Hellfires
Matt Howden is now better known by a larger public because
of his function of producer and violinist within Sol Invictus, a band to
which he brought a lot concerning the sound evolutions and conceptual works.
His first solo album, Intimate & Obstinate, possessed the aerial grace
suspended to the thread of life, subtle and intoxicating. Once this masterpiece
achieved, his second album goes radically into different orientations to
flirt more overtly with the warm ambiances of his common project with his
wife Jane, and Sally Doherty : Sieben."Hellfires" is composed in three
categories, first "Amenti - the Hall Truth" in which
Anubis, the god assigned to drive the souls, take you to follow your funeral
destiny, secondly "Hades", where the good, the bad and the dead continue
to coexist, and finally "Hell one Earth", the hell that can put between
the human beings. Once we're aware of these explanations, we can be interested
in the essential : music. Matt sings on almost all tracks, with a
rather pleasant and harsh voice, being an echo to the heavy and abyssal
bass, to the furious and charming violin, and mainly to the martial and
tribal percussions, wrapped and indomitable, that dominate the album. The
compositions are rather dark, distant enough of Sol Invictus, even though
here and there one recovers some reminiscences. After the eternal grace
of Intimate & Obstinate, Matt Howden plays with the fires of hell,
for a powerful and ferociously endearing journey. A very beautiful album,
drawing as much in the indies and folk roots, renewing with a melodic and
harmonious glory that often disappeared from England these last years.
Matt Howden's talent gets bigger and bigger, and he ends up equaling his
masters, and he even surpasses them ...
Highly recommended!!
Stéphane Fivaz
August 2000
Label : Redroom records
Contacts :
Matt Howden
Red Room
P.O. Box 1690
Sheffield S8 9XR
England
e-mail : mh@matthowden.com
Web : www.matthowden.com
Distribution : World Serpent Distribution
web : http://www.worldserpent.com