Dornenreich - „Hexenwind“
Prophecy Productions, release date: 18th November 2005
Dornenreich
are an Austrian band, who play experimental and outstanding Metal.
‘Hexenwind’ is their fourth album since the band was formed in 1995.
One of the most notable features of the band is the distinctive vocal skills of
Eviga, who also plays guitar and bass. He sings with a mix of soft, clean vocals
and what is like a strangled screaming, and it works well with the music.
The
album is of average length, running at roughly forty minutes long, but it has
only five songs on it. Of these, ‘Von Der Quelle’ is the shortest at just
over two minutes. This is because it is an introduction to the album more than a
track in its own right, and consists solely of the sound of howling wind,
ominous whispering and sparse synths.
This whispering is standard with Dornenreich and can be found throughout the
album.
Track
two, ‘Der Hexe Flammend' Blick’, is at a faster
tempo. The chorus, with its combination of Eviga’s vocals and the melancholic,
continuous rhythm, is at times quite haunting.
It is interspersed with brief acoustic sections.
The third track is
entitled ‘Der Hexe Nächtlich' Ritt’. This song also plays out at quite a
strong pace and feels like classic Dornenreich. The chorus comes in at one
minute and thirty seconds, and is harmonic - a dichotomist combination of
acoustic guitar and fierce drumming, with predominant cymbals. Towards the end
of the song, it suddenly slows down and takes on an exotic flavour, with lilting
Spanish sounding guitar, adding an unexpected and curious element.
‘Aus Längst Verhalltem Lied’, the penultimate song, is shorter at just four
minutes and ten seconds long. It is a very slow song, and is basic, but this
bareness makes it stirring to the soul. With really just the use of guitar, and
none of those trademark vocals (bar very little whispering at the end of the
track), personally it reminds me of something that their ex-label mates Empyrium
could have written. We are taken back to nature with the reintroduction of
blowing winds, which also act as an outro to the song. They help to enhance the
mysterious quality that is woven through ‘Hexenwind’.
Now we reach ‘Zu Träumen Wecke Sich, Wer Kann’. This carries on the mood of
previous tracks, though if anything, perhaps slightly more upbeat – as if
offering a small flame of hope in the darkness. Unfortunately I do not know if
lyrically, the theme corresponds to this. Dornenreich’s lyrics are notoriously
hard to translate. The song is an enjoyable and fitting close to the album.
‘Hexenwind’ sounds quite experimental, yet in my opinion, not to the degree that the previous album ‘Her Von Welken Nächten’ had been. Dornenreich certainly sit on the ambient side of black metal, and they do it very well. They evoke a beautiful dreaminess but maintain the harshness of cruel nature at the same time. Eviga and Valnes are both brilliant songwriters and show by this release that they really know what they are doing. If I had to find fault with this offering (and I would be hard pressed), it would be that at times it can be too repetitive – whilst the cyclical melodies are eerie and soothing, some songs feel unnecessarily long and would have been just as effective if they were a couple of minutes shorter. But that would just be picking holes in what is, quite simply, a fantastic album.
Score: 9,5 out of 10 points (Review: Victoria)
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