Folter Records, 1996
Genre: Folk Death Metal
1. Intro
2. For Honour and Land
3. Hiltia
4. Unehrenhaftes Feindesblut
5. Furor Teutonicus
6. Donerhamer
7. Donerhamer
8. Undisclosed Treasures of the Mortal
9. Adora
10. Kissing the Heathen Amulet
11. Die Rede des Erhabenen
12. Outro
After three demos Adorned Brood got picked up by Folter Records and thus wound up in my CD collection. This is the fifth Folter release and this time we're getting some variant of Folk and Death Metal blended together. The music seems to be geared for being a little heavier and thicker, so I really hesitate to refer to this as Black Metal related.
I haven't heard Adorned Brood's demo material, but I am assuming they didn't suddenly switch to including Folk elements in their Metal, so starting out in 1994 with this style makes them one of the earlier bands doing this. Unfortunately I don't think they managed to do it as well as the Norwegian Viking Metal counterparts. Like a lot of the early bands that played this style I think the bands had some issues blending the styles together seamlessly. The Folk parts were actually the best parts of the album, in my opinion, because I didn't really get into the Metal aspects as much. The Folk parts have a very medieval feel, which seems to be how the German bands are approaching this genre. I wish they had included more Folk instruments, but this is still when Folk Metal was just starting out so bands probably didn't have a lot of access to different elements. The Folk aspect of "Hiltia" is generated solely by flute and acoustic guitars, but the band actually does this quite well.
"For Honour and Land" is probably the most well blended song on this album, where the Folk and Metal elements are brought together fairly well. A lot of the other tracks feel more disjointed where suitable time is given to a Folk portion and then they play a Metal song. I think this factor was the reason I really couldn't get immersed into this bands sound. In the later albums I think they managed to pull this off a little better based on samples I've heard. I'm not sure about getting anything else from this band or wading through a discography of mediocre albums to find the gem. I don't really fiend for Folk Metal anyway, so take my commentary lightly.
As I've mentioned in other reviews Folter releases are actually quite well produced. So the recording quality is certianly not a problem here. Folter has actually stepped up a bit more in the album art aspect. Adorned Brood has a full booklet with lyrics. It even has a page where the band expresses disdain towards Fascist ideas and how that has nothing to do with their concept. They also claim to be Teutonic War Metal, and while their lyrics deal with war and ancient times, I would hesitate to call this War Metal related... I've always considered that to be far more chaotic form of Metal and Adorned Brood is not chaotic in their composition.
That being said, I think this band definitely has merit for Folk Metal fans. The band has several full lengths released by now, but this is their first. Again, based on what I heard they got much better over time, so if you are having the same issues with listening to this that I had, then check out their later material, especially if you're more of a Folk Metal fan than me.
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