October Falls

October Falls - Marras
Dark Horizon Records, 2005
Genre: Acoustic

1. Marras I
2. Marras II
3. Marras III
4. Marras IV
5. Marras V
6. Marras VI
7. Marras VII
8. Marras VIII

Since we predominantly cater to metal here, I’m going to say this flat out: this is not a metal release by any means.  This is October Falls’ follow up to their debut album “Tuoni” and by any indication of this album I can see why it procured them an immediate signing to Dark Horizons.

“Marras” holds within it some of the most luscious and beautiful acoustic passages to don the title of music.  Judging by the album cover and the pictures throughout the package, I would say M. Lehto is highly inspired by nature and his surroundings in Finland.  “Marras” is simply a superb representation of such natural atmospheres.  This is primarily an acoustic guitar based album, which brings the listener through so many wonderful atmospheres.  Throughout every track there are two guitar passages carefully interlaced between each other, fading in and out of each others harmonies.  This presents a wonderful grandiose scope to the albums atmosphere as if one is viewing the sight’s M. Lehto sees when being inspired.  However, in “Marras 7” M. Lehto Brings us through a wonderfully beautiful piano concerto.  As if the piano and guitar renditions weren’t already enthralling enough for the listener, M. Lehto has flute accompaniment in many of the tracks featured throughout the album.  Considering the amount of influence nature seems to have in the layout and design of the album, it doesn’t take a frontal role in the music, meaning there is basically no nature samples found within.

Despite what people seem to be attributing to this album as being a comparison to Ulver’s “Kveldssanger,” I think that is slightly misleading in my opinion.  While “Marras” can attribute itself to Folk oriented elements, frankly the compositions have too much of a modern presentation and approach most of the time.  “Kveldsssanger” had much more of an orthodox Folk approach to its design.  Furthermore, the most obvious difference is that “Marras” is an all instrumental composition whereas Ulver also features the vocal work of Garm.

I simply can’t say enough good things about this release.  It’s beautiful, it’s passionate, it’s relaxing and it’s a journey to get lost in.  For those out there who enjoy these kinds of effects from your music October Falls will supply every need you can muster in that respect, you will find nothing lacking.