Orplid

但凡有点黑暗音乐经历的人都会听过来自德国的民谣团体Orplid。这个成立于1996年的老牌乐团是德国乃至整个欧洲Dark Folk的标志性人物。乐团主要成员为诗人Uwe Nolte(看到这里你就会明白他们的词为什么总是那么的炫，尽管我们听不懂……)和Frank Machau，此二人是坚定的日尔曼主义者，为唤起人们对德国文化的保护所以一直使用德语做为音乐语言。乐队主要风格是以历史、传说和神秘主义通过民谣配合新古典的魅力将Uwe Nolte的那种诗体语言展现出来，得到一个充满幻想和思考的立体空间，此外长笛、竖琴和女声也是他们常用招式。
 
Orplid is definitely one of the more interesting folk-noir outfits that I enjoy. They have a wide variety of tracks on this album, ranging from calm folk strumming, to more of an electronic sound, to very experimental and atmospheric. In fact, most of the tracks on here can not really be considered folk at all. They seem to be turning to a more experimental, post-industrial or &martial&-industrial sound, as described by some fans. &Die Seherin& is more of a tribal drumming song with ominous keyboards, eerie female vocals and faint screams, almost sounding cult-like. &Perzivals Traum& is a very simlple, yet very effective atmospheric interlude. &Schneeglockenreigen& is a wonderful music-box-esque little instrumental song.
 
All the vocals are in German, and in some songs the vocals are very deep and prominent, which can be heard in the very first song. So if the German language or the accent annoys you, you may hate this record. Personally, I don't care what language bands sing in, in fact if it is in a language I don't understand, the vocals become more of an instrument because there are no words to listen to. Also, a lot of the deep vocals have a heavy reverb on them, making them even more prominent. I think this could possibly be toned down in a few songs to make them smoother, but it's not too bad.
 
If you like the previous Orplid releases, you will certainly like this one. I have listened to this way more then the other two and it is by far their best release so far. Can't wait for another one, which happens to be coming out in about a week.