Review from Contaminated Tones:
"Working early morning shifts the past few days has been ideal to invest
time in Sweden-based Hamnskifte's Födzlepijnan. It's been particularly
cold here the past several mornings and so this instrumental album has
echoed those chill mornings with it's tranquil pace and crisp
production. Of note to me outside the music available is the really
excellent artwork of a tribunal in secret courtyards and hidden
cloisters. Originally recorded in 2010, the album is a welcome retreat
from all the more traditional variants I've been pouring over the past
few weeks. All six songs are folky representations of slow moving and
subtle arrangements. I would label the arrangements strictly as
repetitive but, while often times this is looked at negatively, this is
an album which calls for that method of composition, even if it isn't
executed perfectly. Thrash shouldn't be repetitive, neither should Death
Metal and, in many cases, Black Metal but when we are looking at none
of those, and aside from one or two glimmers of distorted guitar,
possibly not even really Heavy Metal in any way, it's important to look
at what the music wants to be and is intended to stir within the
cauldron of the psyche.
The album is primarily structured around melancholic chord progressions,
strummed gently and accompanied with folky instruments including
organs, bodhran drum, bells and according to the promotional flyer for
the release, "self-invented percussion instruments." This works well for
Hamnskifte and the pacing on the release, which is slow undoubtedly, is
well done. Songs range from four minutes up to a Skepticismic twelve
minutes long. The breakup of the tracks is done nicely as well. Both the
opening track following the intro and the second track afterwards are
shorter songs with the former, "Ther Skall Wara Grat Och Tandagnisslan,"
droning through a melody that is reminiscent of anything Katatonia has
done recently while the second song is more folky with more of an
emphasis on guitars and less droning hum. The album starts of nicely
with these tracks and after the immediate thirteen minutes of slow
patient music, a kick me up is needed.
"Foglarna Warda Fanga Medh Snaror," the third track and second longest
on Födzlepijnan, is really the only track where distorted guitars are
noticeable and yet, they play little part in pushing this track above
the shoulders of the others on the album. The distorted guitars
fascinate me for the period they exist on the album. They sound clear
and natural though I can hear the guitarist strumming them which makes
me believe they were recorded very quietly. It's a strange combination
of sounds. On the one hand the guitars sound very natural and on the
other hand, there are indications that they've been doctored due to the
low recording volume. In "Foglarna..." the guitars disappear after three
minutes of repetition in progressions and the last five minutes are
purely ambient resonance which provides as much of that well needed kick
as half a plate of tasteless food with tap water. I desperately clung
to hope for a stronger final two tracks.
"Dageligh Beredelse Emoot Dodenl," and "Uthi Thet Ytterste Morckret" are
better than the previous tracks by an amount equal to half of the
difference in quality between poor Chinese food and poor Italian food.
Dageligh rides too hard on a simple progression interspersed with a
bridge riff of no contrast though the repetitive nature of the song
highlights what the band should focus on more often: the subtle addition
of instruments to the arrangements. While "Dageligh..." is preoccupied
with allowing new instruments to attempt to push the song forward, final
track "Uthi..." - a twelve minute long monster - is keen to allow the
hidden details of the song reveal themselves slowly during it's span. I
almost feel as if the main guitar track drops in volume slightly to
allow the listener a window into the undulating and swampy sounding
background drone of what sounds like a Shruti Box. The drums here are
prevalent and it lends the song a very folky and tribal undertone.
Hamnskifte's Födzlepijnanis a slow moving mass for sure with all the
songs being slow, patient and soothing. I enjoyed the trance-summoning
power of the structure (or non-structure) and for early morning drives
in the freezing cold it was a nice break from all the other more generic
material that I sift through but in the end, as an album this is most
likely very much too repetitive for folk-oriented listeners and not
heavy enough for those into Drone and really sub-tempo music. It falls
into a place somewhere between - an instrumental album of folky yet slow
and droning music that could be happily survived in a video game where
your character is walking through a middle eastern marketplace or on a
desert highway. In a metalhead's collection this may not fair as well as
in the collection of a Brian Eno fan. Ultimately, the tone and vibe is
beautiful and relaxing even if the overall songs do have some drawbacks."
