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Some good Ambient tracks with music that clashes quite often.-
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| Hexentanz: Nekrocrafte |
Ambient
Agonia Records
August 2nd, 2011
- Midnight Procession - 2:50
- Mark of the Witch - 5:26
- Devil's Mass - 4:04
- Birth is Through Blood - 5:08
- Binding of Shadows - 4:50
- Profane the Twelve - 3:12
- Bringer of the Luciferian Flame - 4:54
- Abjuring the Cross - 2:59
- Dirge to the Deceased - 1:28
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| Review Information |
Release length: 35:37
Review posted on July 31st, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 4.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Nekrocrafte (2011)
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| EP(s): |
The Sabbat Comes Softly (2002)
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| Review |
Hexentanz is not really considered one of the most Metal groups of today, but they still have a following in it's community since their 2002 release The Sabbat Comes Softly. The band is more of an Ambient group then anything, having more of a Black Metal-like approach to the music, and with Nekrocrafte, the group's first full-length recording, sets more of a dark, dismal, ritualistic sound to the album. But, will this album be enough to solidify the group in the dark reaches of the musical world, or will Nekrocrafte be one long experience that's just not worth having?
It's hard to try to sit down and examine Nekrocrafte outside of just as one large product. There really isn't a way you can break the album down into one track or another because of the way the release is set up, having each song fuel the next track, so if you have one weak link, then much of the experience is already ruined. Granted the tracks are not really one track bleeding into the next the entire album, but it's just the general flow of the release that is meant to really set the tone and push the album along. But, as far as the production is concerned, that becomes a whole other element that is hard to explain considering some of the effects used. Some tracks have instruments in the background, sounding ghostly or haunting and melancholic such as the violin in the backgreound of "Midnight Procession" and the drums of "Mark of the Witch", but then there are clear things like rattling noises on "Mark of the Witch" that come in clear. The overall quality is pretty clean, but with that you have effects on some instruments that won't be on that same instrument for the next track. This does lend to a decent amount of variety, so it does work for the album to help the band's darker and more sinister atmosphere come through.
Much of the material here just feels like various dark rituals in different regional manners. "Mark of the Witch" has a more dark arts vibe that one might expect when talking about Salem, Massachussettes here in the United States, while "Devil's Mass" clearly has more of an Egyptian sound to it. While the atmospheres of the region are captured nicely, and "Mark of the Witch" does have a pretty sinister and strikingly evil feel to it, "Devil's Mass" just feels boring and outside establishing the geographical element of the song simply does not do much. But, right off the bat, these two kind of hurt the album as "Midnight Procession" sets up this more dark, gothic kind of sounds, perhaps of a fog filled town in the early nineteen hundreds or earlier, and then the concept of the album shifts from a very brooding and melancholic atmosphere to ritualistic music that seems to be done towards darker spirits, so right there devoted fans of Ambient will probably want to call it quits due to a severe lack of inconsistancy right after the establishing track of the release.
Aside from the album not necessarily sticking with the established atmosphere from the start, many of the tracks are just boring and not really all that engaging. "Profane the Twelve", for example, has that ritualistic drum beat and more of a monkish ritual vibe, but aside the muffled haunting background drum beat, much of the rest of the song just sounds manufactured, the keyboards are slight and do help but sometimes cut out too quick to make way for the background harmonized chanting. This is about the same with "Devil's Mass", though with that track it's more the ritualistic music being countered greatly with keyboards that sound like the track is taken from one of the recent The Mummy films from Hollywood and greatly clashes with it's over-the-top sound yet incredibly simple performance of one note, space, one note, space. "Bringer of the Luciferian Flame", however, is really the first track since the first two songs of the album that really feels dynamic and rich enough musically to hold the listener's attention. There's a little more going on that matches the more epic ritualistic sound the band can give, especially with the keyboards and related effects, really presenting a much stronger ritualistic atmosphere to the track that you could only wish appeared on other songs. The spoken word worshipping passages to the song also help out and lend a much creepier environment to the track, and while they are really helpful, not all rituals have sections of spoken words and luckily not all tracks here have these moments, so that's another thing that works in favor of Nekrocrafte.
Hexentanz puts together an album that, all things considered, is far from a bad album, but just tricks the listener at the start. Musically the album goes in a largely different direction with it's less then ritualistic "Midnight Procession" introduction, though that could be argued with it's conflicting musical elements. While the introduction would make a fantastic start to a Black Metal album, the music that follows simply isn't all that strong to begin with. Some tracks creep along while using instruments that are much louder then the rest with an over-the-top keyboard element that largely does not suit the music. Nekrocrafte is the kind of album a listener could have on in the background for noise and not really have a problem, but if you're looking to be swept up by it, you simply won't. While many of the tracks have their own atmosphere, it's hard to go from "Midnight Procession" to "Dirge of the Deceased" and feel like the album is carrying you from point a to point b well, and the overall sound of the entire effort does let the listener down, but the album does have a few songs on here that Ambient fans will enjoy due to everything working together to create a rich, sinister atmosphere. There's potential on the album, but by the end, you'll just walk away wishing things were done a little better.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Agonia Records.
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