FIRST UTTERANCE

I own this as part of the compilation album Song To Comus. On the back of the CD case it says "For those connoisseurs of the sub-genre know as Acid Folk this long awaited compilation has at last arrived. For those who are here for the first time, hang on to your hats, you are in for a memorable ride." I cannot but agree with this statement.

However, I cannot understand why someone would think this is a masterpiece of progressive rock, since it is neither a masterpiece, nor particularly progressive, nor is it rock. Maybe this is a masterpiece of Acid Folk, but hardly one of progressive rock. There are almost no electric instruments and no drums (other than tribal percussion).

But a memorable ride it is. This is truly one of the weirdest albums in my record collection. Both the music and especially the lyrics are simply bizarre. Someone described this as "evil forest music" which describes it quite well, I think. Several of the songs are about rape and murder, and one about mental illness. Despite these horrid topics one cannot but laugh at some of the lyrical passages because they are so overdone. One passage from the track Song To Comus goes "Hymen hunter, hands of steel, crack you open and your red flesh peel, Pain procurer, eyes of fire, pierce your womb and push still higher, Comus rape, Comus break, sweet young virgin's virtue take, Naked flesh, flowing hair, her terror screams they cut the air". I hope I don't offend anyone with this question, but is this to be taken seriously or is this some kind of bizarre comedy?

The music, however, can sometimes be quite serious and haunting in tone, and sometimes there are wild outbursts of screams and atonal noise. Not pleasant on the ear at all. The male vocals are very strange and they are clearly not the vocalists "own" voice; he is clearly "acting" here. The least bad songs are Song To Comus and The Bite, the latter about a ritualistic hanging of a Christian!

For fans of Acid Folk, this album is probably essential. Not so for Prog Folk fans or Prog fans in general. I would certainly say that this album is extremely overrated here on Prog Archives.

First Utterance is not my idea of great music, but it is surely unique and fun (in a very bizzare kind of way).