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While the band name Slartibartfass does roll off the tongue with enough of a questional tickle to make you slightly giggle like a school girl, but in reality this Folk/Viking metal outfit is far from anything remotely funny. Funkenfeuer marks the band's third full-length release, and it's a very well composed album that is rich in German folk atmosphere thanks to the musical compositions, as well as the use of bagpipes, that set the tone throughout the release to a very strict sound that often flows from one track into another, and sometimes feels as if the entire release is of one general concept that the band has laid out and broke into chapters. But, with all that said, it doesn't help that the music behind that atmosphere winds up being rather mediocre at best. Funkenfeuer starts off very nice, utilizing two instrumental tracks that really set the tone of the album perfectly. First, there is a rather desolate feeling, almost grave, if you will, on the track "Schleier der Vergangenheit", which bleeds into a more emotional instrumental that builds up a sensation of hope, as if rising against all odds, with "Ein Ruf aus fernen Zeiten". This track then also bleeds into the next song, "Der letzte Winter", which is where the album starts to take off a bit, as well as feel a bit drawn back. The music on this song, as well as many other tracks on this release, is pretty good, but when you sit back and think about how the first two instrumentals here were able to manipulate your emotions somewhat, it feels a little bland. This song moves at a pretty slow pace, trying to build up some sort of epic battle atmosphere with the bagpipes only appearing to enhance the bridges of the song, and for the most part the songs wind up sounding a bit hollow musically with the guitars until the music changes up a bit around the three minutes mark, going from slow to faster paces. This is essentially how the music is set up throughout each of the actual songs, not instrumentals, of this release. While this isn't so much a bad thing, it does make some of the extended track lengths feel a little drawn out. The vocals on this release sound good, and do work with the music, but you can't help but listen to Funkenfeuer and wish they were done somewhat differently. It's hard to judge exactly what kind of vocal style would work her, perhaps more of a harsh vocal style, maybe a little lighter then what is presented here, mixed with a harmonized clean viking chat style at times. Even when the vocal style does change, along with the music a bit for the start of "Die Maer von der schoenen Lau", it sounds pretty rough due to being slightly off key with the much lighter music being played, and then as you get near the last third of the song, there is pleading female vocals incorporated that work well, they just hit you so suddenly that it will take you back for a few seconds. The solo that immediately follows the female voice, however, is great and really works well with the song, especially when joined by the bagpipes to further enhance the overall atmosphere of the track. But, even with all these issue behind it, there's still some decent material behind Funkenfeuer. "Der Letzte Winter" and "Funenfeuer" make for some solid casual listening, both of which seem to flow nicely through each other with the addition of the two instrumentsl before them. After that, however, things do start to get a bit shakey. "Schwabenkinder" is, really, the only song on the release that does come off more as a filler track then anything, though is does wind up featuring a bit more of the folk atmosphere then any of the other non-instrumental tracks on this release, causing it to stand out a bit more. Aside that song, you also have "Von Ungefuehiten Naechten" which is a song that likes to jump around fast and slower paces constantly, almost as if the band were trying to incorporate a Progressive aspect of the music with the sound the instruments give to this song, and the structure. While this one doesn't quite seem as if it was just tacked on to add time to the release, one you hit about three minutes into this song, and you'll have had enough and quickly be scrambling for the skip button on your player. Had the band tried to bring a slightly heavier sound with them to the studio, there's no denying that this would have been a fantastic CD. But, unfortunately, things didn't work out that well and instead we find Funkenfeuer by Slartibartfass to be a rather dismall sounding album, but in positive and negative lights. Much of the material on this release is mediocre at best, but in some instances that's even being generous. The realy stand out moments that make you happy to be listening to this release would be the instrumental tracks, which are sometimes simply breath taking. It's just too bad that there aren't many other breath taking moments on this release, unless you want to include the concept of yawning into consideration as an argument to that statement. |
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