Subfinal - The Passage
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In my neofolk travels I hit a wall yet again. Quite a solid construct unfortunately, not being as neofolk as one would expect, not featuring a standard vocal work and with an atmosphere bringing the listener 20 years into the past. This, in short, is what a listener can expect from ‘Passages’, an album by a Dannish duo Subfinal.
However, as four lines are everything but a review, I will try to get deeper into what the Dannish have to offer, and with wee bit of luck I might even reach something of interest. The album starts with a pretentious ‘An Introduction’, in which a man with a voice somewhat similar to Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance, warns us that what we’re about to hear is not a theatre or TV but reality – brutal, grim, beautiful. Those faint of heart may even feel goose bumps, but I’ve heard such stories before and am way too resistant to let such messages get to me. But enough of that – I mentioned about certain similarities between the voice on the album and B.Perry, but truth be told, they are a bit exaggerated. What we have on ‘Passages’ is not singing, but spoken word, and this joined by the theme of the album, makes the whole LP sound moralistic. Such acts leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I count it as a flaw. What’s better, however, is the music, which if only joined by a proper vocal and maybe a different lyrical theme, would have a chance to stay in my head for more than just a few seconds after the tune’s end. Sadly, that is not the case, Mr. Narrator is adamant in his role, serving us stories of ‘I talk of what I see and what I think about it’- type one by one, which makes the music lose its appeal.
The biggest mystery of ‘Passages’ is how it’s managed to be categorized as neofolk. I might not be an expert, but from what I heard this should rather be called ‘urbanfolk’. At the same time, I can’t shake off a feeling that the creation of Subfinal is but a 25-minute long manifesto trying to rid the world of its mask of depravity, which seems to be stuck for good.
Revolution’s been called off…at least for now.
Tracklist:
01. An Introduction
02. City of Whores
03. (Hollow Commandment 1.0)
04. Corridor Wasteland
05. (Hollow Commandment 2.0)
06. Amplexus
07. (Hollow Commandment 3.0)
08. The Passage
However, as four lines are everything but a review, I will try to get deeper into what the Dannish have to offer, and with wee bit of luck I might even reach something of interest. The album starts with a pretentious ‘An Introduction’, in which a man with a voice somewhat similar to Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance, warns us that what we’re about to hear is not a theatre or TV but reality – brutal, grim, beautiful. Those faint of heart may even feel goose bumps, but I’ve heard such stories before and am way too resistant to let such messages get to me. But enough of that – I mentioned about certain similarities between the voice on the album and B.Perry, but truth be told, they are a bit exaggerated. What we have on ‘Passages’ is not singing, but spoken word, and this joined by the theme of the album, makes the whole LP sound moralistic. Such acts leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I count it as a flaw. What’s better, however, is the music, which if only joined by a proper vocal and maybe a different lyrical theme, would have a chance to stay in my head for more than just a few seconds after the tune’s end. Sadly, that is not the case, Mr. Narrator is adamant in his role, serving us stories of ‘I talk of what I see and what I think about it’- type one by one, which makes the music lose its appeal.
The biggest mystery of ‘Passages’ is how it’s managed to be categorized as neofolk. I might not be an expert, but from what I heard this should rather be called ‘urbanfolk’. At the same time, I can’t shake off a feeling that the creation of Subfinal is but a 25-minute long manifesto trying to rid the world of its mask of depravity, which seems to be stuck for good.
Revolution’s been called off…at least for now.
Tracklist:
01. An Introduction
02. City of Whores
03. (Hollow Commandment 1.0)
04. Corridor Wasteland
05. (Hollow Commandment 2.0)
06. Amplexus
07. (Hollow Commandment 3.0)
08. The Passage
