Tagarot
EP: Veleda's Prophecy
Genre: Folk Metal
Country: Austria
Label: Independent
Release: January 10th, 2016
Website: https://www.facebook.com/tagarotband/
Reviewed by: Fury
TRACKLIST :
01. Tears (Intro)
02. Veleda's Prophecy
03. Callis Sanguinis
04. The Shaman's Path
05. Samant
06. Bloodsoaked Earth
07. Fate and Fear
A relaxing evening in my metal throne while the lights
are out and it's almost pitched black but the moon is peeking dimly through my
window. It's a perfect setting to listen to traditional Celtic melodies...
emphatic folk music beats and metal crunchiness go together quite nicely and
soak it all in. I’m interested in listening to the folk metal band Tagarot
(steams from the ancient German language meaning dawn), hailing from Austria
who is an up and coming band in this scene and their debut EP, "Veleda's Prophecy"
in which they released on bandcamp, Youtube and Soundcloud.
Their EP has brought to my attention that it’s a
conceptual release based on a pagan priestess, Veleda, of the Bructerii, who
led one of the greatest tribal European revolts against Rome. She was a
dominating political, a diplomatic authority, rebellion against the Roman
Empire, who guided battle strategies in conjunction with the chieftain Civilis
and she also foretold Germanic folks will have victory of that war, for which
many of us don’t learn about in history class. I guess it depends on what
country you live in and your cultural upbringing. A German remembers Veleda as
a goddess or as a "weird-elf" who would protect the forests, and
roamed the lands on an outlook for any harm done to nature. Veleda is widely
known for her considerable prophetic powers and was also held in high esteem by
the Romans. In the reign of Emperor Vespasian she’s honored as a goddess. In
ancient Germany (and among some Nordic individuals) it was believed that priestesses
were capable of seeing the forthcomings. She was highly honored and worshipped
by her tribe and these tribes treated women like Veleda as their living
goddesses. Veleda practiced as a Völva (shamanic priestess) for her tribe, the
Bructeri, in the northeast parts of Germany. The word Völva means ‘wand
carrier’ or ‘wand bearer’. Today, many modern philosophies about witchcraft and
wizardry stem from the practices of women just like Veleda. Within this release
you will get a great sense of some emotional involvement from their point of
view through listening to the sounds and tones of the music and their lyrics.
That is well conceived and delivers after several times listening to it.
The spoken chanted words opening "Tears
(Intro)" with wonderful folk instruments are setting off the atmosphere of
this EP, leading into "Veleda's Prophecy", thus adding some heavy and
melodic riffs and still have some mixed thoughts on the female vocals within
this song. There were some moments that I felt the female vocals were a little
off in some sections "Veleda's Prophecy" in the beginning but becomes
stronger as the tracks play. She has good vocals and found them more enchanting
as I listened to them many times. Although, I was just informed that vocalist
Carina Linder has departed and I wonder who will take her place. "Veleda's
Prophecy" traditional folk instruments, guitar riffs and drums were good
and grabbed more of my attention compared to the clean vocals.
Through the use of traditional folk instruments, one of
the biggest things about this band which really sold them to me was Julian
Brockmeier. An excellent musician who -throughout this release- is playing
Bagpipes, Mandolin, Tin & low whistles which stood out with impressive
melodies. I also found it interesting that Julian can play Irish Bouzouki well
because it’s an interesting instrument to enact and for some time it was lost
in folklore as well as Bodhran. I would wonder if they will use Bodhran for
their next release. But also many musicians started to use Greek bouzouki in
the 60’s within Irish songs and dance music but was pleased he used Irish
Bouzouki. Mandolin is also another interesting instrument that uses a
fifth-based tunings, its most often used G2-D3-A3-E4 and I have noticed over
the years many have been using an alternate tunings such as: G2-D3-A3-D4,
A2-D3-A3-D4 or A2-D3-A3-E4 but you normally need to create perfect fifths and
it’s a beautiful instrument to learn to play and its a part of the lute family.
Occasionally, I’ll get a little side tracked and will add a little history
especially for instruments that are used from my own background cultures, but I
have to admit that Julian has mastered each instrument, bringing this release
to a higher rating as each instrument is weaving in and out of songs extremely
well. The tin whistles deserve credit bringing nice images through my mind as
if I was in "Emerald Isle" (country side of Ireland) while hearing
their melodies that enriches the EP.
The chief Callis are ready for battle, while holding up
their chalices drinking the Romans blood is a short image that came into my
mind while listening to "Callis Sangiunis". Excellent song to dive
into and the guitar work is massive with melodies. Great work on vocals and
other instruments that left a good impact.
Shamanism traditions and techniques can be trailed more
than 5,000 years, while it roughly translates as “one who sees in the dark” and
given to traditional tribal healers of the Tungus people. Several shamanic
practices involve a deep meditation, sometimes in a deep trance state that will
ameliorate with discovering the nature of a problem and while trying to
determine potential hope, solutions, and healing. In many cultures, a shaman is
a healer, and spiritual director.
While channeling, exchanging and releasing my energies
listening to this EP, their song "The Shaman's Path" comes on and my
darkened moods evoke magical or shamanistic powers with their rhythmic playing
and sung passages, to glorify your future while seeing the beautiful side of
our world. An eccentric song from the beginning to last note.
"Samant" opens with talents and fervent choirs sung in a call and
response pattern to a simple folk melody and around 2:38 into the song, an
image of a Snake charming came into my mind with a slight Egyptian and an age
old Indian folk art feel and powerful emotions. Lyrical section adds a
contrasting energetic section with the instruments. Fantastic guitar leads and
rhythms and solo work.
A good mixture of death and black growling vocals, clean
and sung passages occurring in some songs, enlightened and branding their
presence while evoking Germanic priestess battling against Romans through their
lyrics and songwriting. The guitar riffs, solos, melodies were catchy and
guitar tracks 2 through 7 were created by Benjamin Steiner were worthy. While
Simon Brockmeier is very good accordion player, I wondered if Simon was using a
Schrammelharmonika (Schrammel accordion) from Germany. Lukas Barani, trials of
a few blast beats within some songs and not overcooked. Tagarot effectively
harmonizing throughout the EP, which I found pleasant.
Overall, this album is good in terms of originality
theme; rhythmic folk plots and has some catchiness. "Callis
Sangiunis" sung by both Carina Linder and the growling of Daniel
Wierczeiko, "The Shaman's Path", "Samant", opening with the
skillful drums work building up an intensity and vocals dual contribute immensely to the creation of a folk music
ambiance in "Blood Soaked Earth", while the mighty
closing track "Fate and Fear" were my favorite ones off their EP. The
folk instruments complexity and style won me over. The production was decent
for a self-release recording and "Veleda's Prophecy" was mixed by
Daniel Wierczeiko at Wooden Cube Studio in Germany. I’m looking forward to
hearing more from Tagarot in the future.
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