Adorned Brood - Hiltia

As promised, here's Adorned Brood's amazing debut album, Hiltia.
I said I might explain this album better in the previous post about this band. I have decided against it, but I'll say this: it's quite simply full of really cool riffs, and the folk bit seems well thought out; it fits in perfectly with the harsher black metal sound. Unlike the way I perceive many of these so-called folk metal bands who really play black metal with "folk" instruments here and there, the melodies are a very nice complement to the awesome metal, and it sounds purposeful, not like the bursts of not very memorable black metal other bands seem accustomed to play.
I say the more straight-forward metal bits here are also often quite reminiscent of thrash metal

Definitely, this would interest fans of black metal, viking metal and folk metal of the harsher variety, but the awesome riffs and melodies are enough to please most metal fans.

Adorned Brood - Hiltia

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. For Honour And Land
3. Hiltia
4. Unehrenhaftes Feindesblut
5. Furor Teutonicus
6. Donerhamer
7. Undisclosed Treasures of The Mortal
8. Adora
9. Kissing The Heathen Amulet
10. Die Rede Des Erhabenen
11. Outro

Adorned Brood - Heldentat

Today I'm gonna post 2006's Heldentat, the fifth album by Adorned Brood. I was introduced to this German band by a very special girl in my life sometime around 2007 or '08, and quickly became a fan of their first album, Hiltia, released in 1996, three years after the band formed.

The band's style was a different form of blackened folk metal, like most folk metal bands outside Spain, apparently. It was different because while the black metal influence was very big, it was very atypical... it was rather "musical", in my opinion. Perhaps when I post that album in the near future I'll find a better explanation.

I only acquired this one roughly a year ago, and only really discovered a few months after. This album, by contrast, features a style of folk metal that was very little to do with black metal. The vocals are mostly clean (and includes female vox), the distorted guitars, when used, have a very different down-tuned sound and play another type of riffs altogether, and the "metal" comes from short, explosive outbursts or just said guitars following a melody/harmony or playing a simple riff, rather than being an essential element.
The "folk" side of it remains similar, although it carries a lot more weight now than it did in Hiltia. It should be noted that, for their folk sound, they only use acoustic guitars and a flute. Nothing more.
Also, unlike previous albums where only one or two songs weren't in English, this is almost entirely sung in German.

In conclusion, if you want something a little bit different, or if you're a fan of folk metal (including the non-black metalish bands, like Skyclad, Mägo de Oz or Saurom Lamderth), this is for you.
Also, if your mates are into metal and drinking, there is a great alcohol anthem here (7 Tage Lang)!

Adorned Brood - Heldentat

Tracklist:

1. Es Ist Zeit... [It Is Time...]
2. Tanze Mit Dem Tod [Dance of Death]
3. In Vitro [Within Glass*]
4. Farewell
5. Sandmann [Sandman]
6. Der Albtraum [The Nightmare]
7. 7 Tage Lang [7 Days Long]
8. Tierra del Fuego [Land of Fire**]
9. Gezeichnet [Signed]
10. Felidae
11. Heldentat [Feat]
12. ...Sie Ist Erwacht [...She Is Awakened]

Text between [ ] represents the translation of the titles.
* = Translation from Latin.
** = Translation from Spanish.

Rammstein - Rosenrot

Rammstein is a band that should need no introduction. Among the most successful bands from Germany in recent times to be sure.
They play either a very commercial form of Industrial Metal, or a very Industrial form of Nu-Metal. Different people have different views on that particular subject, but regardless, they are among the pioneers of the sound that has been called Neue Deutsche Härte; indeed, if the merit of starting the genre goes to Oomph!, the credit for making it as big as it is goes to this band.

This is their fifth album, released in 2005, and possibly my favorite to date. It has many great songs, including Rammstein's tribute to their large and dedicated fanbase in Mexico: Te Quiero Puta!
It's a song symbolic to me, but beyond that, it's of special interest because of the many related things the title can mean. Indeed, there are many different translations around. The word "puta" in Spanish is a shortened form of "prostituta" ("prostitute", clearly), but with time has gotten a meaning of its own. In Mexico, and quite probably most of the Hispanic world, the word is used as "whore" and "bitch" would be used in the anglo-parlant world... one being the perhaps relatively derogatory form of such profession (or behavior reminiscent of the profession) while the other is merely an insult typically (but not exclusively) directed at females; in fact, one of the two possible forms of "son of a bitch" in Spanish is "hijo de puta".
In addition to not knowing which of the two meanings of that word is, the lack of a comma could mean many things.
And finally, the verb "querer" (from which "quiero" comes) can mean to want, to like or to love, but it's very important to note that in the latter meaning, it differs significantly from "amar", the other verb used to express the same, because when "querer" is used it indicates more of a crush than true love, or otherwise not romantic love, but instead friendly affection or something along those lines. The cultural connotations of each of those two words as I've described are very common if not absolute in Mexico, and while I'm not 100% sure, I suspect in the rest of the Hispanic world as well.
So the song's title is intriguing because it can potentially mean:
"I Like/Love You[,] Whore/Bitch!"
"I Like/Love You [Being A] Whore/Bitch!" as in "I Like/Love [That] You [Are Being A] Whore/Bitch!"
"I Want You[,] Whore/Bitch!"
"I Want You [To Be A] Whore/Bitch!"
Et cetera...
The lyrics, unfortunately, do nothing to clear this up, and though they may not mean anything to those who don't speak Spanish, most of those who do --myself included--, find them highly amusing.


Sorry, [/endrant]
Now, on to the good stuff.


Rammstein - Rosenrot

Tracklist:

1. Benzin
2. Mann Gegen Mann
3. Rosenrot
4. Spring
5. Wo Bist Du?
6. Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do)
7. Zerstören
8. Hilf Mir
9. Te Quiero Puta!
10. Feuer Und Wasser
11. Ein Lied

And for fun, here's a translation of the tracklist, for those who don't understand German:

1. Petrol
2. Man Against Man
3. Red Rose
4. Jump
5. Where Are You?
6. Don't Die Before Me
7. Destroy
8. Help Me
9. I Love You Whore!*
10. Fire And Water
11. A Song

* = Very roughly, and open to interpretation. See my rant above...