Hin Onde "Fiery September Fire" Splatter vinyl 7"EP

Second press of 500 copies.

Nowadays, there are a lot of bands playing a music described as being folk black metal. Granted that many of these bands don't sound similar, it could be useful to be sharper in the description. Hin Onde doesn't sound at all like the most popular Finnish bands that are ranged in the same style. When you listen to this demo, you'll probably have the impression that this is an Austrian band because they really sound like Summoning and Raventhrone.
As well the keyboard oriented track "Lores of the forgotten ones" as "Paganheart" could perfectly match on "Malice in wonderland". Although we could regret the lack of originality, the second of these two songs is pretty good with interesting variations within the melodies. The atmosphere isn't dark at all, but I guess it's not what they researched and this track is catchy enough to remain in your head a couple of days. The first of these two songs could be seen as an intro to the second one. This track is a bit too easy, consisting in just one boring and slow Casio melody with the sound of the waterfall. It's probably the only deception of this EP.
"Troll and Tom" shows how it's possible to sound folk just with guitars and drums. This track is based on a single riff that is quite easy but well-done through the research of a hypnotic and melodic rhythm. There is a short variation with keys that was in my opinion not necessary. Fans of Isvind and especially of their track "Et slag mot de veike" will appreciate this, although Hin Onde don't reach such a level of perfection. An interesting track, but I have the impression that something is missing, as if it were too linear. If they had played this melody in different ways and with changes of one or the other note, this would have sound better.
The best titles on this EP are "Paganheart" and "24th of September 1155". One more time, this track isn't dark at all, but it sounds folk and the melodies are all good. The song structure is really nice, all instruments are in harmony and the vocals too. They've chosen the best moment to alternate between clean vocals and growls. The growls are more present on the less melodic parts, or better to say, on the parts without keys, while the clean vocals are used the rest of the time in this song. Some people could regret that the guitarist plays almost always the same melody than the keyboard and this is the reason why this song would clearly have sound great even without the keyboard. Anyway, the keys don't reduce the quality of this track, they are more neutral than bad.
Fortunately, in spite of their notable roots, Hin Onde succeeded in releasing a very good stuff. I really appreciate the way of playing of Summoning and Raventhrone and that's why I like this release that may be too minimalist for some people, but well-done and full of captivating melodies and enchanted atmospheres.

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