Country: Germany
Year: 2014
Tracklist:
1. Ad Mortem Festinamus
2. Schwarze Seide
3. Für Immer
4. Grausame Schwester
5. Warte, Warte
6. Dein Kapitän
7. Arme Ellen Schmitt
8. In Kaltem Eisen
9. Vela Dare!
10. Haus Aus Schmerz
11. Im Weidengarten
12. Coda
With more than twenty years of life, and with fusion as a essential part to its style, Subway To Sally, is one of the best folk metal bands of all times. However, like many others music groups with a so long life, not all their productions are excellent.
Kreuzfeuer, Bastard and Schwarz in Schwarz are the three last Subway To Sally's albums (before Mitgift). Maybe it was just the lack of novelty or the outstanding quality of their predecessor disk, Nord Nord Ost, but we were, not a little, but very disappointed about them. They seemed to be poor of everything. So, we weren't expecting too much of Mitgift, thinking that, maybe, as it has happened so many times before in the lifetime of other bands, the talent was forever gone, and the albums to come aren't more than a little shadow of what it was...
But no! At least no in most aspects. Subway To Sally has done in Mitgift what characterized them long ago, and that's fusing styles and various kinds of instruments, in catchy and beautiful melodies, next to powerful riffs and distorted sounds. So... Welcome, again guys!
The album has twelve songs, with about 4:00 minutes each, making a total play time of 47:38, which is fine for a full length album. As is usual to the Germans, there is no intro song but there is an interlude and a coda or epilogue -called "Coda"-. None of these are good songs, but they match very well with the album theme.
The style hasn't changed in the core. It's still folk metal, but not as straight forward as in previous works. Mainly because of the inclusion of dub-step elements (whaaaat??). Yes, and no lightly. The synths and electronic music instruments have been part, since a very long time, of this band's creations, but always timidly and just as a complement, and sometimes being hardly distinguishable. Now, not just there is a more evident use of those resources, but also a deep mix of them with the common ones. So, besides the use of symphonic, folk and metal music instruments, now makes a clear appearance the electronic ones, mostly in the form of a dub-step style. That's on almost every song, and in some ones more than in others. It's a fine addition to the vast variety so long displayed by Subway To Sally, that refreshes it, bringing innovation in a due amount. Indeed, the German band is true to its essence even in this work plenty of surprises.
Too bad, Mitgift is not full of great songs, but it's close. "Haus aus Schmerz" is almost unpleasant; "Warte, Warte" is unappealing; "Vela dare!" is like a remix of another of "Deine Kapitäne"; and some melodies found through the compilation aren't really remarcables. We can't help comparing this work with Engelskrieger, where every piece is outstanding and a delight to hear; more than ten years after, it still shines bright.
The album has a great start, with "Ad Mortem Festinamus", a powerful and catchy song -as it should be in every metal album (apart from the intro song, i mean). It goes on with "Schwarze Seide", another good and heavy song, and so it goes till almost half the way, before regaining some strength, and loosing it all near the end. So, the initial power, the good ideas and catchy tunes, seem to fade while the track count keeps advancing. The group obviously dispersed the "not so good songs" through the album trying to make it seem as amusing as possible with the existing songs, and that’s a good thing, but a bad one is to have to do that. Thankfully, very often they infiltrate beautiful tunes filled with strings and bagpipes. Some tracks like Grausame Schwester or In Kaltem Eisen are both beautiful and heavy, a combination always welcome; they are, no doubt, the best songs displayed here and part of this band all-time-bests; alas, the contrast with those "not so good songs" is abysmal, really.
The audio, we believe, its better than in the three previous albums, and it approaches to the outstanding sound present in Nord Nord Ost or in Engelskrieger, but still being far from them. It's still great, though. Powerful but clear, like it has to be in a style that relies on aggressive metal riffs, mixed with classic, electronic and folk music.
Finally, we can say that, even though this work just reviewed here, isn't as good as we would wished it to be, it's terrific listening once again to that awesome genius that composed, so many years ago, still remembered awesome songs. We can only wish now that this retake in good composition and quality remains forever in the future works to come.
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