Band's List Folk black Herbst I: Prolog

There's some albums that you know are good and you enjoy listening to but there's something about them that's missing, that one little thing that would make a good album into a masterpiece is just absent. This is how I feel about I:Prolog, it's good enough but there's just something missing, it just needs that one little thing to push it into the realms of greatness but because it lacks it this album is simply good at best.

The more I focus on I:Prolog the more I realize what's missing and that's this album has no highlights. It just doesn't, everything is consistent enough but that's where the fundamental flaw lays. There just isn't anything that takes me aback and makes me think that Herbst is really onto something, it's not a bad album but really it doesn't give me that buzz that great albums can. The end result can at times begin to wear thin as there's nothing that really jumps out at me and often I find myself getting annoyed by the simple fact that nothing on here is brilliant, I appreciate the whole concept of Neofolk meets Black Metal, I mean I love Agalloch but whereas Agalloch have stand out moments, Herbst just doesn't. The music here doesn't really carry much weight and overall it can be quite boring and often feels flat.

The music on I:Prolog is categorized as Neofolk Black Metal and I agree with said statement, there's Neofolk and Black Metal in large amounts but there isn't a mixture of the two. The two seem firmly separated with each element being firmly singled out. The Neofolk passages are well written for what it's worth but I won't deny that they can be boring, especially the first track which for me personally doesn't carry a lot of weight and it feels still and lifeless. The atmosphere when it's on is good, it has a nice nostalgic vibe to it and creates a light and airy nature feel to the music, sort of like a less forlorn Agalloch which I like. But the problem is that sometimes the atmosphere does not come through which will create flat and lifeless soundscapes which kind of detracts from the parts where the atmosphere is on. Herbst has proven to be able to create authentic atmospheres, just check out his other band Lantlôs, but on I:Prolog it feels disjointed and rough. As though he's not fully comfortable creating and producing music like this. He seems much more suited to the Black Metal side of the spectrum as shown by the massive leap in quality of the Black Metal pieces rather than the Neofolk ones.

The two Black Metal tracks Endzeit and Untitled are undoubtedly the highlights, showing Herbst firmly planted in what he is doing and that he feels comfortable doing it. The Black Metal is emotional and well written with the last track being a good Depressive Black Metal closer with some nice acoustic works and some sad and heart breaking melodies. The atmosphere on the last track is very powerful and has a very strong forlorn and empty feel to it. It's a good song and perhaps I was a little too harsh saying I:Prolog is absent of any stand outs but I still feel that it's not as good as it could have been. The Black Metal vocals are very good in my opinion, being a very aggressive rasp almost bordering on full on howling, they're very anguished and carry a lot of emotional weight. They're also really loud which can at times bury all the instruments underneath it which isn't exactly a good thing.

For what I:Prolog is I like it, but I really think a few tweaks here and there could see the band moving into a better direction. I'd really like there to be a mix of both the Neofolk and Black Metal styles rather than them being fully divided, it really is a hindrance and it would have helped massively if they were put together. There's definitely some good ideas on here and the final track Untitled is pretty killer, it's profoundly sad and emotional which I reall like. The intro riff in particular is very sad and introspective and is hard to not be affected by. The production is really rather good, everything can be heard perfectly and for once on a Black Metal record I can hear the bass which gives a much needed sense of weight and depth to the tracks giving it room to breathe. Atmospherically as well there's some good stuff going on but the Neofolk songs feel hollow and lifeless at times when compared to the more powerful and emotionally profound Black Metal pieces. So for what it's worth I'm glad I discovered I:Prolog, it shows a lot of promise for this project and there is some good moments scattered around here, but for Herbst to really get somewhere with this project I think that the Neofolk sections need to be much better written and that there should be a higher influx of Black Metal moments, also a competent mix of the two styles would go a long way in asserting this bands place in the underground.