Description
Still sealed digipak
Origins is a double-album release compiling all work put out so far by Norwegian neofolk artist Erik E, working under the name of Weh. It contains The Death EP from 2002, All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now (2003), The Coffees Cold In The Morning, The Beers Warm At Night (2004), Hoof And Horn (2005) and North (2006). There are also a track, Likbor, taken from the Valfar, Ein Windir compilation. And then we have several new tracks mentioned as Origins. Throughout all the music on these two full discs, Erik opts for basic neofolk approach of guitar and voice, both produced warmly and clearly on all the releases featured. Additional instrumentation is quite rare and often minimal, restricted to the use of tambourine, samples and subtle keyboards in a couple of tracks. The first EP reveals the project’s background in the extreme metal world, with the addition of some mediocre growled vocals in a number of the tracks, which tends to clash with the subdued style of the music in general. The rest of the EP’s aspects didn’t really appeal to me either, with its rather simplistic (and militant) lyrics expressing sentiments of primitive antichristianity and similar themes common in metal. Such themes can also be found on some of the other material on this compilation, but thankfully, they becomes more and more mixed with personal and melancholic reflections. Examples are calmer tracks like The War Is Over, Any Other Day, and The Grave. As we move on across disc one, many tracks remind one pleasantly of contemporary German neofolk artists like Orplid and Forseti, though rarely quite matching that level. Disc two starts off promisingly with a very nice cover of Windir’s Likbor, which featured earlier on the Valfar, Ein Windir album, a tribute released after the death in 2004 of its main songwriter and musician Valfar (Terje Bakken). This longer track manages to capture the melodic movements of the intense black/viking metal of the original quite nicely, though perhaps not quite matching the overall level, especially on the second half, which is simply way more epic in electric guitar. The further tracks on this second disc in general show more sophistication than those on the first, especially in terms of songwriting. There is room for longer compositions, and Erik incorporates a bit more soloing and the like to add variation to the tracks. Nevertheless, I must say that I absolutely nowhere blown away by these tracks. One has to recognise that it requires a measure of courage to write personal songs like this and put them forward in a straightforward manner. However, in the case of Weh, there is little artistic value to it all, particularly when compared to other artists. Both the music and the full spectrum of the themes (heathenry, melancholy, rebellion, introspection, etc.) have been done far better when you take the music of the past 25 years into account. There is certainly a rising line to be discovered in the chronology of these tracks, but the final level is still not that good compared to many of the neofolk and singer/songwriter artists out there. Perhaps Weh will be able to continue this ascending curve, and produce a future release that is able to hold its own out there. Origins, however, while containing a number of enjoyable tracks, is little more than an archival collection, of interest only to neofolk completists and those who are already familiar with some of the works on these two discs.
Track list:
1. Deadline-from The Death 2002
2. Darkness Part One-from The Death 2002
3. Hang Em High-from The Death 2002
4. The Justice Song-from The Death 2002
5. Lady Death-from The Death 2002
6. Where Evil Hides Intro-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
7. On Your Knees-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
8. Sealing Fates-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
9. Sometimes I Bleed-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
10. Walk The Other Way-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
11. The War Is Over-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
12. Where Evil Hides Outro-from All The Sinners Are Sleeping Now 2003
13. Any Other Day-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
14. Barbed Wire Tight-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
15. Ballad To The Harvest-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
16. World Of Pain-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
17. Darling Meet Demise-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
18. The Grave-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
19. When The Raven Spoke My Name-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
20. Skeleton-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
21. Summer Went South-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
22. Desolate-from The Coffees Cold In The Morning The Beers Warm At Night 2004
23. Likbor-from Valfar Ein Windir 2004 24. Heathen Ground-from Hoof And Horn 2005
24. The Endlessness-from Hoof And Horn 2005
25. Ruin-from Hoof And Horn 2005
26. And The Bells Are Ringing Doom-from North 2006
27. North-from North 2006
28. Darkness Part Two-from North 2006
29. The Man Of Gallow Proud-from North 2006
30. The Seaward Song-from Origins 2010
31. The Road And The Forest-from Origins 2010
32. Nihil Interit-from Origins 2010
33. Sigars Oyk-from Origins 2010
34. Origins-from Origins 2010
35. En Bekk Av Blod-from Origins 2010