Trinithos - Zeichnungen

Neofolk scene was not pampered much recently; good releases are rare these days. Only few labels continue their activity in this field of alternative scene. One of those labels is The Eastern Front that contributed few CDs during 2012 to make a slight injection of good music to those that starve for guitars based tunes.

'Zeichnungen' ("Drawings" - an English translation) is the latest album from German formation Trinithos, and with their fourth creation the guys follow the path of classical neofolk genre. Twelve compositions are overloaded with melodies created by a wide range of acoustic instruments, where most of them are mid tempo ballads driven by a guitar rhythm which is very common to such kind of a music. More dreamy and melancholic compositions like "Zeichnet Die Spuren", "Hier Im Sand" or "Auf-Bruch" are followed by dynamic and telic songs like "Gebet An Den Engel" and "Verwehen Lassen". All the tracks carry a fresh air of vast forests and wide fields, a breath of a gentle wind, a blossom of nature in all its beauty. Trinithos add also natural sounds of running streams and singing birds to strengthen the feeling of outdoors experience, where every splash and sound becomes a part of eternal musical cycle. I would like to sign out the track "Heimat" in which a strong neoclassical background hit my speakers with a storm of emotions, supported by the end with a modern drumming session and electrical guitars, creating a total wall of music.

While all the compositions are crafted with a special energy and skill, the weakest point (for my taste) is a vocal component which is not less important to create a good neofolk album. At this stage I have to divide the influence of vocals in two sections. First of all, all the songs are in German, and I am sure that German speaking auditory will enjoy it much more than me understanding only few words here and there. Most of the vocals are male vocals with an extremely soft timbre. When the tracks are slower and receive a form of ballad, it fits reasonably into the overall spirit. But in a faster tracks the voice simply sinks in all the instrumentation that happens around, being stuck somewhere behind without contributing anything special to the melody. I am truly convinced that fast compositions supported by drumming session demand much stronger possessed vocals to keep lyrical component alive. Also female voice joins from time to time to add even more softness to the specific tracks like "Auf-Bruch" and "Spuren II", being a not bad addition to the total creation.

So, to make a long story short, as you could probably understand, what do we have here is one more neoclassical album that can join the army of good cds that don't discover anything new and don't break any boundaries, but exploit the well-known techniques of manipulating with a sound and instrumentation. For the future I would like to advise Trinithos to use a different voice in their faster compositions or at least put the existing a little bit more above the melody. And for the end, after listening to this album few times, I can feel that sometimes it is too much happening inside the music and less complex melodies could contribute more.

Anyhow, if you are a fan of hiking and camping inside wide forests, take this album with you, it will smooth your trip without a doubt. Jan 22 2013