in the music. This one man project released a debut album which sounds fascinating as ‘Algonkian Mythos’ picked a set time period to focus on the French, Indian war. ‘Azimuths To The Other World’ goes on to “journey into the mysterious world of the Adena and Hopewell people that dwelled in the Ohio River Valley nearly 2 millennia ago.” More information on this can be found on the Bindrune link at the bottom of the page as I best concentrate on the music itself rather than get carried away on the background behind it (although tempting) anymore.
‘The Crossing’ starts with fragile guitar work and a tom-tom beat before a spoken word passage with a Yankee twang comes in with a bit of background information. The throttle opens and this then flies into a heathen cleave which is black metal in essence, with throaty vocals and a great melody pounding in behind it. This is not a taste of things to come however as much of the music contained here on these 14 tracks concentrates more on subtle melodies around that acoustic folk etched guitar. I really do love this first song and in a way am disappointed in the way that the album does not continue in the vein but still as it goes on to take a different path it is still one that is very interesting and illuminating to follow. The guitar textures are lush and sparkle like light glinting through the trees on a forest path and the vocals around them on numbers such as ‘At Night I May Roam’ are equally soothing. After losing yourself in lots of shimmering guitar work you are suddenly snapped back into ‘Red Ocher,’ which has some nice female vocals in the background and a hefty drum ballast before ‘The Eyes Of The Mesingw’ takes us into much more traditional sounds of the Red Indian word. The Americana twang of ‘Charnel House’ and a more sombre melody is next up but another flurry of drums reminds you that this is music that retains heaviness at times.
I was perhaps expecting more to really invoke the spirit of the past and the traditional sound of the Native American people. There is not actually that much apart from the brief interlude mentioned earlier and ‘The Forgotten Death Ritual’ another incidental piece of pipe music. Also I feel that a couple of the guitar noodling tracks could be cut out to give this a more immediate feel as at an hour the interest does begin to wane towards the end. Still aside from all that if you are looking for something a bit different you will, as with all the Bindrune, acts find it here.
http://www.myspace.com/nechochwenstronghold
http://www.bindrunerecordings.com/pages/nechochwen_body.html
