Das Märchen vom Schnee by German band BROCKEN MOON (yes, they’re written with “ck”) was released as a self production quite some time ago and is now officially re-released by Northern Silence Productions. During these damn hot (pre-) summer days one or more correct The Fairytale Of Snow (Das Märchen vom Schnee translated) could just suit me right. So I start my wintery expedition with the first of six untitled tracks.
First thing to mention is the somewhat watery nearly muddy production. Ok, this could be taken for wintery storms etc. but I personally don’t like it and would say the production is just not really good. The music itself then on Untitled I starts more or less quite interesting reminding me a bit of old Empyrium and Burzum. Meaning: sawing tremolo guitars, some acoustic parts and raspy creaming vocals. BROCKEN MOON also add some average clean vocals and extremely annoying dark guttural speaking, which I totally dislike.
Untitled II starts with some short nature samples which sound a bit like they have been recorded with a tape deck but also inherit a form of naïve charm. Again we get some acoustic guitars and the mentioned speech, this time luckily not the guttural but more in a throaty way. Rumbling double bass then marks the beginning of Untitled III which takes on a more epic sounding direction when melodic tremologuitars break in. But the long lasting screaming vocals in an early Burzum or Bethlehem style unfortunately don’t fit exactly and take away the epic feel to some point. The main weakness of Das Märchen vom Schnee definitely is the vocals in my opinion. Ok, raw and raspy screams suit this style of music well generally but there is something about the way they are done by BROCKEN MOON which just sucks - at least in my ears. Anyway, on with it. With Untitled IV BROCKEN MOON present a fast old-school Black Metal whose dumb beat doesn’t fit to the other at least quite well played songs. A little surprise then comes along in form of Untitled V. This song has some well placed synths and the used screaming vocals are also fitting and well placed giving the song a dense and really desperate (winter) atmosphere. Together with the third track this is definitely the best track on Das Märchen vom Schnee. After that we get some kind of a about twenty minutes lasting Ambient track consisting of two or three notes called Untitled VI. Though I like hypnotic ambient and even old Mortiis stuff – this here is just plain boring, uninspiring and useless.
So, what to say finally about BROCKEN MOON’s Das Märchen vom Schnee? About 10, 12 years ago I guess I would really have liked this. But after many years of listening to Black Metal in various forms this fairytale is just a more or less boring one but with the mentioned annoying elements didn’t giving me the chance to fall to sleep. Ok, there are some well done parts and quite a few ideas, really. But seen as a whole there are many places for BROCKEN MOON they should have an eye (or ear) on. I’m sure that Das Märchen vom Schnee will find some listeners among underground fans or fans of the mentioned other bands but I personally just don’t get it. Maybe I’m not that underground anymore…