Wolkn – Un
Origin: UK
Release: 26.05.2023
Label: These Hands Melt
Genre: Post Metal / Progressive Black Metal
Already Hemingway wrote about a special maritime connection of lonely men. And the post metal scene would also be a bit lonelier without the view over melancholic wafts of fog and the emptiness of the sea in the best sense of the word.
Behind the pseudonym R.E.L from North Wales hides the mastermind of Cloud. The publication policy of his debut work And is a little confusing.
The album was released digitally last year, remixed and remastered earlier this year and is now available thanks to These hands melt too a release on CD. Hopefully the album will now reach a justifiably broader target group in this way.
Because this fabulous disc deserves it in any case. The listener gets almost fifty minutes of the finest Post Metal here, which, through brutal blast beats and guttural vocal inserts, builds up exactly the powerful backdrop that a Progressive Black Metal concept about Welsh elemental forces requires.
Room and space for brutal and subtle nuances
There is no brutal shooting going on. Rather, there are variations in the rhythms with breaks and differentiated song structures in the spectrum between progressive metal, folk and black metal. Yes, they even take the time and give extensive guitar solos their space. Fortunately, the sound is wonderfully transparent, at least in this remastered version.
Except for the three-minute and heavily rocking one Heliac and the bonus track of the rewrite …By Means Of Moonlight all songs go through as long tracks. So too Enemy of the human racethat her HERE can hear. This symphonic song impresses with thundering blast beats and a heavy yet light folky melody. As paradoxical as it may sound Cloud On their debut they succeed in creating an atmospherically dense and yet effortless disc.
An atmospheric dense Progressive Black Folk Metal disc
Even the quiet moments are not neglected, as in the acoustically held and yet menacing intro of Cloud Dwellerwhich then escalates into a heavy Sludge Metal track.
With all density you can Cloud and his debut work can state a considerable wealth of rhythmic and melodic variations and the work thrives on this and skilfully avoids sitting between all chairs. Black Metal fans as well as Progressive Folk Metalheads get their money’s worth here. Some beauty up And initially hides behind a wall of sound that is difficult to penetrate. However, the effort to break through this is moderate and is rewarded with an acoustic journey through North Wales landscapes.
Conclusion
Who hasn’t had the opportunity yet And to discover, this should catch up with the release of the CD now at the latest. The newly released debut work by Cloud offers the open progressive metal listener an excellent disc in the spectrum between black and progressive folk metal. 8,5 / 10
Line Up
REL – Production, Composition
Tracklist
01. Andúril
02. The Enemy of the Human Race
03. Cloud Dweller
04. Heliac
05. Daffodil
06. By Means of Moonlight
Links
Bandcamp Wolkn
Instagram Wolkn
Also on Soundmagnet.eu
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