Friday, January 4, 2013

Sangre de Muerdago - "Deixame Morrer no Bosque" [Self-Released/Pesanta Urfolk/Heathen Harvest]

Jon first introduced me to Galician neofolk group Sangre de Muerdago, meaning "Blood of the Mistletoe," as "music to listen to while carving drinking horns" and I couldn't agree more. After playing at Stella Natura last September, Sangre de Muerdago has returned with the beast of an offering, Deixademe Morrer no Bosque.

Roughly translated as "Let me die in the Forest," the introduction and title track immediately conjures images of massive trees, accented by hurdy-gurdy melodies, emotive voice and guitar work, and powerful drumming. I may be biased by my awareness of the magic that can happen when playing among the trees and likening it to the introduction, but this album immediately sucked me in.

The second track, "Longo Camiño de Desaprendizaxe," is more thoughtful and indeed almost wistful and that thoughtfulness continues into the next track, the instrumental guitar Longas Noites de Choiva Incansable finished with rain samples. "O Nome do Vento" renews the large, out-in-the forest theme from the intro while an excellent violin in the bridge ties the track together.

Taken separately, the guitar, male and female vocals, drumming, and violin could all stand strongly by themselves, but as a whole they transcend into something wholly captivating, thoughtful and almost otherworldly that quite literally brought a tear to my eye.

Seriously, if you're so much as vaguely interested in folk music, go buy this album. I'll be doing my best to wear out the digital files until the physical releases drop, and then wear out those as well.

Deixademe Morrer no Bosque is available for digital download at the band's Bandcamp and will be released physically early this year as a self-released CD and a double vinyl as a product of the joint efforts of our friends in Heathen Harvest and Pesanta Urfolk.



  1. i wish people would stop calling this band Portugese. Pablo is singing in Galician! Spain!

  2. My bad, been meaning to edit this but have been very busy. Galician and Portuguese have very similar linguistic qualities so I can understand why people would make that mistake (like I did, and I've spoken Spanish for years!).



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