Review: Ethereal Faun – The Nightlitany (2009)
Italian metal enthusiasts Ethereal Faun and their 2009 self released debut The Nightlitany, bring forth the energy of power metal with the mystique of European folk metal. Creating a metal record without the financial support of a label is always more difficult, however, these days it seems more and more artists are exploring this avenue with critical success. With The Nightlitany, we have the culmination of a band’s first official full length venture into the critical world of metal, yet unfortunately unlike many of their peers who have pulled off bringing elements together on an independent level, Ethereal Faun fail to meet the standards expected of a modern, well produced album.
Now, before the band and its fans strike out at me, I have to state that the largest drawback on this album is the absolute piss poor production job. Every member of Ethereal Faun are obviously very talented musicians. There are good riffs in each song, and some original moments that you rarely hear in metal (i.e. the non-distorted guitar tone on “The Afternoon of a Faun” I thought was awesome). In addition to the instrumental work, vocalist Marta Pierdominici is a legit singer, which is also demonstrated on “The Afternoon of a Faun,” however the vocals and the instrumental portions sound like crap when combined together, and this greatly disappointed me. That this qualified band all packaged together with some incredible artwork, allowed such an under-produced album to be released under their name is almost a crime.
At first, the production seems fine with crisp instrumentation, however, it becomes very clear by the time the first song is over that the mixing was horribly done. Each instrumental recording are spliced together to such a haphazard degree that it becomes a labor to get through each song. Very rarely on modern albums do you encounter such bad mixing. I’d almost prefer that Ethereal Faun show off their talent by releasing a live album instead of another album produced like this!
In addition to the horrible mixing, we are also presented with the OVER-produced vocals. Marta, as I mentioned earlier, is clearly a capable vocalist, but almost every track on this album features horrendous layering. Why can’t we just hear the vocals as they are?! Ethereal Faun needs to have faith in their singer, because the moments on this album when she can express her art without being subdued by technology are by far the best parts. Trust in your abilities Ethereal Faun, and hire a proper producer to demonstrate the wonder that a regular old guitar chord can produce, or the beauty that the human voice can create.
If each song on The Nightlitany was badly written, I would have no problem writing off this band as being un-talented, however, the songwriting is there, this band just doesn’t seem to have the know how to bring it all together to make album magic. There is a reason why bands pay producers good money, because you need a professional who can construct a well produced album, which in itself is just as much an artform as the music being produced. Despite how disappointing The Nightlitany turned out to be, I find myself eagerly awaiting future releases (or even a well produced version of this CD) from Ethereal Faun, because, and I repeat myself, this is a talented band and they deserve to demonstrate that at a standard befitting of them.
