Genre: Dark Folk / Dark Wave
01. Pillars of ice (1:56)
02. Most northerly midnight (4:19)
03. The glowing child (4:14)
04. Helm of awe (8:06)
05. My butterfly (4:07)
06. Thuletide (2:43)
07. A gift of blood (5:45)
08. Will-o-the-wisp (4:45)
09. Frozen light (3:44)
10. The pulling lights (12:09)
11. Walker of dawn (3:52)
12. Thule's pale bloom (3:54)
13. Venusian eyes (5:32)
14. Most northerly midnight II (4:11)
The North American brother-band Harvest Rain is an intriguing and enchanting band. With a large and diverse discography, they have taken traditional dark folk sounds to a dreamy and haunting world full of possibilities and written a strong mark on a European guided scene. ‘Blood Hymns’ is not a natural follow up for last years’ ‘Night’s Glow’ that mostly kept up a serene and crystalline folk sound full of blurry ambient zones. The recording of ‘Blood Hymns’ started during the Winter Solstice of 2002 and continued during the 12 Nights of Yule. There were seven different people taking place in this recording, which is a proof of its variety. Although the promo sheet informs that “These Midnight Sessions began after 'A Frost Comes with the Wind' and should be considered the follow-up to that album.” I have not been able to get a hold of this previous album, and for that ‘Blood Hymns’ opens a new page for me.
Naked acoustic guitars open the first notes of ‘Pillars of Ice’ with some very traditional dark folk notes. It is not but one minute into the song that suddenly the percussion breaks into the song, giving it a delightful dark wave feeling and summing up the sound of most of the records. Some epic, anthem sounds, many sweet and repetitive melodies over songs that easily cross over from folk into wave with a suave skip. ‘Most Northerly Midnight’ open rich with sounds, flowing frequencies in the background, a just-there bass line that manages to seep through all the other sounds, noisy overpowering clean guitar notes and the reciting of Jason Alfred’s voice. The music wraps the voice, finally taking over and giving place to some haunting and delicate choruses. ‘The Glowing child’ keeps up the surrounding atmosphere and gives it even more strength. The sound is cruder, approaching a willowy martial spirit and doesn’t renounce to having a powerful chorus. ‘Helm of awe’ combines a rock spirit with counterpoints, syncope and distortions. It has a very progressive sound that spreads out with the words, backed by momentary drums.
With ‘My Butterfly’ Harvest Rain returns to a more traditional neofolk sound with dual voices over a repetitive melody line with a bass line skeleton and guitar notes body. The tune is easy and catchy uniting a sober spirit with a pop face. It closes with a poetical sampler in Spanish titled ‘Hymn to the Morning Star’, as a whisper come from the past. Following close behind is ‘Thuletide’, walking trustingly into that place between folk, dark wave and dark rock, with an excellent melody, covered by screeching violent synths, repetitive percussion, a sort of deathrock crudity, bringing the beginning of some 80s post punk bands to mind. ‘A Gift of blood’ is back to basics: a heavy guitar line, bellicose percussion, oppressive sounds topped with beautiful melancholic synth line that keeps the tune fragile and imaginary. ‘Will-o-the-wisp’ unites the folk side with a further pop attitude immersed in counterpoints and guitar lines. ’Frozen lights’ plunges into a haunting gelid soundscapes pierced by crystalline melodies. As counterpoint ‘The pulling lights’ again offers a dark wave ambient melody.
Opulent guitars fill the tunes of ‘Walker of dawn’, one of the simplest and most extraordinary songs of the record. Only voice and chord work manage to build a temple to nostalgia and broken dreams. Perhaps it can be considered the perfect example of how Harvest Rain define their music as ‘autumnal’. ‘Thule’s Pale Bloom’ follows with a very ‘Of the Wand and the Moon’ish experimental opening flowing into a place of slow paced dreamy and wavy sounds. Dark wave synths lay down the entrance into ‘Venusian eyes’ uniting a The Frozen Autumn backbone with a Projekt feeling and an eighties background. To close, a sort of reprise under the name of ‘Most Northerly Midnight II’, which is, after all the quest that they searched for throughout the record.
The songs posses an ample flirt with mythology, with names and references. Nonetheless under my opinion, the main story line perhaps is the continuous reference to the angel of the sun, the light bearer, the morning star. None other the creature created knowingly to fight and loose an inevitable battle just because of the necessity of duality in a Manichean world. Following this matter, most of the songs are splashed with contradiction, with complementary images, with honor and bitterness, with belief and treason, with life and death. Beauty and destruction hold hands, and that is reflected in the complexity of the music.
Harvest Blood has given that extra step in this record. Whether it is forward or back (taking in account the year it was recorded), ‘Blood Hymns’ gathers diversity of influences and possibilities, underlining the North American band’s capacity of creating ghostly images and elegantly twisted songs.
http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=2007053115431858