Title: Es werde Licht
Artist: Ignis Fatuu
Genre: Metal / Medieval / Fantasy / Folk / Rock
Release Date: 9th November 2009
Label: Danse Macabre
Album Review
I like reviewing bands I've never personally heard before, because just occasionally you get a really nice surprise. IGNIS FATUU, from Bayern, is one such surprise. The album opener ’Auf der Flucht’ is a hard hitting raging track that's perfect as an opening line to make you sit up and take notice. The sound is tight and the band really synched well to give a very focused impression. ‘Nordwind’ is next up. The thing to notice about this band is that they're not afraid to mix genres, for here we have cutting metal guitars and a very gentle flute, vying for attention and not for a moment sounding at odds with one another. It's a nice track and the singer really has my attention with an engaging and throaty presence.
The third track ‘Dein Stern’ begins with the most beautiful violin I've heard in a long while and is joined by a plaintive voice and deliciously subtle female backing and chorus vocals. It's an entire change in style from the previous two tracks and shows versatility that I'm really impressed with, as, despite being ethereal and beautiful, it's not remotely flimsy, with harsh edges coming into play later in the track. I like this so much it's now on my playlist. Again a contrasting track that for some reason reminds me initially of 'Turisas' comes next in the form of ‘Es werde Licht’. It's weird, peculiar and downright different, but all in good ways, and the more I listen the better I like everything I'm hearing from the high pitched pipe, to the guttural vocals and abrupt changes of feeling. A great track and easy to see why they chose this as the album name.
Back to some good old metal sounding guitars for a split second before a flute turns up and gives ‘Sehnsucht’ what I realise by now is the trademark feel of IGNIS FATUU. They're a difficult band to describe as they don't really fit into any one genre and I find I just start to think I know what they're doing and they go and do something totally surprising, all to great effect I might add. ‘Illusion’ starts plaintively with a nice mournful pipe line and just as you start thinking about misty lakes and elves appearing on grey ships, the metal guitars arrive with a kicking lyric that grabs you by the throat, picks you and shakes you before chucking you back in your seat. A blistering track! The seventh track ‘Drachenreiter’ has a tremendous drum beat or beats (it sounds like two or three massive drums being played in sync) some gorgeous pipes and really good strong vocals. Another nice track in a so far excellent album!
‘Einsam’ lets you wind down after the mayhem that's gone before, as this gentle and beautiful track lulls you and the singer does a nice vocal that oozes passion and emotion. Even as it builds to a crescendo it never loses its beauty and is a subtle masterpiece. ‘Frühlingsreigen’ is a fast metalized track and is for me the weakest on the album, but still gives a perfectly listenable experience. ‘Spielmann’ is quirky, metal and gets your pulse racing as it hammers its way into your head, whilst the next track ‘Zeit’ offers us more excellent fiddle work which whips itself up into a hard driving song with a curious medieval middle section which comes out of nowhere but which really, really works.
‘Zauberspruch’ is magic indeed, being hard driving epic sounding track with fantastic interludes of spoken word and a really nice female harmony line. Definitely the best song on the album! ‘Wächter der Nacht’ has an almost identical introduction to 'Sabrina' by EINSTUERZENDE NEUBAUTEN, but there the similarity ends for this progresses to a thundering end of album track that incorporates pretty much everything that's gone before from metal guitars, to flutes, fiddles and some really tight drumming.
As I said this was a pleasant surprise of an album from a band that I was hitherto unfamiliar with and has to rank amongst one of the best albums I've heard all year. Sound is really above average and clearly a huge amount of thought and hard work has been put into not only the music on this CD but also the production. If you enjoy the likes of SALTATIO MORTIS, IN EXTREMO, SCHANDMAUL etc, and then this album will be like Christmas came early for you.
Tracklist
01. Auf der Flucht
02. Nordwind
03. Dein Stern
04. Narrenweib
05. Sehnsucht
06. Illusion
07. Drachenreiter
08. Einsam
09. Frühlingsreigen
10. Spielmann
11. Zeit
12. Zauberspruch
13. Wächter der Nacht
Line-up
Alexander - Vocals, Guitar
Irene - Vocals, Bagpipes, Flute
Alex – Violin, Bagpipes, Hurdy Gurdy,
Volker - Bass
Robert - Drums, Percussion
Website
http://www.ignisfatuu.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/ignisfatuu
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10
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