Wednesday 11 February 2015

Northland - Downfall And Rebirth (CD Review)


01.When Nature Awakes
02.Bloodred Sunrise
03.Together We Die
04.The Rite
05.Fury's Unleashed
06.Duskriders
07.Spirit In Darkness
08.Whispers In The Wind
09.Downfall And Rebirth
10.Moonlight Spell
11.Newborn Star


Pau Murillo (Vocals/Guitar)
Alex Fernández (Guitar)
Pau Vázquez (Violin)
Pol Lemaire (Keyboards)
Vic A. Granell (Bass)
Jose Rosendo (Drums)



Spanish band who mix folk with death metal formed in 2007, after a demo they went on to produce their first album in 2010.

After almost a hundred gigs around Europe, and a hard-working period of composition and studio enclosure, the band steps forward towards its consolidation with their second album.
Of its concept they state : "Life and death, day and night… Everything has its beginning - birth, and its own end - death. Great civilizations fall and the new ones take their place as day turns to night and night turns to day. Downfall and Rebirth explains the end of mankind as Mother Nature rises in vengeance against those who have made her suffer for so long. Meanwhile, somewhere out in space, celestial bodies collide to create a new world. This concept is also present in Downfall Rebirth in different ways: the course of the day, defeats and victories. Even when the album comes to an end, replaying it again makes complete sense as a never ending cycle."



'When Nature Awakes' really is one of those cliche sounding songs to start with then when the drums power in like a machine gun, you could say nature becomes somewhat startled!
Beautiful mix of folk and heavy metal with gruff vocals.

The next song 'Bloodred Sunrise' is way more aggressive, but puts in some great folk elements, really uplifting stuff.

'The Rite' is so quiet i could barley hear it, think its acoustic guitar?

The epic 'Duskriders' is a real outstanding song, superb violin and bouncing drums, then bloody hell gets all death metal, before pulling it back to folk.

'Downfall & Rebirth' is a dark and moody song, very downbeat, yet manages to create the paradox of being up beat at the same time, dunno how they do it, but another outstanding track.

Rating 8/10
For fans of: Turisas, Skyclad, Amon Amarth

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