Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Sangre Cavallum - Pátria Granítica [Ahnstern/Steinklang - 2006]

Sangre Cavallum play a dense and often heady mix of neo classical, neo folk, prog/ post rock, world music,with soundtrack/ ambient touches.This is this Portuguese project 3rd Album if you include their Collaboration with Allerseelen from early this year.

Incidentally that wonderful spilt with Allerseelen entitled  Barco Do Vinho(reviewed here ) is what first got me interested in this project and though this full length is not quite as quirky, playful or memorable as the split- it’s still pretty fine album with a much more epic and grand serious air about it.The album celebrates of the lives of the  ancient pre-Christian  people of North Portugal called theCallǽcia, the cover and booklet are wondefully illustrated with  photographs of the Callǽcia's beautiful yet bleak stone structures.

The amount of instruments and depth of sound on display  is the most impressive thing here and the way the manage to orchestrate it all together so well. A small taster of the instrumental sounds on offer are; Portuguese traditional Guitars, Mandolins, alpine zithers, violin, harp, bagpipes, flute, accordion, Lyre, ebow ,Psaltery and the list goes on. There’s also use of more traditional rock instrumentation  with the likes of guitar, bass and piano and  slight use of electronics and synth- but this never takes away from the ancient/ folky feel of the music.  

Most of the tracks tend to be dense, powerful and mysterious, which though rewarding on the whole does become a little overbearing at certain points. It would have been nice to hear what they could do with a less crowded and dense sound sometimes.  Another slight criticism is there’s little here that’s memorable tune wise, they clearly can write nice melodies as they pop up here and there and were in evidence on Barco Do Vinho. Mainly here they seem to concentrate on the layers of sound and atmosphere and not enough on the tunes.

Certainly an accomplished and varied collection of tracks that will surely be of interest to fans of Allerseelen and Sturmpercht. The tracks just need a bit more melodic polish and  be aloud to show less dense and more ambient shades and they’ll have a real winner on their hands.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Sangre Cavallum - Pátria Granítica
Sangre Cavallum play a dense and often heady mix of neo classical, neo folk, prog/ post rock, world music,with soundtrack/ ambient touches.This is this ...
110725   Alternative TV - Direct Actio...
110725   Theme - Meditations on Space,...
110725   Pitchshifter - Peel Sessions...
100725   John Scott - Symptoms OST
100725   Torsofuck - Feasting On Carve...
100725   Dachra - Dachra(VOD)
100725   Transmission - Transmission( ...
100725   Up! - Up!( Blu Ray)
100725   Jack The Ripper - Jack The Ri...
090725   A Day At The Beach - A Day A...
Latest Articles

Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sharp t...
It’s fair to say the Sharksploitation genre is often tried, tested, and to be honest, tired. Fear Below is a 2025 Australian film that tries to do some...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom