Tag Archives: nature

Album Review – Deep Mountains / Lake Of Solace (2014)

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An atmospheric music experiment full of melancholy and Chinese elements.

Rating5

coverLooking for a complete different experience in the world of heavy music? If so, I suggest you “travel” further east and listen to the debut-album from Chinese Atmospheric Black Metal band Deep Mountains, or 深山 in their own language, the lugubrious and intense Lake Of Solace (or 忘忧湖) . I must warn you the music from this band formed in 2009 in the city of Tai’an, in the Shandong Province, is not easy to absorb: there are no fast songs, no shredding, almost no solos, and in many moments it doesn’t even sound Black Metal. But again, as I said it’s a totally distinct music adventure from the traditional bands we know, and if you take that “risk” you might be very pleased in the end.

What I’m going to say may not make a lot of sense, mainly because the comparison I’m going to make is not exactly a comparison, but before listening to Lake Of Solace I felt almost the same as when one of my Chinese friends told me to watch two great Chinese movies, Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. I was really skeptic about those movies, in other words, how could they be better than many Hollywood blockbusters as he said? Give me a break, a good Chinese movie? Well, they’re definitely not the best movies in the world, but really well-done and above the average, and after watching them I realized how stupid my prejudgement was. And the same is valid for this album.

Throughout the whole album, it’s easy to notice the band’s use (and abuse) of Nature and Chinese Culture as their main themes, which already starts with 引子 Intro. I love those intros that connect with the history and culture of the band’s homeland, and in this case all the Chinese elements, especially the soothing sound of the water from the “lake of solace”, work like a spiritual prep for what’s next, the very atmospheric song 毀滅 Sin, with its deep vocals giving us a feeling of agony while the beautiful acoustic parts provide us some peace of mind.

九黎之舞 Wind And Stellar, with its nice guitars in the beginning, is a more acoustic track that turns into more traditional Atmospheric Black Metal with devilish vocals, while 超脫 Detachment, which starts with a very engaging narration (“To deliberate believe in lies…”) talking about how humans should be to be accepted by society (as they say it’s a “Marketing Holocaust”), has a pleasant instrumental and, although it’s a very melancholic and depressive song, will hold your attention from start to finish. It’s the best song of the album, and would also be the perfect choice for a very in-depth music video.

deep_mountainsThen we have a two part song with some highs and lows:  忘憂湖 壹 Lake Of Solace Pt.1 is an instrumental track totally focused on the sound of an acoustic guitar and some nature elements, and I’m not sure if this can even be considered Black Metal at all; and 忘憂湖 贰 Lake Of Solace Pt. 2, which begins in a similar way as the first part but with a more metallic sonority and some “vocals of despair” again, is a very sad song, complemented by an interesting guitar solo and clean vocals.

Lake Of Solace ends with the atmospheric ballad 渿河謠 Ballad Of Nai River, a beautiful composition that sounds a lot like traditional Chinese music, full of nature elements and smooth female vocals, and the peaceful instrumental outro 李鳳華 Li Fenghua, the shortest track of the album. And that’s it! Do not expect any epic songs or other Heavy Metal clichés, as the objective in Lake Of Solace is to be more atmospheric than Black Metal, which ends up working pretty well.

The instrumental is quite fundamental and the vocals are always more desperate than tuneful, but that’s not an issue for the purpose of the music here. Add to that the beautiful album art, and you have a sincere and captivating music experimentation from this honest and fresh East Asian music group.

Best moments of the album: 毀滅 Sin, 超脫 Detachment and 渿河謠 Ballad Of Nai River.

Worst moments of the album: 九黎之舞 Wind And Stellar and 李鳳華 Li Fenghua.

Released in 2014 Pest Productions

Track listing
1. 引子 Intro 3:09
2. 毀滅 Sin 4:11
3. 九黎之舞 Wind And Stellar 5:58
4. 超脫 Detachment 8:24
5. 忘憂湖 壹 Lake Of Solace Pt.1 7:36
6. 忘憂湖 贰 Lake Of Solace Pt. 2 7:41
7. 渿河謠 Ballad Of Nai River 3:36
8. 李鳳華 Li Fenghua 2:58

Band members
Liu Qiang – vocals, guitars
Song Chen – guitars
Chen Xiao – bass
Zou Qiang – drums

Metal Chick of the Month – Agnieszka “Nera” Górecka

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Nera, prawdziwa polska księżniczka!

Our Heavy Metal goddess this month is the perfect representation of all the beauty and finesse of her home country:  Agnieszka “Nera” Górecka, or simply Nera, is a gorgeous Polish singer and songwriter from the city of Katowice (Silesia), known for her potent vocals in the Polish Symphonic Black Metal band Darzamat, and more recently for her own solo project called NeraNature.

Nera started her career in 1997 with the Gothic Metal band MidnightDate, from the city of Gliwice, about 30 minutes from Katowice. Then after a few years she finally joined Darzamat, in 2003, with whom she has recorded so far three studio albums: Semidevilish (2004), Transkarpatia (2005), and their latest one Solfernus’ Path (2009), as well as a live DVD called Live Profanity (Visiting the Graves of Heretics). In one of her interviews, she explained the meaning of the band’s name, saying it comes from the Latvian mythology and it denotes garden goddess ( dārzs = garden and māte = mother, in Latvian). In her own words, “I really like it as it seems to me very “organic”, close to the nature and paganism”, showing her passion for everything related to Mother Nature.

Due to Nera’s powerful voice, astonishing looks and sexy onstage moves (and of course, the overall quality of their music), Darzamat reached then some status, gaining respect from Heavy Metal fans all over the world, being invited to play in festivals with exceptional bands such as Arch Enemy, Carcass and Stratovarius, and even in a special Heavy Metal festival in India, which is something rare to see in heavy music today. Besides that, the band also featured in the 2009 edition of the amazing Metal Female Voices Fest. Nera’s mesmerizing performance with Darzamat can be seen in the videos In Red Iris, from the album Semidevilish, and The Burning Times, from the album Transkarpatia.

In 2009, Nera founded her own solo project called NeraNature, completely different from Darzamat. The music is more like some Gothic Rock, with Nera using her voice in a smooth and charming way, and according to Nera herself, “this project is more intimate, private and sometimes bizarre and freakish.” The name of the band is a combination of her own nickname and the word “Nature”, as a reflection of her deep connection with the environment. This connection can be easily seen in the lyrics, which are all about Nature itself, life, and a more feminist outlook of the world. She released a full-length album in 2011 called Foresting Wounds, which includes a pretty cool cover version of Garbage’s The World Is Not Enough, and has recently released a new single entitled Drifting (available on iTunes and Amazon.co.uk), which probably means there will be a new NeraNature album pretty soon.

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Apart from her career with Darzamat and NeraNature, she appeared as a guest singer in the albums Arcane (2010), by the Portuguese Gothic Metal band Dark Wings Syndrome, and Ordo Bellictum Satanas (2010), by the Ukrainian ex-Black Metal band Semargl.

Regarding her musical influences, Nera said the most important bands and artists in her life, which helped define her singing style, were The Gathering, Tiamat, Samael, Ulver, Bathory, Arcturus and Opeth. Furthermore, it seems she has a very eclectic taste for music, as she usually listens not only to Heavy Metal, but also to several kinds of rock, ambient, smooth jazz and some classical music. In her free time, Nera enjoys listening to music from the bands Peccatum, Emperor, Ulver, Opeth, Pink Floyd, Leszek Mozdzer, Satyricon and some soundtracks such as Twin Peaks, Requiem for a Dream, and Dracula. She also mentioned she has a special admiration for the music of the Norwegian Black Metal band Emperor, and that she would love to perform live one day with them.

And finally, when talking about her voice and technique, Nera said that your emotions, experiences and own interpretations are much more important than any singing classes you might take in your life (by the way, she has never taken any), and that the most exciting thing for her is that your voice is unique, it’s like your fingerprint, and it helps define each person in the world, not only singers. We have to agree with her, but let’s be honest and also admit that the voice of this gothic polska księżniczka, as well as her beauty and charm, are way above the average.

NeraNature Official Facebook page

“Nature is life, truth, beauty and power.” – Agnieszka “Nera” Górecka