Trollheart

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Artiste: Antalio
Nationality: Russian
Album: Wintry wolf tales
Year: 2015
Label: None (Bandcamp release)
Genre: Electronica
Tracks:
The wild (Running 1)
My frozen hearth
Nocturne Z
Nothing new
Wintry fantasies
One touch
The wild (Running 2)
Chronological position: Sixth album under this name, though he also records under under identities
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Two of the tracks here are also on his fourth album, Nocturne Z...
Initial impression: Dark, atmospheric, wolf howls ... all good so far.
Best track(s): My frozen hearth, Wintry fantasies, Nocturne Z
Worst track(s): One touch, The wild (Running 2)
Comments: What, another Russian act? Seems Antalio, real name Anton Talnov, has a few aliases under which he composes different types of music. As Lihosvet he plays atmospheric black metal, as Durbur, experimental electronic music, and as Antalio, this. I really have no idea what to expect, but as usual I liked the title (love wolves) and the few samples I heard convinced me it wasn't going to be music I hated, so I hit the “purchase” button and here we are.

Kind of dark waves of synth with wolves howling in the background as we get underway, echoey booming percussion, mid-paced tempo, instrumental of course, then a slower, more deliberate marching rhythm for “My frozen hearth”, kind of industrial: reminds me of Depeche Mode or Numan maybe. Seems bleaker somehow, colder. Would suit maybe the advance of the White Walkers in Game of Thrones as they near the Wall. Very inhuman feel to it. Much softer, more organic shape to “Nocturne Z”, one of those tracks I mentioned that were on a previous album. Quite an uptempo piece, odd little echo effects and a nice sprinkly piano. It's the longest track easily, almost eight minutes.

It has a nice repeated melody running through it that is quite catchy and easy on the ear. “Nothing new” belies its title, relying heavily on guitar rather than synth (though they're there of course) and chugs along nicely, whereas “Wintry fantasies” slows things down a little and rides along on a really clever little keyboard line, piano sparking along the edges, but if as I say he also does experimental electronic music then “One touch” must come closest to this, with some odd instrumentation and a kind of syncopated rhythm running through it. The closer then is some pretty straightahead trance, which kind of takes the gloss off what I've heard up to now a little.
Overall impression: Decent electronic music, well played and I might end up getting into it
Hum Factor: 0
Surprise Factor: 4
Intention: I'm not ready to go checking out any more of his stuff just yet. But perhaps in the future.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018