NOEKK

NOEKK is the almost logical continuation of EMPYRIUM or how atmospheric dark metal can also compose in chamber music, or almost 'The White Lady' is a concept album comprising 11 songs telling the story of the ghost haunting the kingdoms of Plassenburg Castle in Kulmbach, the lyricist's hometown. Musically they take us on classical instrumentation, the softest and most atmospheric of NOEKK. The influences leave on LANDBERK for the melodies, TENHI for the expression and the raw sensitivity.

Acoustics, melody, EMPYRIUM without the electric in fact. NOEKK allows himself on these linked songs to explore even more the dark prog chamber side and the Scandinavian classics of the 90's; it flows from source like austere music to land near a wood fire and to listen to the fire crackling at the same time as the melodies. I note just for fun the part 1 for this divine voice with the lute, the 3 for the flute under wood and this symphonic air of another age, the 5 for its harpsichord, the 7 cover of the 1 for the atmosphere , the mysterious 8, from beyond the grave and the 9 for this fabulous organ of yesteryear, an air where the word quintessence takes on its full aura.

NOEKK therefore makes an incursion into acoustic prog rock, letting the listener dive into atmospheric volumes; an album not to put in all hands if you are not aware of what HELM and SCHWADORF know how to do. The most acoustic, the most refined to date.

NOEKK is a group of dark-ambient-sounding prog doom and metal that was built on the ashes of the deceased Empyrium, which made her a dark folk-ambient-symphony of beauty, including the famous "Weiland" 2002 ; But that was before. Yugoth and Baldachin, better known under the name Schwadorf and Helm, showcase their love for the land and the Hard Rock Prog Rock with NOEKK. Nature is the wanderings of the center of two friends, inspired by the poems of Peter Wolfgang Kassel adding a dark climate, austere, cold, cold, gothic, on the edge of melancholy and shoals or shallows human, everything depends on your mood. Here no sprawling virtuosity (nod to the Old Gods such Cthulhu), but a spontaneity in the development of 'gloomy atmospheres. Note also a 60-page booklet with paintings and poems to delve more in this prog-meditative atmosphere. FYI also remember that NOEKK have been linked to an aquatic creature changing into white horse for worse! Known from their first album "The Water Sprite" from 2005 with this footprint so characteristic, tacking between the Empyrium, VISION BLEAK, the Autumnblaze, the LACRIMOSA and ANATHEMA in their darkest productions of KING CRIMSON and GENESIS origins , and of tHE CURE DEAD CAN DANCE in their most cold-wave turns, short, NOEKK summarizes the essence of the meeting doom-gothic-bathmat-pastoral-dark-prog, no less! It left for delving into this 4th album (5 if you count the EP in 2018), an album that concept to think. FYI also remember that NOEKK have been linked to an aquatic creature changing into white horse for worse! Known from their first album "The Water Sprite" from 2005 with this footprint so characteristic, tacking between the Empyrium, VISION BLEAK, the Autumnblaze, the LACRIMOSA and ANATHEMA in their darkest productions of KING CRIMSON and GENESIS origins , and of tHE CURE DEAD CAN DANCE in their most cold-wave turns, short, NOEKK summarizes the essence of the meeting doom-gothic-bathmat-pastoral-dark- prog, no less! It left for delving into this 4th album (5 if you count the EP in 2018), an album that concept to think. FYI also remember that NOEKK have been linked to an aquatic creature changing into white horse for worse! Known from their first album "The Water Sprite" from 2005 with this footprint so characteristic, tacking between the Empyrium, VISION BLEAK, the Autumnblaze, the LACRIMOSA and ANATHEMA in their darkest productions of KING CRIMSON and GENESIS origins , and of tHE CURE DEAD CAN DANCE in their most cold-wave turns, short, NOEKK summarizes the essence of the meeting doom-gothic-bathmat-pastoral-dark-prog, no less! It left for delving into this 4th album (5 if you count the EP in 2018), an album that concept to think. the BLEAK VISION, the Autumnblaze, the LACRIMOSA and ANATHEMA in their darkest productions of KING CRIMSON and GENESIS the origins, THE CURE and DEAD CAN DANCE in their most cold-wave turns, short, NOEKK synthesizes quintessence of the meeting doom- gothic-bathmat-pastoral-dark-prog, no less! It left for delving into this 4th album (5 if you count the EP in 2018), an album that concept to think. the BLEAK VISION, the Autumnblaze, the LACRIMOSA and ANATHEMA in their darkest productions of KING CRIMSON and GENESIS the origins, THE CURE and DEAD CAN DANCE in their most cold-wave turns, short, NOEKK synthesizes quintessence of the meeting doom-gothic-bathmat-pastoral-dark-prog, no less! It left for delving into this 4th album (5 if you count the EP in 2018), an album that concept to think.

"Waltzing In Obscurity" opens the dance with flute intro to TANGERINE DREAM or the POPOL VUH; it's beautiful and sinister to the advanced with bass and vocals, all guided by an organ beyond the grave; Voice puts it hers to ring in a dark atmosphere, the guitar from an abysmal clarity darken the purified air; flute of the first stirrings of GENESIS strengthens its NOEKK and the end riff. "Perseus" is based on this characteristic voice of the group, some spleenante, a little nagging, but very warm; riff, synth basic to Bontempi, on GARY NUMAN, battery, cathedral choirs, preaching, everything is there to enchant you! "The Mirror" or the resurrection of THE CURE for a title watered and latency prog from 2 minutes our memory also remembers THE STRANGLERS, ie; acoustic takes on its charm, the progressive award born with very little in the end. "The Giant" with playful piano, harpsichord DEAD CAN DANCE, nervous guitar riffs, piano and guitar tune pretend narrating a children's story for a title for the NOEKK, as almost pop moments with a mesmerizing voice. "We Summits" follows with crimsonienne atmosphere and zappaienne; the voice and the air even flirt with the dark hours of DEPECHE MODE, then it is a voice that is almost hard with added guitar riff and takes over. "Mortlach" for me Amateur whiskeys, do not leave me indifferent especially since it's an instrumental on leaving the cold-wave gay and depressed. One of the qualities of style NOEKK, synth ambience, yet gentle flute and acoustic guitar, all with hammering of the battery. "The Windwaker" occurs with a more gothic as where the coldness melts our feelings, we feel happy at the beginning THE CURE, the riff again mesmerizing; the flute is wonderful. "The Secret Beaker" for a title almost pop-cold, a typical sound with synth, vocals, organ, acoustic guitar and drums, melancholic icy ballad just to breathe and listen to "The Lily Of Reverence 'last title may be the most rhythmical and atmosphere glaucosity almost feel it mold in it, the voice is more present, darker, the riffs pretend to give here all he can to bewitch us one last time. the riff again mesmerizing; the flute is wonderful. "The Secret Beaker" for a title almost pop-cold, a typical sound with synth, vocals, organ, acoustic guitar and drums, melancholic icy ballad just to breathe and listen to "The Lily Of Reverence 'last title may be the most rhythmical and atmosphere glaucosity almost feel it mold in it, the voice is more present, darker, the riffs pretend to give here all he can to bewitch us one last time. the riff again mesmerizing; the flute is wonderful. "The Secret Beaker" for a title almost pop-cold, a typical sound with synth, vocals, organ, acoustic guitar and drums, melancholic icy ballad just to breathe and listen to "The Lily Of Reverence 'last title may be the most rhythmical and atmosphere glaucosity almost feel it mold in it, the voice is more present, darker, the riffs pretend to give here all he can to bewitch us one last time.

NOEKK knew, after 10 years of gestation, birth of a pure beauty dark album, an album where the atmosphere is drawn to the dark through riffs and where music also seems more open and diversified; this album could have been a concept album with songs chained taking you even further on distant and meditative paths of knowledge. NOEKK has mellowed and synthesized the very substance of his own music for a simple and memorable.

One of the things that I love about the band Noekk is their ability to take dark atmospheres and infuse folk music and folklore into it all, making it heavy, brooding music, but not really relying on metal to convey their unique sound. My interest in the band Agalloch basically led me to the band on a search for interesting and exciting heavy music, and it was inevitable that I would eventually be led to Noekk.

The band is from Germany and founded in 2004 by two musicians formerly from the dark metal band Empyrium. The music is all performed by these two multi-instrumentalists Thomas Helm and Markus Stock, who go by the aliases of Funghus Baldachin (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and F.F. Yugoth (drums, bass, guitar, mixing) respectively. The album 'Waltzing into Obscurity' is the bands fourth album, released 11 years after their previous album.

Starting with the title track (7:23), the album begins with an orchestral effect, synths sounding like an orchestra of woodwinds with a mellotron sound. Suddenly, guitars erupt into heavy riffs and the organ creates a dark foundation as the almost operatic, deep and husky vocals start. The music is as amazing as ever, with a tricky and changing meter, the progressiveness is very apparent. Layers of synth trade places back and forth with complex guitar riffs, and the entire sound remains dark, at times recalling the early prog sensibilities of King Crimson. The vocals might be a little off putting at first, but your ear will become attuned to them. The vocal melodies are almost hymn like, but with a definite evil undertone to them. A surprising warbly synth solo closes out the track.

So now you have your first taste of the band on this album. As we move on to Perseus (5:01), the beat is a little more upbeat, but the monk style vocals continue and contrast the slightly brighter tone of the track. As it continues, the non-standard lyrical structure takes on a lighter tone and the synth riffs continue to keep the track on the brighter side. There is still a dark symphonic feel to it all even with the dark guitars churning along later. 'The Mirror' (4:10) is a bit more acoustic sounding with sustained organ notes anchoring the track. The slow rhythm picks up a bit towards the middle, and the guitars take on the attitude of an old western soundtrack. The folkish aspect of the music definitely reminds one of Agalloch's music, just on a more instrumentally diverse level which has a well-balanced amount of both guitars and keys throughout the music.

'The Giant' (4:46) begins with a dark piano riff which suddenly explodes with more intensity when the full band comes in. As usual, the music is quite diverse and dynamic, moving from heavy passages to softer, yet equally dark sections. The attitude of the music seems to be similar to 'Storm Corrosion', but at times, surprisingly punchier as in this track. But the complexity remains throughout, the music never falling into the traditional melody structure, avoiding the verse ' chorus structure completely. The music later slips into a lovely and pensive section later with soft chimes. In contrast to that, 'On Summits' (4:23) explodes into heavier action and the vocals are even thicker, almost growling at some points, only to later brighten to a major key, then going back to minor later. Even though most of these songs seem to stay in the 4 ' 6 minute range, they are still quite dense with musical ideas and changing structures, and quite well developed.

'Mortlach' (3:03) is a dynamic instrumental that retains the dark symphonic sound, laying somewhere in the gap between 'Opeth' and 'Storm Corrosion' also retaining the folk sensibilities. 'The Windwalker' (4:31) takes on a lighter attitude with layered synth and acoustic guitar, but the same dark, monk-like vocals. Even though it is lighter, it still stays complex, and quickly changes to darker and heavier sections. The most amazing thing here is the way the songs seem like epic anthems, yet mostly manage to stay below 5 minutes, and this can make them sound a bit dense at first. Be sure to listen to the deeper layers and to not be taken aback by the sometimes dense feel of the tracks.

'The Secret Beaker' (5:33) begins with a surprisingly smooth and pensive feel in the beginning, and quite a lovely melody. Deep harmonized vocals later become more airy, and now it reminds me of 'Ulver' with their soft and sinister vocals, yet beautiful accompaniment. During the first instrumental break, there is a lovely exchange between acoustic guitar, organ and keys. The last track is 'The Lily of Reverence' (5:29) which continues in the same dark and dynamic style as before.

Early on with my experience with this album, I have to say that my personal highlights here include 'The Secret Beaker', 'Waltzing in Obscurity', 'Morllach' and 'The Giant', however, I can see that with repeated listening, that all of these track will easily grow on me, as they are quite dynamic and have a great level of complexity to keep the progressive lover in me satisfied for quite some time. It would be nice if there was more variety in the vocal tones, as the husky and deep voices might seem too similar through the tracks, but the level of musicianship and the non-typical song structures should help the listener to keep coming back for more until the sound grows on you. The music is powerful, lovely, dark and sometimes a bit louder, but never to extreme levels on any of those fronts. Lovers of dark, post-metal music with a touch of folk sensibilities will enjoy this album. Those that love Agalloch and possibly Ulver should find a lot to love about this album and this band for that matter. After all is said and done, this is a strong 4 star album.

Noekk is a continuation of the doom metal band Empyrium. The two musicians responsible for the band play all of the instruments between the two of them. The name Noekk comes from folklore about a water creature that can change into a beautiful white horse who gets human riders and then carries them to their death in the water. The music veers away from metal exploring way beyond its boundaries, but remains dark.

The band's first album is "The Water Sprite". The topic of the lyrics has mostly to do with dark folklore. Most of the music is spontaneous with a fairly free structure, but cohesive enough to avoid a lot of dissonance. It is quite accessible as far as progressive music goes, while being complex enough to keep your interest.

The title track starts off the album with a harpsichord solo which is suddenly interrupted by a quick drum riff and the music takes off. When vocals start, you get your first taste of the sound of Thomas Helm's voice which can be somewhat pompous and almost operatic at times, and at others, a low breathy tone, not really a growl, but close. The music itself is heavy progressive with a complex and changing time signature and plenty of guitars and keyboards to make any prog-head happy.

"T.B.'s Notion" starts off soft with a single guitar that quickly gets joined by vocals in a deep underdeveloped, yet rich voice with lyrics written by J.R.R. Tolkien adapted to an interesting melody. This one remains mostly slow and soft with a mellotron added in later. The melody is not a standard structure and seems to be somewhat improvised.

"Strange Mountain" starts with an electric piano, sounding somewhat like Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter". Subdued vocals start shortly after. At around 2 minutes there is a slight build, then it kicks into a mid tempo rhythm with a lot of mellotron and other keyboards with a flute effect, and the vocals become more dramatic. It continues to get better as it goes and the music becomes more complex. There is a sudden switch to a Deep Purple/Uriah Heep sound midway through when an organ comes in. The drums are also quite excellent adding to the complexity of the track. A theme keeps returning through the track.

Next is "How Fortunate the Man with None", a Dead Can Dance cover. It follows the original quite faithfully, except you get to hear it with Thomas' slightly operatic vocals. It is a decent cover that expands just a little on the original as far as the instruments and a little more vocal inflection, but stays pretty faithful with its great lyrics and repeating melody.

"Fiery Flower" starts with an early King Crimson vibe with mellotron and flute. After a minute, it changes to a more dramatic, neo-progressive sound when the full band and vocals start. There is a nice "Opeth" sounding instrumental interlude.

"Moonface is Dead" starts with a soft guitar and echoing effects with mellotron and vocals. This is a slow yet short track. I do have a hard time with the vocals on slower tracks like this one, when he really shines is on the more dramatic and complex passages in other tracks. Fortunately, it's only just over 4 minutes, but even then it meanders too much.

"Riddle Seeker" surpasses the 10 minute mark and ends the album on a high note. You get the full band from the start, playing a great progressive sound. Vocals come in early. Even after the first minute, you notice a complex and changing sound as a new theme is introduced by the bass and then repeated by guitars. This is quite a dynamic track, always changing and complex with tempo and meter changes and several thematic and improvised elements.

This is quite a great album overall, but some might be turned off initially by the dramatic vocals. This is not a huge drawback, because you do become accustomed to them after a while. There are places where things don't move smoothly, but again, the musicianship is excellent and indicative of greater things to come. However, with these minor issues, this is a very dynamic and progressive album, a little on the dark side, but I wouldn't consider it depressing at all. With a lot of complexities, yet staying mostly accessible in progressive terms, this album does have a lot to offer progressive lovers. Since it is quite dynamic, you can expect a lot of both quiet and heavy moments throughout. With only one really weak track, this reaches about 3.5 stars, but I can easily bump this up to 4 stars as it gets more appealing the more you listen to it.

3.5 stars. This band has a unique sound, partly because of the the vocals that are pretty hard to describe, and partly because of the tone of the guitar.The songs are mostly slow, atmospheric and dark in nature, with lots of mellotron helping to achieve this sound.

"The Water Sprite" is an excellent track with the aggressive vocals and floods of mellotron that are contrated with the mellower passages. Well done ! "T.B.'S Notion" is a slow paced track with gentle guitar and reserved vocals.This one just doesn't work for me, mainly because the vocals just don't fit for some reason. "Strange Mountain" is great once it gets going after 2 minutes. The mellotron and drumming is outstanding.

There is something about "How Fortunate The Man With None" that stick's in my head long after the song is over. It's actually a DEAD CAN DANCE cover from their album "Into The Labyrinth". "The Fiery Flower" opens with flute and builds as mellotron arrives then a full sound with vocals. It's ok. "Moonface Is Dead" is a dark, slow paced track with mellotron and vocals."The Riddle Seeker" is the song I like the best, featuring guitar and organ with powerful and intense vocals.The guitar melody is a highlight. The song and album end with the tinkling of the piano.

This is a good record that I recommend, but their next one "The Grimalkin" is quite a bit better.

4.5 stars. NOEKK are two men from Germany who used to be part of a Death Metal band called EMPYRIUM. They wanted to create a project that payed homage to the Prog legends of the seventies.Their first record is called "The Water Sprite". You could describe their sound as gloomy and dark in a seventies style.There are elements of Folk with mellotron, but also lots of heaviness with guitar riffs and strong, alto, unique vocals. And in the seventies tradition this album is only 42 minutes long.

"The Albatross" opens with a dark pastoral mood as reserved vocals come in. It kicks in before 1 1/2 minutes. Great sound. The organ especially. Heavy riffs and mellotron follow. The pastoral section is back from earlier as the contrasts continue. I like the piano with drums after 5 minutes as mellotron rolls in. Chunky bass too. Just a fabulous track ! "The Grimalkin" opens with sparse, dark piano melodies. Very eerie as fragile vocals enter the scene. It kicks in before 1 1/2 minutes. Nice. Again like the first song they really contrast well the mellow parts with the incredible heavy sections. I just love their style and sound.

"Codex Deserta" opens heavily reminding me of IN THE WOODS... before it settles before 2 minutes. Vocals follow and the tempo picks up after 3 minutes. The heaviness is back before 4 1/2 minutes with mellotron. Again the contrast of heavy and pastoral is featured throughout.

If you like that dark, heavy style of music you owe it to yourself to check this band out. Highly recommended.

4,5 stars really!

After I've listened a couple of times to NOEKK's quickly produced debut which appealed much to me despite its imperfection I ordered immediately their second one without having heard a single note from it before. I should mention that this is not something I do regularly since I usually hate wasting my money on mispurchases. But what a nice surprise when I've put this CD the first time into my player! It really could fascinate me right from the beginning though the tracklist is telling already that this is not a simple song-based album. Three tracks only, one of them having 20 minutes - that reminds pretty much to classic 70's prog. And like on their first one already this is as well the main influence on here. But the difference to "The Water Sprite" is that "The Grimalkin" is a much more uniform and coherent album dominated by a somber and mythic atmosphere and the classically trained vocals by Thomas Helm (aka Funghus Baldachin). Most probably people having problems with such a (admittedly quite pathetic but never icky) voice and this type of continuously dreary mood will hardly find any pleasure here. Neither would I recommend this band to those ones preferring nicely structured songs, hook lines and technical perfection. Though certainly this one has been produced much more carefully than their first one all vocal parts on here are first takes according to the band members' own words. "Noekk's music is created by intuition. It comes to me when I'm on my own and I can listen to my inner voice" says Funghus Baldachin who's the driving force within the duo. His intention is to catch the magic of the moment and to tell long and weird stories by his music.

So what can we expect musically from this record? As said already we have here organ and Mellotron dominated retro sound but neither your usual hard edged retro/neo symphonic prog nor any DT-flavoured prog metal. Rather is it a truly innovative blend of old-school prog and hardrock style presented in a very modern garment. Baldachin describes their music as a mixture of progrock with touches of folk and even doom metal. He recommends this album especially to Prog fans who are probably not really the right clientele for his other projects EMPYRIUM and THE VISION BLEAK. But of course this is just a very rough description of the three well-elaborated compositions on here. Basically the music alternates between more contemplative and pastoral sections, acoustic ones that bring slightly OPETH into mind and organ-driven heavy metal ones with some oriental flavor at times. Though there isn't an obvious difference in quality of the tracks I'm personally preferring a bit the last one. Whenever I listen to this album in an appropriate mood (I'd recommend to listen to it on a quiet and reflective evening) I get completely lost in space and time by its music and after it has finished my only thought is that it's much too short.

Although this release is still very recent I'm already quite certain that it will develop to one of my all time favs. Thus I'd be highly tempted to rate it with the full score. But being aware that this is just my very own impression and it might be not suitable for any prog fan generally I'll keep my enthusiasm under control. Anyway I think it deserves for sure 4 stars since it's really an excellent album and should appeal to any open-minded prog fan and admirers of KING CRIMSON, ANEKDOTEN, LANDBERK, OPETH, ANATHEMA, GREEN CARNATION or IN THE WOODS.

Ken Golden at laser's edge rated this album as his second favorite symphonic album of 2005 behind Wobbler's Hinterland, so I thought I'd give it a try. I liked Empyrium, but could never really get into them to much because I felt the lyrics didn't go well with the music. This band is a mix of 70's progand modern metal with some more modern effects and keys, and it works quite well. The lyrics are generally based on mysticism, fantasy, with a german poem and the writings of tolkien as influence for two of the seven songs. The songs are generally 5 to 8 minutes long and heavily dominated by dark, melancholic atmospheres courtesy of the mellotron and sung with clean vocals throughout. This album got to me after about 3 listens, and it still grows on me months later. I'm not really to sure of any bands I would directly compare them to, I have listened to all of Landberk's albums and the only thing I see that they have in common is a melancholic atmosphere that permeates throughout, but the overall sound itself is not similar to me.

According to their own words the two musicians (Schwadorf and Helm) behind NOEKK created this album quite spontaneously without doing any takes before just by digesting their ideas and recording them. Taking this fact into account one has to say that "The Water Sprite" became a really remarkable debut album. Combining their melancholic mystic neo folk elements known from their former band EMPYRIUM with Mellotron dominated 70's styled hard rock the result is a sound not that far away from LANDBERK's. It's basically Baldachin's very characteristic and unusual voice resembling rather an opera singer's one not only due to its pathos which gives this band a quite unique appearance.

So what is to be expected by a prog fan from this album? Certainly not really high class quality and technical perfection but still a quite interesting and enjoyable album to listen to especially if one prefers the dark side of prog. The whole album is dominated by a melancholic atmosphere that is already expressed very well by the art work. Songs are ranging from calm, solemn moments with emotional vocals to dark heavy one with lots of Mellotron and changing moods and tempos, maybe not as intricate as ANEKDOTEN, but darker than URIAH HEEP to give some hint for categorising them. Highlights are certainly "Strange Mountain" with its epic and climatic character, the very well-done DEAD CAN DANCE cover and the highly versatile final track "The Riddle Seeker" . But overall there's not any song on here which is a complete failure. They're all very easily memorable after one or two listens without having the character of a typical catchy airplay tune .

This album isn't really an essential one in Prog generally but anyway I gave it already a couple of spins and still find it fascinating and that's for me the best sign for an album to be worth the money spent. Everyone who likes mentioned bands should give it a try, especially since it's available for an attractive price at least (quite oddly) outside of Germany. I'm curious already for their new album "The Grimalkin" that I just ordered today and I read positive reviews about!