I’ll admit that I haven’t heard everything that Falkenbach have to offer – I bought Heralding The Fireblade when it came out six years ago (where does the time go?) but have never gotten around to exploring their back catalogue. Before that, they put out three full length albums and a few demos so they have been around for quite some length of time and although their folk metal associations may occasionally negatively group them together with the rest of the trendy Metal Hammer fodder, they thankfully haven’t bought into the whole gimmick and still I think have a very authentic sound. What I really notice about Falkenbach is that their music doesn’t instantly grab you; not that I ever listened and thought they sounded poor, but it wasn’t until I’d heard it quite a lot and came back to it and suddenly it dawned on me what an excellent album Fireblade was. I think Tiurida is in a similar vein. It’s a very good album, but I don’t think its greatness has truly been unravelled just yet even after a dozen listens.
To begin with, this basically follows along a similar path as the last album; it’s not really evolved as such and that can be read as both a good and bad thing. The danger is, if a band goes too long without evolving then they end up sounding stale and simply re-hashing what they’ve done before. Bands find a winning formula and stick with it until the death. Anyway, just a musing on what could happen in the future. But let’s stick with the here and now. And Tiurida is, as I said before, a very good album and by no means a disappointment. The horns sound out bringing the album in with a dark and threatening intro passage as thunder rolls and you feel very much like you’re heading into enemy waters with gloomy skies and surrounded by floating dead bodies and then things really kick in with ‘Where Ravens Fly’ with the kind of flute-saturated melody that really lightens things up considerably. It’s uplifting and a tad dreamy and simply floats into a highly mellifluous chorus. This album has a real pagan swagger from start to finish; there’s plenty of power behind it that makes it all roll along effortlessly, while at times it all breaks down into a medieval jaunt.
‘Time Between Dog And Wolf’ really prowls forth and I love the contrast between fierce rasped vocals on the verse and soaring ‘Oooaah’s on the chorus which sound incredibly rich and also very much in the same vein as Winterfylleth. Of course there’s a blackened ferocity that lays firmly beneath the surface of the music with crashing drums and a harsh guitar tone. ‘Tanfana’ splashes its way in before a trollish little melody emerges and skips and dances lightly through bringing that fantasy vibe fully to fruition and making one feel as though they are in fact in a Middle Earthian forest. This is largely an instrumental with the exception of some ‘aah’s and before long the music takes a much fiercer tone picking up momentum before gradually winding down and sinking with a splash. ‘Runes You Shall Know’ is another one that has a mighty swagger and you really can’t help but get carried along by this one. The vocals soar majestically and the clean tone is really pleasing on the eardrums. It has that vibe of being at one with nature and the aquatic nuances really back it up nicely. ‘In Flames’ again you can hear the rowing through the water and heading towards battle and there’s a real ferocity to this one particularly when the vocals come in and ravage everything in its path. On the whole this is a great album, and one that seems to grow on me more with each listen. As I mentioned earlier in the review, I don’t think its true beauty has fully presented itself to me yet, but I’m sure it will do over the course of the year and it’s a possible contender for my top 20.
http://www.myspace.com/falkenbachband
