Artist: Falls Of Rauros
Title: The Light That Dwells In Rotten Wood
Type: Album
Label: Bindrune Recordings

Perhaps I’m generalizing too much, but mention the words Tolkien and Metal to me in the same sentence and it brings to mind rather unpleasant thoughts of power/folk metal geeks in silly costumes waving plastic swords singing over-the-top nonsense about orcs, elves and dragons. A bit of digging tells me that the Falls Of Rauros is in fact a waterfall in Middle Earth and…well, to put it rather bluntly this band don’t match up to my preconceptions of what a band heavily inspired by the adventures of Frodo and chums aught to sound like. If anything at all, this is probably inspired by the nature of the Tolkien-founded world; the rocks and rivers, waterfalls and forestation for it must be said the scenery is rather breathtaking in the films (sorry, literary dunce and fantasy fail, me).

Bindrune are a fairly consistent label and this one grabbed me straight away when I heard it. We are treated to a gentle introduction as ‘Earth’s Old Timid Grace’ maunders in with a downcast strum and low-key drum patter that lends itself to a particularly strained, melancholic atmosphere that paves the way for the first track proper, ‘Banished’. Straight away this shows what FOR are all about with beautiful mid-paced hypnotic guitars that really work one into a trance, over a backdrop of fierce drums while the vocals are delivered with a ferocious intensity that scrapes through the dense fog-like surroundings. There is an effortless motion from ravaging fury to sorrowful reflection and the quality persists throughout the chiaroscuro. ‘Awaiting The Fire Or Flood That Awakes It’ trembles in with an aura of calm before the melody sweeps us up and dumps us in deep water. The drumming is particularly intense and really drives things along nicely, before some warm lead guitar harmonies add extra colour to the palette over a thick bass line.

There is a majestic tone to ‘Nonesuch River Chant’ kind of like a hymn to a fallen king, with crestfallen “aaah”s, and a warm guitar melody that is joined by an almost tribal drum sound before leading the way into the not-so-silent, winding epic ‘Silence’. This is a highly competent third album from this USBM group, which is clearly backed up with strength and conviction and the passion that separates the wolves from the sheep within this sub-genre. There’s nothing wishy-washy about their sound and nothing that I particularly wish to criticise; there’s a great range of high quality bands around right now playing this kind of nature-inspired black metal and this is definitely on a level with the Wodensthrones and Fallochs who are getting muchos attention. Every note draws the listener deeper into the extremes of nature, far away from the built-up surroundings complete with glaring computer screens and chaotic urban life. Comparisons to Agalloch and Fen are all too easy and if you are a fan of these bands then this is one album you need to check out.

http://fallsofrauros.blogspot.com

Luci Herbert

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