I could have sworn I had tackled Dutch ‘whisperers’ Fluisteraars in the past review wise but realised I had been getting them muddled up with countrymen Fluisterwoud who actually split up in 2009. An easy mistake I guess but one that was not a problem as I was able to listen to this new album along with the recent back-catalogue and play a bit of catch-up. Fluiteraars are a duo comprising of M. Koops and B. Mollema. We are told that everything recorded on ‘Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking’ which translates loosely to ‘Captivated by the spirit of psyche enlightenment’ was done spontaneously in one take capturing natural acoustics giving it a real sense of upfront urgency without overdubs or anything else in the way of manipulation. I had noted that this new material harks back to the work on 2015 album Luwte much more than that of last year’s Bloem. So, anyone who found that particular album a little on the flowery side with its strange near acid-western Mariachi stylised backdrop will perhaps find this more to their tastes. Another clue is there in the title too, expect a good dose of lysergic psych here and I was certainly intrigued by the description stating this is what black metal done via a Tangerine Dream route might sound like.
We start with two slabs of molten fury and as ‘Het overvleugelen der meute’ (‘Outflanking the Crowd’) hammers in with glorious thrusting drive and elongated vocal cries it is immediately powerful, catching the listener up in its determined fury. This meaty violence is counterpoised with some divine instrumental work with impressive bass sound adding to the grandiose peaks as it coasts away; atmosphere and brutality are perfectly merged. The psych comes more into play as the song downs tools, drums are slowly tapped and rolled and the percussion and strange sonic noises take us on a momentary head trip. Without any pause we dive straight back in with ‘Brand woedt in mijn graf’ (Fire Rages In My Grave) and things suitably explode again in a volatile manner, the blood-curdling scream from Mollema totally effective to lead this charge. There’s no denying the fact this is upbeat and super-charged stuff, that word “glorious” cannot be overstated enough and these two numbers are among the best black metal compositions I have heard in quite some time. You can completely lose yourself in them and they really are nothing short of ecstatic.
Having delivered this with shrill sounds echoing and trailing out it is time for them to up the game even more as with bells tinkling in the background we are about to embark on the extraordinary and ambitious 20-minute epic ‘Verscheuring in de schemerin’. After a slow and enthralling build up make no mistake Fluisteraars can indeed ‘shred in the twilight’ as this spaceship takes off and hurtles into the darkening sky. With drums beating with primal urgency and guitars jangling like bullets from a gunslinger, the vocals rage and rasp along with them, everything at a mad frantic dash. An acoustic guitar section sparkles leaving a chance to grab a breath and everything sounds totally natural and completely mesmerising making you wonder what can possibly come next especially as it feels that the song is at a natural conclusion at the halfway mark. Drums roll again in a solo that is far from excessive prog rock of old but takes along with other weird acoustics into a section embedded in olden Kraut Rock. Yep, Tangerine Dream are a good reference point along with Amon Duul, Pink Floyd and even old Rush and Marillion. You cannot help grinning like the demented as your brain starts to melt and seep out your ears. Do not panic, we are about to bomb back into things and the music surges away once more building ever further into sweeping peaks and as the vocals finally come back leaving you realising you have just flown through one of the mightiest instrumental sections of a song this side of the latest Oranassi Pazuzu / Enslaved head-trips, which have proven that Psych and Black Metal really are a perfect amalgamation of styles when done properly. Mollema is really going for it having been previously silenced his whoops and caterwauls completely deranged up to the point the track finally implodes and my head does that Scanners thing and blows the fuck up…
What a trip, what an excellent album and even if it is short at 35-minutes it has completely fulfilled every possible expectation and then some. An absolutely essential album, consider me blown away!
(9/10 Pete Woods)
18/08/2021 at 9:18 pm
Oh HELL yeah