Havet - Lochlannach

Havet began in 2018 as a ‘one man’ experiment in the ‘Dungeon Synth’ and ‘Dark Ambient’ genres with a Nordic and Celtic influence. The unique mixture of Nordic and Celtic heritage of the creator’s homeland, the north of Ireland, greatly influences the sound.  The music is based around the history of the Nordic expansion of Ireland and the British Isles during the 8th century through the use of cold atmospheres and ‘lo-fi’ instrumentation. The Nose-Gaels greatly shaped the island of Ireland and this music aims to aid the listener in imagining their journey was like, with tales of the ocean, death, nature and victory.

This project was inspired by the 8th century Scandinavian expansion through the North of Ireland and the outer islands of Northern Scotland.

It is pretty raw production value, with some traditional dark ambient music and traditional dungeon synth blended in.

MEMBER:

Michael (Havet)

Havet - Lochlannach (2018)

Nøkken + The Grim - Trickster God (2018)

"Trickster God" was released on December 20, 2018 on the Winter Solstice on a full moon.

An homage to the trickster and the chaos of nature. A stranger wanders through the mountains on the solstice under the full moon. Their technology, their clothing, their belongings, melt away until they have nothing but their naked animal flesh and the dance of wild spirits in the moonlight. Then, their humanity is stripped away for their trespass.

Nøkken + The Grim - Trickster God (2018)

WEB PAGE: https://nokken.band/

BANDCAMP: https://nokkenandthegrim.bandcamp.com/

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66zGFzqvDqvALn41LEotrp

The Grey Forest Band

The Gray Forest is a Neofolk band from Santiago, Chile. The Gray Forest is inspired by the interaction of man with nature and its essence.

They seek to interpret the sensation that makes them feel the smell of humid earth, the rays of sunlight that seep through the leaves and the complexity of the roots that form intricate figures.

MEMBERS:

Juan Manuel - Composer, Lead Guitar and Voice

Juan Ignacio - Drums

Gabriela - Voice and Chorus / Anaís - Cello

The Grey Forest - The Grey Forest

Jillian LaDage

Leading on a breathtaking voyage around the globe, Jillian LaDage is the fresh voice of Celtic & World music. Fans describe her as "the new Loreena McKennitt" and her songs as a "new wave of Celtic Mythology."

Her soaring ethereal & mystical voice takes you on a journey through the pages of centuries long gone to where mystery and legend awaits.

Her debut private-label(Tarith Cote) released album The Ancestry garnered International acclaim, 5-star reviews and a distribution deal with World Beat label, Prikosnovenie. Featuring string virtuoso Chris Wagoner & Mary Gaines (Sting, Carrie Newcomer), Grammy award winning Percussionist, Todd Hammes and mastered at the legendary Gateway Mastering Studios (Loreena McKennitt).

In the fall of 2015, Jillian released Enchanted Winter the much anticipated Celtic seasonal album with both new songs for the season and reimaginings of the old.

Her latest release, a single, An Samhradh (St.John's Eve), became available in the summer of 2016 & brings to life the Fire Festival and Irish/Scottish Summer-Harvest celebrations. It is exclusively available on her site only.

Jillian LaDage has taken the Celtic world by storm achieving success as both a touring artist, recording artist, songwriter and voice coach. She is currently on hiatus from touring after struggling with chronic illness and being diagnosed with Lyme Disease. She plans to tour again one day but is unable to say when. As for now, she is continuing to focus on her healing, songwriting and helping other vocalists achieve vocal freedom.

MEMBERS:

Jillian LaDage

Jillian LaDage - Discography

An Samhradh (St​.​John's Eve) *Single w​/​Digital Booklet (2016)

Enchanted Winter (2015)

The Ancestry (2008)

Nøkken + The Grim

Nøkken + The Grim is the call of ancient spirits for humankind to remember the forgotten song of nature, the animality, the beauty, the  brutality. It is music for the wild and untamed. Nøkken, the Norse spirit of horses and water, is joined by Ajatar, the Finnish dragoness, and Peryton, once the Magyar white stag, now black with soot.

The band has been featured on Brutal Resonance and has performed on Austin’s  Pagan Pride festival, Me Mer Mo Mondays sponsored by Self-Sabotage Records, and has recorded for several film scores under Brian  Satterwhite.  Nøkken (Justin Scheibel) is a soloist in the forthcoming horror film Sour Bear under composer Brian Satterwhite, host of KMFA 89.5's "Film Score Focus." Peryton (Stephen Ian Savage) is film composer and electronic artist who's score to the short-film "Where You Used to Be" recently premiered in Columbus, Ohio.

Nøkken + The Grim was formed in Austin, Texas in 2015. Their soundscapes evoke a time in which the human embodied its primal, animal nature. These wild spirits channel many styles of music and folkloric traditions into surreal and intense staging with costumes and animal masks, evocative of older shamanistic pathways and drawing heavily from Nøkken's Magyar and Germanic heritage.

Nøkken, in Norwegian folklore, is a water horse spirit and shapeshifter. In bygone times, the creature would lure trespassing humans to drown in rivers and lakes with seductive fiddling pulled from the heart of nature. Nøkken is joined by Peryton, The Black Stag on electronics and winds. Formerly the White Stag of Hungarian legend, his fur and feathers have turned black with the soot of modern industry. Now he seethes with the electronic pulse of technology. Ajatar, the Finnish witch of the woods, is the misunderstood mother of woodland spirits, thought to be a bringer of pestilence. Her form is that of a serpentine dragon, and she performs on viola. These shapeshifters of Norse and Magyar folklore have emerged from the forests and streams to perform animalistic, heathen music for human civilization at the brink of the ongoing war between our Mother Earth and human greed.

MEMBERS:

Nøkken - Justin Scheibel - Lead Violin, Manager, Producer

Peryton, The Black Stag - Stephen Ian Savage - Multi-Instrumentalist, Composer, Electronics

Ajatar - Karli Leal - Violist

Nøkken + The Grim - Discography

Trickster God (2018)

Treason to Our Nature (2018)

Overhead Freeway (2018)

Kreiviskai

Neofolk- / Ethno-Ambient- / Darkfolk-act from Tver. The Kreiviskai music is based on Tver song folklore, Krivitch mythology, the archetypes of the people of swamps and forests, the noise of the age-old Okovo forest, the tranquility of unhurried Tver rivers. The act has found its present form on the crooked evenings of the 2013 Winter Solstice. Then a record Zemmis Supnāi (Pruss. "Dreams of the Earth") was recorded in an improvised studio on the outskirts of the historic Tver suburb. A few years earlier, the participants of the act were selected to complete the concept of “Dreams of the Earth”, delving into local mythology, collecting a variety of ancient instruments, studying the folklore techniques of ancient Tolshchina. All current members of Kreiviskai are from the Balti ethnofuturistic project Tver.

Creativity Kreiviskai is dedicated to the rich and difficult fate of the territory of the Upper Volga, where history is intertwined with mythology, Russian with Lithuanian, and the truth - with a curve ...

"Nonregnum" is the second full-length album made by Kreiviskai, the band from Tver, playing at the intersection of folk, ritual and ethnographic-ambient genres. After the authentic and incredibly atmospheric debut album "Zemmis Supnai", released in 2014, the musicians took a significant step forward and literally drove everyone crazy with their ritual single "Dāinas – Dwāi wangas”, which was released in the cold autumn of 2016.

Dainas was the first warning of that we should expect something extraordinary from the second album of this band.

Admittedly, Kreiviskai didn’t disappoint anyone. "Nonregnum" is a truly fundamental work with amazing diversity and above all conceptuality, which wasтexpressed both in external design of the release and in itsтsound. Without losing touch with authentic source and traditional instruments, the band generously enriched the original “archeo” with epic as well as the whole web of “audio-futurum”, woven from such genres as martial, neoclassic, post-folk, darkwave and even black-metal.

The members of such bands as COMPASS MAURI, HAGL, ARCANORUM ASTRUM and PRAGNAVIT have also took part in the creation of the album.

Kreiviskai - Discography

Nonregnum (2018)

Zemmis Supnāi (2014, remastered 2018)

Dāinas - Dwāi Wangās (Single) (2016)

Grift

With strong ties to predominantly Swedish poets and artists, Grift want to convey the sense of melancholy and existential questions that artists and thinkers throughout history always have felt a strong need to express. Grift’s ambition is also to evoke the mood some people are in great need of; the mood you can’t express through other mediums than music, images, and in some cases even through words. This kind of escapism is about breaking the chains of everyday given norms, and for a short moment becoming a stranger lost in a state of uncertain homelessness.

Grift began as a duo in 2011, with Erik Gärdefors performing vocals and strings, and J. Hallbäck handling the drums. After a few evenings in Erik’s studio ”Eremitaget Liesmia”, the band had recorded what would become ”Fyra Elegier”. The Swedish label Nordvis Produktion offered the band to release the material as a mini CD in 2013, and later the same year, Blut und Eisen released it as a MLP. Built upon a concept stained with inspiration drawn from great elder poets like Johannes Edfelt, Pär Lagerkvist and Dan Andersson, among others, Grift delivered raw but melodic music in a new, yet at the same time traditional way.

In 2014, Grift recorded a new song entitled ”Skarprättaren”. The lyrics for this song was influenced by the old tale ”Körkarlen”, which was written by Selma Lagerlöf and later made into a silent film by Victor Sjöström. The main character in the story prays in the New Year’s Eve, and exclaims in despair: ”Gud, låt min själ få komma till mognad, innan den ska skördas!” (”Lord, let my life come to maturity before being harvested!”) The desperation in this prayer was something that caught Erik and got him to write the lyrics for the song. It turned out that the band Saiva from the northern Sweden, was interested in doing a split 10” MLP with Grift. And in February 2015, this cooperation between the north and south parts of Sweden was released.

At this time, Erik already had started to record the band’s debut album, “Syner” . J. Hallbäck left the band, so suddenly Grift became a one man band. To make the album more varied, Erik invited four guest musicians who contributes with their special skills. Daniel Blomberg from the crust/hardcore band M:40 sang on one song. Daniel Abrahadabra known from The Ascendant and Excessum played a guitar solo, and he also helped Erik to mix the album. Andreas Pettersson from Saiva and Stilla sang with his clear vocals on one song, and on the last song Andreas Brink played lap steel. It is said that “Syner” will be released in September 2015.

During the year 2016, Erik decided to make a split LP with the Ukrainian legends Drudkh. This year Erik also wanted to try to make acoustic strip-down versions of Grift songs, and in the autumn he played his first solo concert in Germany. In connection with this evening, a cassette with two acoustic versions of "Dödens dåd and "Svältorna" was recoreded and released.

The year 2017 has begun intensively. The second full length album, "Arvet" has been recorded and produced by Erik. A cassette with only acoustic songs has been recorded live outside in the woods where Grift comes from. And a lot concerts (both solo and with the whole band) will be carried out during the year!

MEMBERS:

Erik Gärdefors - vocals & instruments

LIVE BAND:

Erik - vocals & guitar

Daniel Abrahadabra - guitar

Henrik Gustafsson - bass

Johan Hallbäck - drums

Grift - Discography

VILSNA ANDARS BONING (2018)

ARVET (2017)

VANKELSTEG – MOT OKÄNDA HEMBYGDER (2017)

SAMHAIN CELEBRATION (2016)

HÄGRINGAR / BETRAYED BY THE SUN (2016)

SYNER (2016)

SKARPRÄTTAREN / SJIEDVÁRRE (2015)

FYRA ELEGIER (2013)

CATACOMBS ENSHADOWED

CATACOMBS ENSHADOWED was born under the Master’s spell by a nameless devotee of unknown origin. Inspired by the ominous synth of early Mortiis and Lamentation, as well as the spirit of early black metal bands such as Abruptum, Demoncy, Archgoat, and Master’s Hammer. CATACOMBS ENSHADOWED creates eldritch dungeon synth with morbid and funereal atmospheres. The debut offering ‘Curse of Dark Centuries’ is rooted in the melancholic traditions of the past, with seven doleful hymns of wampyric darkness. Kneel before the black altar and embrace the curse!

MEMBERS:

Unknown

CATACOMBS ENSHADOWED - DISCOGRAPHY

Blood Rites and Ancient Oaths (Split) (2017)

Curse of Dark Centuries (2017)

Forgotten Kingdoms

Let the deep and dark music of Forgotten Kingdoms paint you a vision... The vision of Forgotten Kingdoms.

This is the very introduction to the tale of the world without end. Join the pilgrimage towards the stars and supreme monarchy.

A travel to the times when Dark Dungeon Music was crafted, be unleashed by this medieval dungeon synth music monument."

Lineup:

Azgorh

Forgotten Kingdoms - Discography

A Kingdom in Ruin (Coming soon to be released)

Crowned in Forlorn Darkness (2017)

Blue Moon Gate Between Worlds (2015)

Forgotten Kingdoms (demo I) (2015)

Meus

Meus is an instrumental Neofolk outfit based in the United Kingdom.

Lineup:

Tom Snelgrove

Meus - Discography

Miserere Mei Deus (2017)

September (2016)

Downpour (2016)

Wolcensmen

WOLCENSMEN is the Epic Heathen Folk project of Dan Capp, England.

Wolcensmen began its journey in 2013 with the release of a 3-song demo CD. This edition of 30 hand-made CD-Rs was given to friends, as Wolcensmen was initially intended to be just a small creative outlet for the man behind the project, Dan Capp. Dan had played in a number of bands; of varying styles, all metal-related, but looked back to his teenage years when he had crafted short acoustic passages of music inspired by the likes of Ulver, Opeth, Empyrium and Wongraven. These long-lost cassette recordings had been praised by friends at the time, so Dan decided it was time to rekindle that old flame.

The demo songs were uploaded to bandcamp, and through a series of chance circumstances, Deivlforst Records of Germany took an interest, offering to re-release the demo on cassette with the addition of two bonus tracks (songs that had been recorded as one-offs for compilation albums). The growing popularity of the demo demanded a debut full-length, and with the encouragement of Deivlforst, work began on this in 2015 and culminated in the release of ‘Songs from the Fyrgen’ in November 2016. The reception to the debut album was phenomenal and despite no structured press campaign the initial CD pressing sold out in six months, with overwhelming praise from the underground press.

The inspiration for Wolcensmen was always, quite simply, those deeply atmospheric acoustic-guitar compositions which occasionally flowed from within the extreme metal scene of the 1990s. Wolcensmen’s purpose is to draw upon those folkloric moods and aesthetics and to explore the mystical Heathen culture of North-Western Europe.

In October 2017 the first live performance of Wolcensmen songs took place in England’s Lake District. Following this, work began on the writing and planning of a sophomore album and further live shows.

Lineup:

Dan Capp

Wolcensmen - Discography

Songs from the Fyrgen (2016)

Demo (2013)

RUNAHILD - SEIDSANG

In October the group Runahild brought to light their new material Seidsang a great album

Seidsang is dedicated to healing the sacred feminine energy, diving deep into the shadows of the subconscious guided only by the light of the moon and the stars to reveal the most hidden places within the soul, where some wounds remain open in need to be nurtured and healed...

The inspiration for «Seidsang» was initiated at the november full moon 2017 that followed the celebration of the night of the ancestors and ended at the full moon of the night of the witches (a.k.a Walpurgisnacht) the 30th april 2018.

RUNAHILD - SEIDSANG

vael folk band

Panfolk music band from Madrid (Spain). We mix numerous styles of the world with our own traditional music.

Until being officially founded in October 2016, the project went through several previous stages looking for concepts and objectives on which to work.

It was not until the first months of 2017 that the band closed its current formation of seven musicians and began to compose seriously his first work, taking good care of the project's official announcement.

September 2017 has been the chosen month to show all the work done since the beginning.

MEMBERS:

Macarena Pingarrón - Nyckelharpa, voz, pequeña percusión.

Violeta Moreno - Violín, coros.

Daniel Iturriaga - Whistle, low whistle, gaita gallega, cítara, canto gutural, coros.

Guillermo García - Percusión, davul, bodhran, didgeridoo, coros.

Camilo García - Guitarra clásica, coros.

José M. Vicente - Guitarra española, coros.

Teresa Peciña - Zanfona, flauta travesera, whistle, gaita gallega, peq

ueña percusión, voz, coros.

Vael - Mure - Demo 2017

Треустье (Treuesti)

The seaside neo-folk project Treuesti was founded in 2006 in Ussuriysk. For four years, the project participants attempt to connect Russian folklore motifs and rock directions. The result was the album of 2010 "Through the hole of centuries". The next self-release was "Shirez-vonrez", recorded by the founder of the project in 2013. A year later, in Vladivostok, the project was assembled in a new composition, which recorded "Phoenix" (2015)

At the moment, the goal of the project is to record a new album "Dark Romances" The album is almost ready.

MEMBERS:

Matvey Mugir

Треустье - Discography

Дымок кадильный (2016)

Феникс (2015)

Ширез-навырез (2013)

Сквозь дыру веков (2010)

Urze de Lume

Legends and myth, rites and cries

Stories past, living new life in the hands of today. Living the present, that in future will be Past.

Awakening the old. As free as the wind blown by wood and echoed by the vibrating perring fur.

Back to the land, to grass, to heather, to honey, to being.

The wolf howls under the moon

Fear covers the snow, like expanding music.

Coarse yet finished. So claim the artisan’s hands.

Urze de Lume represent a homage to the past. Strongly inspired by the Iberian tradition, their music aims to celebrate the roots which identify a people and bind them to their land.

Their repertoire transmits the surviving soul of an era in which man and nature walked hand in hand, with respect for the land, the occult and its origins.

The main features of Urze de Lume is the use of Iberian ethnic instruments such as bagpipes, war drums, horns, ancient stringed instruments among others. This combination blossoms into a powerful and unique sound that summons the very deep Lusitanian roots.

MEMBERS:

Ricardo Brito

Tiago Matos

Hugo Araújo

Gonçalo do Carmo

Urze de Lume - Discography

As Árvores Estão Secas e Não Têm Folhas (2018)

Vozes na Neblina - Limited Special Edition (2017)

Vozes na Neblina (2017)

Geada Negra - Version 2017 (2017)

Caminhos da Urze - Limited Special Edition (2015)

Caminhos da Urze (2015)

11 (2014)

Ibéria Oculta (2012)

Raiz Ibérica (2014)

Steya Dust

Music can be considered one of the strongest ways to communicate with each other on an intimate and personal level.

Music created from within can convey pure feeling and universal emotions.

Therefore, music is a reminder that we are all part of the same world; this can cause the listener to wake up and see the beauty of the dream called life.

Fascinated by these phenomena, Alexia Huau learned to create, step by step, her own music and to capture the melodies that came from deep within ourselves. The solo project of Alexia Huau was born in March 2015.

STEYA DUST plays on a variety of historical and medieval instruments and contemporary, such as Esraj, Celtic harp, hammered dulcimer, all kinds of flutes, drums, shruti-box, as well as a computer and an effects box : digital media to create electro-floral and ethnic rhythms.

The combination of Tribal melodies, darkwave, ritual and poetic texts, multi-layered songs and powerful bewitching and powerful pagan influences makes STEYA DUST a new genre for the stage.

So the first album "Between Two Worlds" was born with a whole story!

Here lies a part of his soul ... a story that is just beginning.


MEMBERS:

Alexia Huau :
vocals , harp , flute , construction , bells,kalimba,shruti
box ..
photos , visu , lights

STEYA DUST - Between Two Worlds

WEB PAGE: http://spellbox.wixsite.com/steyadust23

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/stella-dust

ULVESANG - The Hunt

The air hangs heavy in the air, exhaled by a huddle of men – alert and eager to set off. The long grass is stiff with frost and a murder of crows wait in a nearby tree. They understand. They too are ready for the hunt. The anticipation is unbearable as the invocation begins. Reverence and ceremony are key. There is no cutting corners and the rite only serves to heighten the senses and sharpen the mind. There is an ancient awe in the air and a feeling of connection to the past; to those who walked this same crisp ground before. Alex Boyd & Ana Dujakovic reflect on the poignancy of such a connection. The melancholy that sits in between the moments of excitement. The tinge of sorrow that follows a successful hunt. The sense of purpose has been and gone. The afterglow has given way to regret and unease. A beautiful creature has died that we may persevere. Is that the chants of our ancestors carried on the wind? Are they proud? Perhaps that is enough. Perhaps that is everything. To use the term neofolk here would be ironic as Ulvesang have reached back beyond the past and found not only a connection to those who came before, but also an unearthly primordial magic. Surely that is the very definition of true folk music.

ULVESANG - The Hunt 

Tracklist:

1. Invocation

2. The Trial 

3. The Dance 

4. The End 

5. The Hunt 

6. The Break 

7. The Run 

8. The Gloom 

9. The Truth 

10. мочвара/Močvara 

Here I leave the links where you can buy the disk in physical and digital format:

https://www.nordvis.com/en/

BANDCAMP: https://ulvesang.bandcamp.com/

Liholesie (Лихолесье)

Liholesie is an old Russian ethno-ambient act, with the first demo released in 2002. From 2004 to 2008 it released four albums and a split with metal bands. The music was changing from epic folk ambience to more ritual atmosphere. Liholesie became one of the most well-known Russian ambient bands.

Then there was a period of silence, which ended only in 2006 with the new album called «The Fog of Transition». It was now music of untouched nature, lucid dreams and shamanic trips inspired by a journey to the Altai Mountains. It was a start of a new chapter in the project's history with new sound and vision. As for now, the project is active, plays live and is working on new material.

MEMBERS:

Valentin Agapov

Liholesie - Discography 

Boundless Thirst For The Outside (2017)

The Fog of Transition (2016)

Беспредельная жажда иного (2008)

Видения (2007)

Родные просторы (2005)

Извечное коловращение (2004)

 

Osi And The Jupiter

NeoFolk / Acoustic created by Sean Deth ( Frontman/Bassist of Witchhelm and Burial Oath). The project is based of northern pagan beliefs and the worship of the old gods as a reflection in nature.

-Band name is named after Sean's German Shepherds Osiris and Jupiter

MEMBERS:

Sean Deth

Osi And The Jupiter - Discography

Uthuling Hyl (2017)

Hall Of The Wolf (2016)

Craft (2016)

Laochra

Solo project of Stíofán De Roiste of Celtachor. Folk/Black/Pagan Metal with ambient sections.

Members:

David Quinn - Guitars, Bass, Drums programming

Stíofán De Roiste - Vocals, Whistles, Piano, Songwriting, Lyrics

Laochra - Discography

Ulin's Bane (2017)

Home and Heart (2017)

Laochra - Fires On The Horizon (2014)