Band:	Cultus Ferox
Album:	Beutezug
Style:	Folk metal, Folk rock
Release date:	March 01, 2013
A review by:	Ivor

01. Ahoii
02. Martyrium
03. Goldene Zeiten
04. Frei
05. Feuertanz
06. Introitus
07. Artig
08. Grenzenlos
09. Der Frühe Vogel Fängt Den Wurm
10. Helden
11. Heimatlied
12. Mille Anni Passi Sunt

Occasional listening forays outside your normal habits can often bring weird results. Sometimes you discover a gem this way, other times you find yourself liking what people in the know consider a terrible release. Which one is this, you might be wondering? Beats me if I can answer this question in the way that you most likely expect. However, for what it's worth and before moving on, at present I happen to find this release quite entertaining.

Where to start now with this view of the uninitiated? As it turns out, Cultus Ferox happen to be a medieval folk metal band that, if I got my German translations more or less right, should be playing some kind of a folk crossover with pirate romance. To be frank, I have no idea how that is supposed to sound. Anything pirate I can think of is Swashbuckle and that sounded decidedly terrible to me. And Cultus Ferox sounds exactly not like that.

I've been thinking of how to describe Cultus Ferox in a short and concise way. The only approximation I can think of, however incorrect, is a mix of three German bands. To me, Cultus Ferox sounds like a cross-breed of In Extremo, Rammstein, and Die Toten Hosen. Naturally, it's got those various folk elements, including prominent presence of bagpipes, which, in and of itself, could be enough to form a decent folk band. However, they also possess that dark industrial flavoured riffing punch and a playful element that seems to be referred to as Neue Deutsche Härte. Somewhere along the way there's also that punk rock element added into mix.

Is this mix any good? It damn well is entertaining to me. The main reason why I don't bother with folk metal is that there's a myriad of clones of clones that sound like they've been using the same single blueprint for writing songs. Something that doesn't fit into that kind of scheme is already an improvement. Cultus Ferox seem like some sort of a cross of various influences, and that means some natural flowing variation in the sound. Which I find interesting. Maybe this kind of fusion is the norm for the German folk metal scene, I wouldn't really know. Or maybe I'm just imagining things and they sound just exactly like In Extremo. However, I do know that so far I like Beutezug. Whether you like it or not is for you to discover.