Oliphant Morn - Morë olori i Palantìr
New dungeon synth act from Quebec called Oliphant Morn, out now with its new debut called Morë Olori i Palantìr (released the 12th of October this year). A 5 track mini-album made between the year 2018 - 2020... made by a Lord Verbouc, except the last track Han Som Reiste which is a Burzum cover/tribute.
As for the title itself, it has something to do with those Seeing-stones from the Lord of the Rings, which goes by the ancient tongue as Palantìr. As you will notice on the Bandcamp page, there is a small text introduction to this mini-album :
Come, travelers. And gaze through the sinister and hypnotizing Palantír of Saruman. To see battles of uncertain fate and
desolate landscapes forgotten by time.
And as you all probably know, Saruman is a tricky bastard suffering from a rare kind of egomania and.. low-self esteem at the same time (now that we are at it!). I will not stare into his sinister and hypnotizing ball of uncertain doom, id rather puff some jolly-good weed with Gandalf (if you would ask me!). Nevertheless, this Palantir offers dungeon synth in the more... doomy corner. If you happen to be into cherry hobbits and Robin Hood´s merry bunch (or comfy synth), then this might just be... your cure for that! *gulp*. Let us look more deeply into the tracks within shall we?...
The first track called Rammas o Lothric (The High Wall of Lothric) is something (I think) from the moody fantasy RPG named Dark Souls III not something by Tolkien... haven't actually played it yet!. A simple intro of a track containing the sounds of the haunting and cold winds of the night, and an epic neo-classical piece with horns and piano, describing ruins and utter despair. Sounds a bit like Ildfrost (old Cold Meat Industry act). Beautiful sound and a lovely mood surround you, lovely intro!.
The next track called I Lóre o Thuringwethil ( Thuringwethil´s Dream ). So who is this... Thuringwethil anyway?. This is something from Tolkien´s Quest For the Silmaril. A female Maia who took the shape of a female vampire, she also served Morgoth before that (pretty old one right?). She did some dirty work for the baddies and ended up being defeated at a fight between Sauron and Huan in some fortress. This track moves into a gothic Mortiis sort of horror-setting. Slowly evolving moody track with saddened synth-strings, still containing that neo-classical feel. A more simple and minimal track than the first, and very nicely done. Background music for Hammer Horror flicks!
The third track is the track from which the album has its title, that sinister ball that Sauron wants me so bad to look into ( Which I still won't! ). A slightly "merrier" and light-feel tune with barbaric/orcish (but sutle) ritual drum-beatings, mesmerizing synth keys... and spoken-word ritual vocals. Vocals which takes me back to Endvra. All this fades away when that cold night-wind re-appears with some sinister string keys going on at the same time, strangely relaxing and slightly sinister at the same time. The strange wind keeps up blowing when all of a sudden... strange things come out from some otherwordly place. Is it the voices of the dead or... the sound of daemons trying to tear into your room? Lovely doom-laden feeling, lovely ritualistic mood with an eldritch quality attached to it!
The fourth offering called I Thùle O Irithyll (The Breath of Irithyll) returns to that game which I still haven´t played. Dark Soul 3. A more downbeat sort of track with less sinister undertones, there is although a sense of something tragic. The most melancholic piece on the track, almost kind of ... suicidal dungeon-synth?!. The piano sounds make me think of a certain Jazz musician who did some remarkable melancholic pieces (not that it is Jazz!)... Bill Evans, maybe it´s the sound of the synth... I don't know!.
The last track on the album is the Burzum cover Han Som Reiste, which actually is the second dungeon-synth cover of this track which I have heard so far. A sort of a track which has that... wandering around the wilderness, looking for danger and adventure sort of feel. Very simplistic piece with synth guitars and nothing much else, a lovely down-to-earth kind of an outro if you ask me.
And then this mini-album stopped. A kind of a mixed bag of trophies, made in a big-time span. At first thought, I was thinking of a straight Tolkien-based album (title), but you also had some nods to Dark Souls III. The album is decent and good, offering not something groundbreaking or new as such but delivers a classic and old-school dungeon synth thing with that certain... Northern European vibe. The best track on the album would be... Saurons ball track goddammit!. Yup, I understood why the artist behind this act chooses this track to be the champion of the album. Give it a try mate, a relaxing and doom-laden trip into fantasy-related murkiness. By the way, look below... that is him, the man behind it all. Cheers!
Bandcamp (band):