Apocalypse Orchestra - A Plague Upon Thee - review
Apocalypse Orchestra - A Plague Upon Thee - review
Tracklist
01. Virago02. Tempest
03. Glass And Sun
04. Anchorhold
05. Sacrament Of Avarice
06. From The Athanor
07. To Arrive
08. Saint Yersinia
A review by
AndyMetalFreak March 18, 2025
Apocalypse Orchestra are a Swedish medieval folk band with epic doom elements. Their historic medieval themes, and musical influences that span 8 centuries, transport listeners into the treacherous European dark ages. The band formed in 2013 as a quintet, and released their full-length debut The End Is Nigh in 2017. Through this album, the band gained a solid reputation for successfully managing to incorporate traditional medieval folk instruments, such as the mandola, cittern, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, and rauschpfeife, alongside heavy doom instrumentation. Although such a style is not entirely original, not many bands have achieved this level of authenticity. Now returning to the scene after an 8-year absence, the band present their sophomore A Plague Upon Thee.
The traditional folk instruments once again play a vital role in the songwriting, the hurdy-gurdy and mandola in particular, while the heavier instrumentation is mainly used in a rhythmic fashion to keep a consistent heavy brooding soundscape flowing. The guitars of Erik Larsson and Jonas Lindhare are mostly long-drawn repetitive doom slogs, with the pace rarely exceeding a pedestrian tempo. Drummer Andreas Skoglund pummels with great, powerful force, whil the bass of Rikard Jansson rumbles like thunder. Aside from sporadic growls on the song "Saint Yersinia", the vocals mostly consist of clean singing, with Erik Larsson singing in a deeply passionate and emotionally raw manner as lead vocalist. This is backed up by the remaining musicians, who form a 4-piece folkish background choir that feels like a group of merry bards heroically singing their hearts out from a tavern in the Middle Ages. This epic doom and traditional folk combination is once again sprawled across an hour-long runtime, with tales told of religion, science, and the devastating plague that wreaked havoc during the dark medieval ages.
The medieval time period in Europe would certainly not have been pleasant one to personally endure. Plagues spread right across the continent, and those unfortunate enough to have been struck could only hope to survive by praying to a god who more often than not turned a blind eye. If that didn't work, then your next hope was the eccentric characters in bird masks calling themselves doctors, offering medicines that might either kill you slowly in excruciating pain or, if you're more fortunate, make you hallucinate being chased by a mythical beast. I've always been fascinated by the simple medieval way of life, and often dreamed of one day going back in time to experience it, but the grim reality is, you'd be lucky to even reach double figures before disease killed you off. Not to mention the need to hunt to eat, and the risk after finally killing your prey of being hanged, drawn and quartered for poaching, or sawn in half for not paying the King's taxes in time. Upon reflection, this is a time I'd prefer to enjoy via escapism rather than experience in reality.
Thankfully, Apocalypse Orchestra has captured our imaginations and portrayed vivid soundscapes for us to immerse ourselves in, so we can now experience the majestic wonders of the dark ages, or at least pretend it once was to make us feel better about the modern world we live in. There are two sides to A Plague Upon Thee; strip back the doom elements, and what you're left with is authentic medieval music that's well composed but missing a vital piece to the puzzle. Strip back the medieval folk instruments, and you're left with nothing more than a basic doom canvas. Combine these two styles together, and you're left with one of the most intriguing albums in both folk and doom categories.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written on 18.03.2025 by
Written on 18.03.2025 by
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