Wolfskin
Campos de Matança
Wolfskin
is the solo-project of Johan A., the founder of the Reaping Horde label.
And, as usual, the cover is presented in the purest style of the label.
Amazing!! The record is wrapped in a protection made off a thick layer
of entwined larch needles glued to a dark red compact and fleecy material,
rough and gnarled. I have never seen such craft for an album cover, it
has to be seen to be believed. Wolfskin is essentially an ambient ritual
formation with a strong industrial connotation. J.A.’s major inspiration
can be found in the quest for our ancient roots, the discovery of our ancestral
European traditions, in order to revive them through (the) music and thus
ensure their perennity. “Campos de Matança” is divinely influenced
by the Celtic rituals of fertilisation as well as by the cycles of Nature,
the universal creator. Although the first title is similar to the tense
atmospheres of Blood Axis, with a background of martial drumming and cavernous
voices, Wolfskin’s music reveals itself more by it’s inherent pain, with
heavy instrumental tracks, dark and mystic, solid as stone, buried in an
impressive magma of sound, a crafty superposition of various loops and
unrecognisable saturated wagnerian orchestrations. One can find disseminated
randomly amongst the compositions, recordings of contemporary celebrations
of these pagan ceremonies, such as the throwing of ashes, during Carnival,
or the slaughter of pigs in winter. The characteristic sounds of these
rituals, such as chiming bells or pig squeals during the great slaughter,
are thus strung throughout the eight tracks of this album. The fierce industrial
sounds are punctuated by whispered and murmured speeches, that considerably
enhance the ambient sentiment of unease, to which are added many various
samples, such as a military march or excerpts drawn from traditional music.
The whole is dedicated to forgotten or living civilisations, celebrating
in this fashion the rituals of the cycle of existence, strongly linked
to the past, aware that under each field and meadow hides the blood of
forgotten wars. The inherent power of “Campos de Matança” reflects
its entire conditioning dedicated to Nature, animated by the sap of the
Yggdrasill tree, source of life.
A
superb album that can be acquired eyes shut.
Very
strongly recommended
Stéphane
Fivaz
November
2000
Translation
Ian C.
Contact, informations and orders :
Reaping Horde
Apartado 101
5401-909 Chaves
Portugal
e-mail : horde@portugalmail.com