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Saltatio Mortis: Wer Wind Sæt Folk Metal, Gothic Metal Napalm Records August 28th, 2009
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Review
While Saltatio Mortis is not a new band, having six other full length releases and a live album, Wer Wind Sæt is the first full length to hit the shores in the U.S., and it's about time. While were being crammed plenty of Folk Metal anymore, much of it is starting to sound the same and become repetative, but what is on this release acts as a bit of fresh air, not being an over the top release, but a more serious piece focusing on presenting a folk atmosphere through typical and, sometimes untypical, instruments (bagpipes, lutes, etc.) while still staying in the Gothic rock and metal field. But, does the usage of these instruments damper the lack of quality in the instruments that really matter? To put it bluntly, while the whole Gothic scene doesn't really utilize heavy sounding guitars most of the time, or even rather complex riffs, they really seem to be a bit too simple on here. It's clear the band is focusing on the other instruments, even the drums, but really focusing on the bagpipes. The openner track "Edenbild" kicks the album off perfectly and sounds really impressive, having a great blend of traditional and folk instruments with a consistant heaviness from start to end. It's too bad that "Salome", which features singer Doro Pesch, doesn't quite hit the listener the same way, being a bit too bland. Aside "La Jumenty De Michao" and "Vergessene Götter", which are very out of place since they sound very heavy in Punk influence and much faster speed, causing them to clash horribly with the rest of the album, there are some tracks on here which just sound like filler tracks, as well as a handful of really impressive, stand out tracks. "Miststück" seems to bring the album back to the beginning, following a similar musical structure of "Edenbild", which is a good thing and makes this one of the more stand out tracks on here. "Tief In Mir" seems to follow suit but really comes off moreso as a Metal song with some heavy guitar riffs and whatr comes off as more effort vocally then much of the other tracks. "Wir Säen Den Wind" is a pretty decent closing track, even though it could have been better, having some different sounding guitar riffs from some of the aforementioned heavier tracks, even if they do seem a bit odd against it. However, this track will wind up losing it's bite after a couple spins. The rest of the material here are just slower, more ballad-sounding tracks, which aren't usually a bad thing but there's nothing all too impressive about them, honestly, and will grow rather old after your first listen. While the band presents a unique sound from the start of this album, it does conflict again two Punk-heavy tracks, and really just comes off more as filler then anything. Your first time through this release will definitely be a mixed one, but it won't be long before you start utilizing the skip function on your player. Thanks If you heard the album's single, "Edenbild", without hearing anything else, you will really walk into this release with high expectations that simply will not be met, so enter expecting something a little more mediocre and you'll enjoy it for a little while. It does feature some strong, break out tracks, but for the most part, it really does sound like an album from a band that has run out of ideas.
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