The RMR crew gets a ton of well-crafted records delivered to its virtual doorsteps. Excellent material that we need to sift through and make painful decisions about what to cover and what not. And sometimes they’re not the right choices. But what can you do, right?
Now, to complicate matters, in this day and age, you can start making music and market it to large audiences with virtually no equipment, skill, or outside assistance. And nobody’s here to vet the material or to – at least – try to correct the worst sins and instincts on stark display. But believe it or not, this democratization of music creation is actually a good thing. Even if we have to suffer through a few duds from time to time.
Now, Elf Queen managed to truly get on our wrong side the last time around. And here they are again, merely a year later with their newest concoction Requiem. So, will we find the same mistakes on endless repeat or total redemption in fantasy land? Switch on the spotlights.
Well, Uncle Hauck and the famed leopards won’t change their spots. This new record again dwells in realms of fantasy and faux Tolkienian storytelling that thrive on old Norse tropes, ancient poems, and what have you. Landscapes full of elves, dwarves, angry gods, and strange waterholes in dark corners of mystical forests. And as themes go, this is all great news.
But this time around, the band veered into some sort of a Fantasy Folk realm with a full-on pagan flavor all over it for large parts.1 Gone are the attempts to try and create some tracks that will resonate with the fanbase. And in comes storytelling, and it shows in that kind of single-file one-note songwriting that results in Kelsey‘s somewhat monotonous delivery for long stretches of the album.
Rock or metal out the door, most songs resemble an ill-fated toad-filled panic orchestra that’s somehow played from one of those goblin caves scattered about in fantasy forest. Requiem sports long sections heavily dominated by the abundant use of the piano, and surely an overload of string instruments. But as mid-point approaches, more and more pagan influences become visible. Evil tongues may call it an offshoot of Heilung‘s musings, but Taking up the Runes will land you straight in pagan territory. It’s that kind of rhythmic exercise that we often hear from Pagan Folk bands out there.
So, compared to Glory to the Brave, you’ll find a remarkable change. It seems to be a genuine move to give more substance to the offering that was there before. The Voluspa section didn’t hold too much water with us. But once the aforementioned Taking Up The Runes took off, things got a bit more theatric. Hymn to Heimdall with its often dramatic airs truly helped to fatten up that mid-section of the record.
And yet. Whilst a fair load of good ideas abounds, Requiem again suffers from a subterranean production. The record sounds like some sort of a midi piece just before that age-old equipment gives up the ghost. And Kelsey‘s overly loud and often monotonous vocals sit straight front-center in the mix with no check on the loudness meter. There’s usually nothing wrong with that, you actually want to have the words somewhere up front. Only that the monochrome delivery and the somewhat shrill output wore out the patience and the welcome of the review committee at RMR after a while.
It’s actually a pity. The creative ideas used to fuel a record like Requiem surely point in the right direction. But as long as the mix, master, and arrangement won’t sync better, it’s just gonna be a sub-par experience. In today’s day and age, musicians need to strive for top-notch production or they will just drown in that ocean of excellent material around them. And that’s especially true in the pagan and fantasy field. But Elf Queen yet again delivered a quality of production still way down in that basement where long-forgotten sins dwell. Now, if you’d excuse me, some excellent metal fare just got delivered to our doorstep and needs our urgent attention. Reviews don’t wait for man or beast.
Record Rating: 4/10 | Label: | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 28 July 2022
- As opposed to just fantasy.-↩