Something totally different to start the week off. Not actually a new band, per se, as I listened to them before but was put off by the growly vocals. With my newfound if not appreciation then tolerance for same, I thought I'd give them another shot.
Haggard combine classical, folk and, er, death metal to produce music that truly straddles the musical spectrum. You probably all already know them but some of you may not.
Eppur si muove --- Haggard --- 2004 (Drakkar Enterntainment)
The interesting thing about the album title is that it is taken from Galileo's
sotto voce defiance after having been forced by the Inquisition to agree that his theories about the Earth's rotation around the sun were blasphemy, and it gives an indication of how frightened he was (wouldn't anyone be, faced with that dread organisation?) and yet how he stuck to his belief, even if he only kept it to himself. "Eppur si muove" translates as "but it does move".
Well, first it seems like I've put on a classical album --- or at least something by Nigel Kennedy --- then, Trans-Siberian Orchestra-style, the hard electric guitar bites in for a moment, then the deep growly vocal comes in and you know you're not listening to Mozart! To be fair, the vocal, though deep, is understandable. The tempo shifts then, becoming "more metal", if you will, the classical influences all but dropped. Certainly something different!