Friday, July 10, 2020

The Devil's Trade - "Három Árva" & Alain Johannes - "Hallowed Bones"

The Devil's Trade Photo credit: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0013943806_10.jpg
Alain Johannes Photo credit: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3452397808_10.jpg

    
    Doom Folk purveyor The Devil's Trade debuted a new track on YouTube yesterday adding another welcomed track to their offerings from The Call Of The Iron Peak. Like "Dead Sister", "Három Árva" doesn't disappoint with it's haunting wailing winds of music. The lyrics to this song are sung in Hungarian, Dávid Makó's native language (from what I can find from my research), and it gives this song a delightfully bleak sound. 


        Három Árva translates to "Three Orphans", and the lyrics appear to tell a dark story about three newly orphaned children struggling to find their new path. The lyrics indicate they're newly orphaned through the line (after translation) "The three orphans are leaving, all three in earthly mourning." Early mourning is a fun play on words for leaving in the morning and leaving early in the mourning period. 

        From the afterlife their mother tries to speak to them to be wary of those who may take them in, "I can not wake up my children, the haze has covered my eyes. You three have got a stepmother who dresses you in white, when she dresses you in white, your backs bloom with blood," and "Oh lord, protect the orphan, save them from exile and fleeing from door to door." The Hungarian language brings a level of dread and despair to the words and feelings that are unparalleled.

        The music truly transports the listener to a stormy dark peak, with the wind whipping past speaking the ancient words of a lonely mountain. The clean guitar uses reverb twang to create this dynamic tension that quite literally gave me chills. Makó's vocals pull every ounce of humanity and emotion out of thin air and paints them on sonic canvas using his words and his dramatic wails. Pairing the two creates a landscape of gloom, darkness, desolation, and melancholy.

        To put it simply, this track is excellent. You should listen to it, right now. The Call Of The Iron Peak drops August 28th, 2020 through Season of Mist and can be pre-ordered here.

        In other news, Ipecac Records dropped a new song from artist Alain Johannes titled "Hallowed Bones". Johannes has enjoyed quite a career and is releasing his third solo album July 31st, 2020 titled Hum. This track exists in stark contrast to The Devil's Trade. Johannes describes the track as "Hallowed Bones came to me first as a visual of dancing around a fire in the woods at night. Almost like a pagan dance, a ritual in a trance celebrating love in the present and it’s continued pull after our loved ones are gone."


        The feeling of this track is light, joyful, very similar to the glow of an early summer morning. It's serene yet full of possibility. The lyrics reflect this feeling in a welcoming way with whimsical yet cryptic phrases like "In the hardness of a new day, searching in my magic hat so the child won't fade away," or "when the tide of the moon bespoke, did I hear deeper still I understood once I woke." 

        The music features hand drums and some excellent finger-picked guitar. His voice is rosy and calming. It features this delightful descending riff between the verses that is only a small step from having a sitar feeling to it, which is captivating. This makes for a calming and imaginative 215 seconds of enjoyment. Alain Johannes's upcoming album Hum is available for pre-order right now

        If "Három Árva" has brought you down, "Hallowed Bones" is sure to pick you right back up and I urge you to enjoy both today! 

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