Originally written by Ross Main.
Sometimes – and only sometimes – it really is nice to get away from from the rampaging riff, steam train double kick and flem-flinging roar of metal that all of us here swear by. Occasionally we do like turning it down and stripping it back with something light, if not for a bit of time to hear ourselves think. Well, for the soundtrack of your thoughts you could do a lot worse than Destrunken, the follow up to 2006’s Vergessene Pfade, by German folk quintet Neun Welten.
Destrunken is light, but only in the weight-related sense of the word, often taking dark, alluring steps into impending territory. Devious and gradual are the menacing turns in tracks like “Destrunken I,” like the subliminal musical theme to a dark character, with a dark purpose entering the story. Imagery is key to the effect of this band, and if a picture paints a thousand words, the well placed swoop into a minor key makes it come to life.
There are no rules here determining whether the tip-toed percussion and delicately stroked acoustic instrumentation should float gently or patter urgently. From the calming violin and cello duet of “Ewig Ruh’,” to the more motioned and urgent tracks like “Destrunken II,” Neun Welten never haunt the same corridor for too long. Vocals of both genders are briefly present, but remain inconsequential, leaving the flutes and strings to tell the tale in the company of the piano, which often brings a beautiful classical tone to the sound.
With much in common with bands like Agalloch, Eluveitie and Empyrium, but with no metal to their sound at all, Neun Welten still curiously share some kind of connection with metal that can maybe be identified in how compatible and translatable tracks like “Jarknez” could be, should they ever chose to plug their instruments in.
