Title: Demo
Artist: Wolcensmen
Rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Heathen Folk
Year: 2013
Country: England
Label: Self-released
One thing I have expressed in this zine before and continues to be important to me is the lack of quality pagan music. By quality, I mean music that is created by actual pagans; not music that is “pagan themed” and is composed by musicians who are more concerned with focusing on mythological clichés rather than following the path of their ancestors. While I have nothing against those bands (and many do create great music), there is a serious lack of genuine pagan music; with Wardruna being the only project that is enjoying any kind of success or attention.
Luckily, England’s Wolcensmen has released this excellent demo consisting of three humble and honest heathen folk songs. This one man project from musician and artist Dan Capp is some of the best Folk music I’ve found in recent years. The opening song Wolcen’s Galdr is extremely powerful and sets the stage for the style which continues for the rest of the demo; vintage synthesizer sounds, melancholic acoustic guitars, stringed instruments, and vocal chanting (quite appropriate for a song involving “galdr”). This song is somewhat unique to the demo, as an electronic guitar is introduced near the end of the song; which despite it’s obvious metal orientation does not sound out of place at all in the nostalgic and dark Folk created by Wolcensmen.
The second song “Hooves Upon the Shimmering Path” is beautifully eloquent and creative lyrically. The official Wolcensmen page describes the song as follows: “The first part of ‘Hooves Upon the Shimmering Path’ takes from the Prose Edda the literal names of the horses upon which the Gods cross to Asgard, and then uses those names as nouns, verbs and adjectives to create a fluent, abstract passage”. The content of this song again demonstrates that Wolcensmen is not just another band with lyrics about Valhalla, but a serious venture into the heathen worldview and tradition. The combination of synth and acoustic guitar works flawlessly in this song, especially in the synth/guitar outro which evokes mental images of the themes described.
The last track of the demo ‘Shield and Spear’ is my personal favorite song of the album. The Wolcensmen page describes it as “a song about boldness (spiritual and physical) and its rewards. The shield and the spear are loosely equated with the Elk-sedge and Gar runes and are chanted during the song as an affirmation of this theme”. The song begins with the most memorable guitar melody of the demo, and I find the chorus of the song sticking in my mind for days after listening to the demo (“I hunted near, took shield and spear. I hunted far, and I chanted Eohl and Gar”). This song inspires boldness and the primal power of Thunor in the listener, again with the chanting and all other elements of the music coming together perfectly. This song demonstrates Wolcensmen’s talent in song composition and is definitely a remarkable way to end a great demo.
With just three songs Wolcensmen has created an impressive demo of heathen folk music that is of much higher quality (in terms of both content and musical composition) than the majority of bands you’ll encounter playing this style. I am definitely looking forward to what this band will offer in the future.
