Neofolk Roundup (part one)

• Allerseelen - Hallstatt

This is bloody hard work. Very much on the industrial side of the coin, where I'm a chap who likes something to tap his foot to. Mind you, you could tap your foot forever to this mechanical soup of dirges, chants and marches. Amongst the ten-a-penny purveyors of Germanic apocalyptic doom folk, these Austrians manage to shine through with a certain finesse. It's really quite horrible stuff: with all the epic build of a post rock soundscape, and none of the cathartic release: just plenty of awkward sounds to torture the imagination, and much German spoken word over the top. The songs are long and the album's even longer, but it's worth persevering with: a mind altered to the frequencies of Allerseelen is a mind of great power, and ultimately, great peace.

Top folk lord R. N. Taylor of Changes can be heard philosophising over the oddly groovy 'But a Spark in the Night', which I guess is the scenic equivalent of having Justin Timberlake wailing on a hook. I'd quite like to see Justin Timberlake wailing on a hook to this music. Guess I'll have to wait for Hostel III.

Listen.

• All My Faith Lost... - The Hours

Italians Viola and Federico seemingly share the burden of creating their gothic acoustic ambient songscapes on a pretty equal basis. It's an odd mix: unobtrusive, but never lacking poise. Amongst sparse acoustic guitar, flute and synths, the vocals are just one of many piquant ingredients that weave the spells of 'The Hours', an album which may or may not be loosely based on the film of the same name: it certainly contains a few pertinent samples. As far as the weary wasteland of gothic ambient goes, this is leagues deeper and miles wider than most, if anything it edges past the sublime delicacy of 2005's 'As You're Vanishing in Silence'.

Listen.

• Cadaverous Condition - Songs For The Crooked Path

No messing about here, this is my album of the year. The bleak, romantic hopelessness of the lyrics, the expertly selected samples from little-known films, the switches between dark and light acoustic riffs with near-mechanical sentiment, and the unlikely ability to write wonderful folk and pop songs. Not bad for a more-or-less unknown Austrian death metal band.

They've rubbed shoulders with Bill Drummond before, but this time it's Julian Cope we have to thank for insisting on this particular compilation, which is, essentially, their entire 'death folk' back catalogue plucked from amongst numerous metal albums and spread here on the ground before us like fragments of panned gold. It was Cope's album of the month in the summer, not surprising, as he released it on his own label: Fuck Off & Di records. Cope calls theirs “a very urban paganism,” and celebrates how these folkier numbers take them further away from their natural built-up environment onto “a full psilocybin stumble through your local heaths.”

He calls vocalist Wolfgang, "The troll beneath the bridge", and indeed it was the exact same image conjured in my own mind upon first hearing their hymn to modern desolation 'And Never Return', in which, over sparse and stuttering strummed strings, he bellows with anguish: “and then you blackened all the stars / and then you never looked back / and then you sent the gods away / and then they never came back.” It's a difficult prospect at first, not least on 'Destroy Your Life': potentially a Levellers or Waterboys song, based on the jaunty opening chords, and then a shuddering growl belches over the top of it all. Comedic it may sound, but this is one of the saddest love songs I've ever heard: "I am where I always was, buried inside a tomb of dreams / and here we are on the roof of our life, preparing to fly without wings / all the years have passed in vain and the road gets shorter everyday now / I was waiting for something to happen but then you just flew away... I’d like to think that you destroyed your life."

You don't own any albums quite like this one.

Listen.

• Harvest Rain - Blood Hymns

Apparently, Jason Thompkins created Harvest Rain to capture "the Autumnal phenomena of Southern history." He's from South Carolina. Obviously I was all set for a lynching, but the awesome power of ambient, beat-driven, chant-ridden opener 'Pillars of Ice' nearly had me tearing the ubiquitous 'Death to US Neofolk' bumper-sticker off my hummer.

While it can't be denied that this sounds very, very European, I can't help but warm to the outrageous echoey vocals and flagrantly non-orchestral keyboard sounds. Approaching one hour in length it's a bit of a concern that Thompkins is shoving more into our mouths than we can chew (oo-er). And it's notable that some of the strongest tracks, such as 'My Butterlfy' and 'A Gift of Blood', sound very much like 'Rose Clouds of Holocaust' era Death in June. Still, overall, this is more consistent than any DiJ album I've heard lately, and 'Venusian Eyes' even sounds a bit Depeche Mode. I find it very hard to believe this band is from the Colonies.

Listen.

• Waldteufel - Sanguis

A beautiful cover of what looks like oak leaves embossed in fresh, lovely blood is a promising opening from a band who haven't yet impressed upon me the need for their existence. The title track employs an odd, much-under-used thrash guitar alongside the military drums, and the German vocals are suitably serious, but without any real character. The album later collapses into menacing, meandering mutterings, droning keys and free-range drummers.

Apart from the marginal metal influences that come through, it's difficult to see what Waldteufel really add to the mix.

So their MySpace insists they're German, but their mail goes to Portland. Hmm. No doubt they're big news in Oregon (there can't be that many people doing this over there, right?) but other than their prudent scattering of influence and impetus, it's hard to recognise any real achievement with 'Sanguis'. If I were their line manager I'd have to encourage them to think outside the box and redraft their B-HAG.

Listen.