Entry 243 - Can Bardd - Devoured By the Oak

 

I had high hopes for this album when I got it. The Last Rain was an incredible folk/black metal album and has become one of the measuring sticks that I use to evaluate the genre as a whole. As I'm sitting here taking taking in the new album I'm not sure it quite lives up to The Last Rain, but its pretty damn close.

Can Bardd does the near impossible: they take a genre that I normally find completely underwhelming and turn it into some of my favorite music to listen to... tropes and all. Normally folk metal and I just don't get along. It's too poppy sounding... too happy. Sure that has its place, but not really in my collection.

So how do they do this? Largely they add in a healthy dose of black metal, but its more than that. It's the way that they integrate the folk instrumentation into that black metal that gives it an exceptional feel... a truly epic feel. The music becomes greater than itself and tells stories long forgotten. The flute and fiddle mourn for those who have lost their lives in the past, and in that lies the real soul of Can Bardd's music.

It's not just the melodies and instrumentation though, the band has mastered the use of quiet and peace to bring contrast to the metal. There are long swaths of the album where there is nothing but quiet ambience and minimalist melodies caressing the listener like rain on a cold night.

The sound that this band has tapped into is truly something special. They have mastered the ebb and flow sound of epic black metal and infused it with folk instrumentation to bring it to the next level. There are very few bands in this space that create music this well, and fewer still that do it as consistently as these guys.