Von Thronstahl * Conscriptvm (2cd 2010)
Another album with rare songs and alternative versions of Von Thronstahl. I feared I would have most of them, since I have most material of the band and quite a few compilations with Von Thronstahl on them. The nice thing about “Conscriptvm” is that there are songs that were recorded, but eventually did not make it to albums because they did not fit. Therefor there are not only different versions of tracks that I already had, but also new songs. Good news for the people who prefer the early style of the band is that most tracks of the first cd in the old style, there is even a version of “Sturmzeit”. Not that there is much of the dark orchestral industrial style, but the music for the larger part is not of the rocky kind of nowadays. The second cd has more ‘neofolky’ songs. All in all I can say that “Conscriptvm” might not contain the best material of the band, but as usual it is a very nice album to listen to.
Links: Von Thronstahl, Cold Spring
The NY progrock band White Hills is currently extensively touring Europe. I must say that their Myspace tracks sound better than their track here which reminds quite a bit of Der Blutharsch’s current style. Der Blutharsch’s own track is a long stretched tone with some singing, “prog”, but not very “rock”. The White Hills track is the better one, but they do have better tracks.
A fortunate coincidence made that I saw Der Blutharsch live twice in the last week. They would play at a festival in Tilburg for which I bought tickets months ago. When me and my girlfriend had to book our holiday we had to mind to be back yesterday for the festival so we went the week before. Then I noticed that three of the bands in Tilburg would play in København on Wednesday and since a concert in another country is probably something different, we went there to see the alright show of Bain Wolfkind, the not too good and very short show of Deutsch Nepal and the very nice performance of Der Blutharsch in The Rock with about 50 other people. Yesterday during the Incubate festival the set of three played in the Hall Of Fame with a bit more audience and a much bigger place. Friends who expected the old style of Der Blutharsch were disappointed, one found the performance tame and save and however I liked the show, I remember the København show more lively, but that may have been because of the much more lively audience there. Der Blutharsch mostly did new versions of old tracks again and most tracks were pretty heavy but rather slow rock songs. I suppose that spelled the style on the new album, but I wonder why they did not just play new songs. “Flying High!” was announced to be more “psychedelic” and that is true. The catchy rocksongs of the last albums have been replaced by a slower sound, sometimes a bit of progrock soundscapes, sometimes the sleasy Bain Wolfkind rocksong style. “Flying High!” is not a new masterpiece. I like the fact that the band keeps developing in style and it is only a matter of time before this goes into a direction that I do not like, but the new album is a nice one for background moody poprock music. And for people who saw Der Blutharsch on stage, the music on the last albums, especially “Flying High!”, is by far not as loud as the rock-performances the band gives. There is less guitar, several different (guest) vocalists, no drumkit, but more different instruments than that are brought on stage. Indeed, Der Blutharsch does not sound the way they used to, but I personally find that a good thing. I play the rock albums more often than the martial predecessors and I may or may not get more used to “Flying High!”, but the time of “Kampf, Sieg oder Tod!” are behind us, just get used to the idea and see if you like the new direction of the band.
I do not really follow Albin Julius’ Hau Ruck! label, I guess he is a bit too progressive for me (or he just has a very different taste in music). Ballo delle Castagne is mostly a progrock album with some folky influences and Italian vocals. I cannot say much about it, just that this is again not really my thing.
The latest effort of Der Blutharsch is not a very good one. Their track is instrumental and not very interesting and what is worse, the other band is some kind of boring metal/rock thing (“sludge doom” in their own words) with an awfull track. I guess the text on the single itself (“I Will Not Obey”) means that Herr Julius just keeps doing what he wants. I suppose I cannot always like it. The package is nice though.
However I have the debut 10″ of 
The five last albums (or so) were all the last release of Der Blutharsch, but new releases kept coming. “Everything Is Alright” is just like “Rest On Your Arms Reversed”, the last cd of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud, a cd with collected rare tracks from limited vinyls and compilations, so who knows. “Rest On Your Arms Reversed” is the best cd of TMLHBAC. The same is not the case for “Everything Is Alright” for Der Blutharsch, but I must say that this collection is very, very enjoyable. I have quite a few of the limited vinyls, so I already had several of the tracks presented here, but I seldom play 7″s, so it is nice to be able to play them easily now. “Everything Is Alright” goes from about “Time Is Thee Enemy” to the present day, so do not expect the martial industrial old style Der Blutharsch, but the catchy poprock side of later days. Many people may think that Der Blutharsch has “lost its magic” when it stepped away from the popular martial style, I must say that I play the later ‘rocky’ albums much more often than the older material and “Everything Is Alright” may not be a “best of” compilation, it is an album that listens easily and can be played even when you have visitors. A nice collection of poprock songs.
As mentioned in the review of the 7″ with the same name, this is again the last Der Blutharsch release. The 7″ proved a good indication for the cd. The music is still recognisable for Der Blutharsch, but different from earlier releases, also the later ones. The style has gone more into a poprock direction, but also with a more industrial sound than before. “The Philosopher’s Stone” is more tranquil than the last more rock-oriented cds and after a few listenings I might say, not as good either. The last cd certainly is a bad one, and there are some very nice songs and melodies here, but I have to admit that I hoped Herr Julius would leave the arena with a blow.
After a few times having quitted the project, Albin Julius again anounced a few last releases. Here we have a 7″ with the title of the upcoming cd (and cd+7″ box) with one track of the cd and of course one exclusive one. Der Blutharsch again managed to sound like Der Blutharsch, but different from before. As anounced, there are no more “martial” influences in the sound. The two tracks are rather soft experimental industrial rock or whatever you want to call it. In the line of the last material, but a bit different. The tracks are not bad, not great, but I find that Der Blutharsch’ music usually comes out better on an album where they are in line of the other tracks, so I have no fears that the next last release, will again be a nice one.
I have the idea that this bands operates somewhere in the margins of the scene, but maybe they are more popular than I think. I have some compilations when them on it, a split 10″ with Spiritual Front and now I decided to buy their latest album. “The Silent Life” sounds quite ‘typical’ for the band, but as you may know, Naevus have a sound of their own. There are the typical vocals, poppy sound that can not really be called neofolk anymore and electric guitars. “The Silent Life” turns out to be a poprock kind of album. Not smashing, but nice and easy to listen to. The bands deserves the recognition if they don’t already get it, not because they are the best ‘new thing’, but just because they keep doing their own thing and do it well too.