At an early age, I fell in love with the myths of England. It was a combination of spending two years there (and in the relative North of the country, near Wales, a place steeped in beauty and folklore), reading Tolkien and the beauty of myth, which is especially effective with teenagers. Moving away from there only made that connection stronger. That’s no surprise, considering that English myth is steeped in the ideas of “the other shore”, home sickness, and something lost. All that being considered, it’s a wonder I’m not a bigger Winterfylleth fan, an atmospheric black metal band that has made English legend its bread and butter. Now, they’ve released an album that immediately grabbed my attention; The Hallowing of Heirdom is a stripping away of their sound, leaving behind an acoustic core of longing, a sense of another world, and a deep connection with the legends I love.
The year is 1258. After besieging the city, the Mongol army breaks its way into Baghdad and begins to lay waste to it. Various libraries and seats of accumulated knowledge are targeted including, according to some reports, the House of Wisdom. So many ancient texts were supposedly dumped into the…
Sometimes, all you need is good stoner rock. I find that there are moods when nothing else suffices; it’s usually hot and languid outside. Maybe (definitely) I’m hungover because I haven’t yet realized that I’m 31 and I can’t pull off stuff like drinking an entire bottle of whiskey before a work day anymore. Whatever it is (a mystery!), stoner rock really vibes with those sensations of being stretched thin and does a lot to soothe me, chiming away at the same temp as my struggling mind. Arbouretum were the latest band to provide me such respite, with their 2011 album, The Gathering. Let’s head on over the jump for your first taste and circle back to do some more talking. Enjoy, and bring your best “Sunday afternoon mood”.