Jernlov Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Recently, I discovered Fall of Efrafra. Fall of Efrafa are a concept band formed in Brighton, United Kingdom in 2005, starting life as a cello driven hardcore band, yet after various line up changes, focused on creating their own sound, mixing elements of post rock, post metal and ambient folk black metal- taking influence from bands such as Neurosis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Agalloch, and Buried Inside. They now describe their music as heavy atmospheric post hardcore. The concept is based loosely around their own interpretation of the Mythology in the novel Watership Down By Richard Adams, The band has created a trilogy of records known collectively as The Warren of Snares: Owsla (guardian), Elil (enemy), and lastly Inlé (death). The narrative behind the lyrics follows a society on the brink of social collapse, under a theocratic rule. An uprising occurs in the face of a greater enemy. Characters from the book, and the make believe language known as lapine are also included in both the artwork and lyrics. The band have received a lot of praise for their music, both for the concept surrounding the band - a mix of mythological language and imagery amidst anti-religious, animal rights ideologies -and the music itself, although fans are often divided when pigeon holing their sound. The band is staunchly DIY, but manage to sidestep specific labels by incorporating a mixture of disparate post rock and avant garde/folk black metal passages, and hardcore punk influences. Although they have completed various tours and shows, They rarely play live, spending most of their time writing and recording. They plan to break up at the end of 2009. Their music sounds as if Envy met sludge-era Neurosis - but that doesn't really say much. Ground-shattering riffs, forced vocals and beautiful ambient passages put this band in a leage of their own. One of their labels has put their latest album Inlé up for free download. You can also stream it on the page if you so please. http://www.denovali.com/fallofefrafa/ Republic of Heaven is a beautiful song. Steam | Soup | Last.fm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intriguing Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 After one minute of listening to Republic of Heaven, I can tell it's my kind of music. Downloading from the site now. :thumbup: Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warri0r45 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 They sound great. :thumbup: I think I'd like them better with more doomy passages though, and perhaps with some black metal vocals as well. I think they have the potential to produce the sound of impending doom particularly well, but they don't explore it enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayOxide Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I'm wondering.. Is Republic of Heaven a 20 minute long song? Or is it just how the playlist works..? I dont need a siggy no moar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intriguing Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Republic of Heaven goes for 14:30. And I've almost finished listening to the album now. I have to be honest, it's not as good as I thought it was going to be. There are some great moments, but on the whole it's not fantastic. That said, I haven't taken any note of the lyrics/concept album thing going on. I'd recommend it to any fan of Isis though. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayOxide Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Ty, What is the file size? I want to finish downloading and put on my Zen tonight, but Firefox wont say how long left or how large the file itself is.. I dont need a siggy no moar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intriguing Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Ty, What is the file size? I want to finish downloading and put on my Zen tonight, but Firefox wont say how long left or how large the file itself is.. 91MB for the seven songs. 160kbps. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jernlov Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 They sound great. :thumbup: I think I'd like them better with more doomy passages though, and perhaps with some black metal vocals as well. I think they have the potential to produce the sound of impending doom particularly well, but they don't explore it enough.Yeah. That's really my only criticism - not doom enough. Neurosis' Through Silver in Blood does the whole apocalyptic thing better than FoE, but I do think that FoE is definitely the more consistent band out of the two. Neurosis jump genres far too much, to be honest - and they're not necessarily good at all of them. They should've stuck to crafting brilliant sludge albums. However, The Eye of Every Storm is good sludgy post-rock. I'm glad that this band is well-received here. They seem to be fairly under-appreciated (but that may be more to do with the nature of their music than anything else) and deserving of more listeners. Do look out for a band called Æsahættr. I'm told that it's a new project by some members of FoE, what with the impending breakup and all. Steam | Soup | Last.fm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayOxide Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Ty, What is the file size? I want to finish downloading and put on my Zen tonight, but Firefox wont say how long left or how large the file itself is.. 91MB for the seven songs. 160kbps. Just as it stopped downloading >.< thanks. I dont need a siggy no moar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xSxqPowerx Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I like the instrumentals, but the vocals sound a bit too forced or something - I prefer post-hardcore type screaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wongtong Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 What exactly is a concept band? Listening to first track now. Edit: I agree with above post, the instrumentals sound good but the vocals are meh. 8,180WONGTONG IS THE BEST AND IS MORE SUPERIOR THAN ME#1 Wongtong stalker.Im looking for some No Limit soldiers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warri0r45 Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 What exactly is a concept band? A band that focuses their music and lyrics on a particular concept. Like a concept album, but applied to the whole band I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_love_burritos Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 The hi-hat and the vocals are far too overpowering. I love the guitar in it. Pity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayOxide Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I have to bump this after giving them a more of a listen to. I think people find me weird how I find Republic of Heaven a calming song of sorts. I dont need a siggy no moar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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