Without much information forthcoming on mysterious German multi-instrumentalist Herr K., Swedish label Nordvis present ‘Metamorphoses’ from Prag 83, an eight-track album of dark, acoustic folk music.
Inspired by the literary works of Franz Kafka, the music here is lilting and delicate, yet ominous enough to fully capture the albums subject matter. At times invoking the ambience of Death In June, and at others, the acoustic flavours of Alice In Chains, yet yielding the folk experimentation to make ‘Metamorphoses’ an interesting departure from the heavy-handed works of conceptual noise that seem to make up a lot of the “extreme” sub-genres.
Opening track ‘A Hunger Artist’ is a case in point. Haunting and memorable, and despite its subtlety, making quite an impact. The understated percussion, and the slight fuzz on the guitars set the tone, with the vocals providing sincerity and a certain resemblance to Jerry Cantrell.
The next two tracks are instrumental (save for a piece of spoken word on ‘Nachts’) and offer clean, classical guitar styles that occasionally dip into unlit territory, before ‘The Devil’s Heart’ provides the most “traditional” sounding folk song on the album, with the vocals serving the tune perfectly.
The shimmering gleams and prominent strumming of ‘Amerika’ presents another instrumental interlude, and then things get grungy on ‘The Judgment’, with the vocal harmonies reinforcing the Alice In Chains feel, while the echoes and whispers of ‘Before The Law’ lead us to the final track.
‘Metamorphosis’ is where the schizophrenic nature of the album comes to a head.
Fuzzy, oppressive, and pretty sinister, with the lyric “He is not well” perhaps providing an insightful glimpse into both the artist and his inspiration.
Nicely produced, with the instrumental nuances shining through, ‘Metamorphoses’ is an absorbing listen.
If you’re looking for noise, then you’re better off looking elsewhere, but if you’re in the mood for some dark (yet strangely vibrant) acoustic melancholy, there’s plenty to “escape” to here.
(8/10 Stuart Carroll)
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