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ESPANISH VERSION ( coming soon )

The very first release on Dark Symphonies' brand new Celtic/Folk/Faerie music oriented side label Forest Of The Fae, "The Moors" by the U.S. band of the same name, has managed to capture this reviewer's imagination and not let it go. This is one of those rare releases that is so involving, so encompassing and full of such a myriad of topics and ideas that even after five or six listens, I still have you to grasp fully what is going on within the hidden relams of this wonderful music.

At its heart, the music The Moors have come up with for their self-titled album can simply be described as gothic and trance influenced Celtic Medieval Folk Music similar to Hagalaz' Runedance's more synth oriented material crossed with the music of Andrea Haugen's other band Nebelhexe. But alas, simply categorizing it as such doesn't even scratch the surface of the many elements you will find within the 73 plus minute running time of the album. One of the first things you'll notice right away is the ethereal sounding synthesizer. The synth is actually a large part of the band's music, and it's this that gives the album its trance sound. I'm not usually a fan of music with a lot of synth because it usually modernizes the music too much for me, especially Folk/Medieval music like this. Don't let this scare you away though, the synth is just one of many aspects of this album, and they are done so well that you will be glad they are there.

The Folk and Medieval sound is just as prevalent, if not more-so, than the trance-inducing synth parts. While mostly Celtic and European in flavor, the album also has other styles of Folk music from many different areas of the world which really gives this admittedly long album a much needed change of pace every once in a while. To show how worldly and varied the music on "The Moors" is, I feel I must let you know what traditional instruments the band used during the recording of the album. Here goes: flute, Irish pennywhistle, harp, viola, tenor recorder, Tibetan wood flute, viol, bells (temple bells, fairy bells, Indian bells) and chimes.

And hell, even with that long list, I'm sure I'm still missing some instruments there. Not only that, one of the cooler aspects of the album are the items found in nature like oak leaves, acorns, apple leaves, pine cones and branches that they used for percussion and other sound effects that are layered along with the overt tribal/war drum style of percussion the album has. It's yet one more element (literally!) that adds to the overall woodsy and natural focus of the album. There are some fretless bass and electric guitar parts, but they are used more for effect much like the loops and sampling and don't give the album a Metal sound at all.

The lyrics are as varied as the music is, if not more-so. Most of the lyrics revolve around nature, world mythology, druids, fairy tales and a bit of history. Female vocalist and lyricist Sharynne McLeod is a high priestess of some sort of witch group, so some of the lyrics also are invocations of various nature. Honestly, so much is going on here lyric-wise that I find myself trying as hard as I can to decipher it all, but ultimately I fail. And that's a good thing, because it means I won't grow bored of the album any time soon.

Sharynne is quite talented and has a beautiful voice. Sometimes she has a Folky clean vocal style, other times she's chanting, other times she takes a narrative approach. Most of the lyrics are in English, but you'll also find lyrics in French, Bulgarian, Gaelic and Latin as well.

The production is top notch, which is good for this style of music. With this many different instruments represented on the album, it is imperative that each one comes through well without overpowering anything else, and this is thankfully the case with "The Moors".

You also couldn't ask for better a better packaging and layout for the album. Artist Cynthia von Buhler not only created the cover, but also created artwork that acts as a visual representation for each and every song on the album. Her artwork is very unique in that she mixes her painting with real world items like branches, twigs, flowers, dead insects, tree bark, pine cones and more. It's one of the more distinct art styles I've seen in a while, and I'm glad there's a ton of it inside the lyric booklet.

Speaking of the lyric booklet, all of the lyrics for each song are printed within, and each song that is not in English has English interpretations. Not only that, Sharynne also wrote a lengthy synopsis for each song, going even deeper into depth about each song's subject matter than the lyrics do.

Well, what can I say? "The Moors" is one of the most ambitious albums I have ever heard, and anyone into Folk, Medieval/Renaissance music that's looking for something more involving and out of the ordinary should definitely pick this album up. The band is obviously talented, as I read that Sharynne has studied the subject matters found in these songs for a long time not only here in the U.S., but also all over the world. And Scott Dakota also seems extremely multi-talented as well. The combination of these two talented individuals cannot be denied as evidenced on this album, and I hope to hear more form them and The Moors in the near future.

6.5/7.0

Britton - Octubre 2007