Post by beorcmanna on Jul 20, 2010 13:20:18 GMT 1
My apologies to those who do not know English or read it with as much familiarity as I do, as well as to those who feel acutely suffocated by its global linguistic presence. The history of empire and capital ought to be a topos familiar enough to, in the very least, suggest the culprits. But I merely came to celebrate the music of this band (or this concept) that I have fallen in love with...
I have never heard music this beautiful before; music done beautifully in this particular way, and I have heard a good deal of it. I am not unfamiliar with the various melodic and folk-inspired metal subgenres. There are dozens of active "extreme" metal groups in various places that choose as their chief gimmick (or potential source of income) some pagan point of origin. It is very fashionable and blends nicely with the anti-Christian thrust of metal.
In contrast with such acts, Falkenbach has remained true to its content. It has maintained an active dialogue with content without bringing in the sort of extraneous formal elements that would bring about its own doom. Formally, we have "popular" music; folk music (the original popular music), metal music. And never before has a selection of formal elements of this sort been handled with such care and skill as in Falkenbach. I myself had never heard clean vocals sufficient to do any justice to metal music. Nor had I heard popular music of this sort attractive enough to hold one's attention without botching it in masturbatory technical excess.
There is something about it that talks. What is it? Something is talking there that was ruthlessly silenced. Traditions that once flourished, that were strangled by power and a new religious ideology (of which we all know the name), were almost entirely obliterated. Falkenbach has proved a space for such traditions to appear and show themselves in, for we can no longer know them "as they were."
This is why it is of extreme importance that Falkenbach, this Vratyas Vakyas, does not shrink from the task of creating a space for these silenced traditions; a place untainted by the corniness of black and folk metal gimmicks, a place not yet stained by the racist, blood-worshipping ideologies of Nazi filth, or even the ethereal flakiness of New Ageism. In the words of Holderlin, what counts is that:
daß gepfleget werde
der veste Buchstab, und bestehendes gut
Gedeutet
[is that the solid letter
be given scrupulous care, and the existing
be well interpreted]
The interpreting song of Falkenbach has not yet failed. Let's hope it remains true to what it knows.
I have never heard music this beautiful before; music done beautifully in this particular way, and I have heard a good deal of it. I am not unfamiliar with the various melodic and folk-inspired metal subgenres. There are dozens of active "extreme" metal groups in various places that choose as their chief gimmick (or potential source of income) some pagan point of origin. It is very fashionable and blends nicely with the anti-Christian thrust of metal.
In contrast with such acts, Falkenbach has remained true to its content. It has maintained an active dialogue with content without bringing in the sort of extraneous formal elements that would bring about its own doom. Formally, we have "popular" music; folk music (the original popular music), metal music. And never before has a selection of formal elements of this sort been handled with such care and skill as in Falkenbach. I myself had never heard clean vocals sufficient to do any justice to metal music. Nor had I heard popular music of this sort attractive enough to hold one's attention without botching it in masturbatory technical excess.
There is something about it that talks. What is it? Something is talking there that was ruthlessly silenced. Traditions that once flourished, that were strangled by power and a new religious ideology (of which we all know the name), were almost entirely obliterated. Falkenbach has proved a space for such traditions to appear and show themselves in, for we can no longer know them "as they were."
This is why it is of extreme importance that Falkenbach, this Vratyas Vakyas, does not shrink from the task of creating a space for these silenced traditions; a place untainted by the corniness of black and folk metal gimmicks, a place not yet stained by the racist, blood-worshipping ideologies of Nazi filth, or even the ethereal flakiness of New Ageism. In the words of Holderlin, what counts is that:
daß gepfleget werde
der veste Buchstab, und bestehendes gut
Gedeutet
[is that the solid letter
be given scrupulous care, and the existing
be well interpreted]
The interpreting song of Falkenbach has not yet failed. Let's hope it remains true to what it knows.