One of black metal's best-kept secrets, FOLTERAAR is the work of two highly prolific musicians in the Netherlands' extreme music underground. Over the last couple years, the duo have been patiently releasing a steady stream of splits, demos, and EPs, with each one finding more fervent favor. But with Vertellingen van een donkere eeuw, FOLTERAAR have unleashed their grandest statement: verily, a vortex of spacious-yet-suffocating sound, both molten and maimed. The framework in which the duo work across the album is firmly within black metal, but the measures they take to dissemble and then rebuild that framework owe equally as much to gonzo psychedelic traditions as well as the more nihilistic end of hardcore punk. Rhythm explodes and then retreats upon itself, all while endlessly moving toward a horizon forever out of reach; mangled guitar chords crush and then hover, hover and then crush, with grim 'n' forlorn vocals melting into the slipstream. But perhaps all this verbiage is meaningless when stacked against FOLTERAAR's aesthetic aims, in their own words: "Seemingly formless, the embodiment of chaos, an expression of distress and where everything is left to be decided by forces beyond our control. The improvised nature of the band is the key element to FOLTERAAR'S sound. Like any ritual, there is a need to execute. The maelstrom of black energy is evershifting, and each time it is unknown what will come out of the recordings. Memories of the sessions are all but clear, leaving the creators as empty and confused as the ones who experience it." Behold the sound of confusion, and contusion...
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