In familiar atmospheric black metal fashion, Veldes is a one-man project of Tilen Šimon, who has previously performed a share of duties within a slew of Slovenian metal bands: Nephrolith, Within Destruction, and Wintersoul. Naming this most recent undertaking after the archaic name of his town of residence Bled, Veldes has tapped into the fallout of post-black metal bands like Drudkh and Wolves in the Throne Room; traditional atmosphere and lo-fi instrumentation is mixed with an acknowledgement of post-rock and shoegaze, and a cinematic attitude towards composition. Though I've never had the chance to travel that far east, I hear Bled is renowned for its stark natural beauty and historical significance. With this in mind, it seems fitting that Veldes has been so named; To Drown in Bleeding Hope is a gloomy paean to the search of meaning in nature when none can be found in society. The album's generic elements cannot go without mention, but the effective atmosphere and set of memorable compositions make Veldes' debut to the world a strong step in the right direction.

For what Veldes initially lacks in terms of a unique or distinct execution, Tilen Šimon demonstrates his greatest strengths here to be related to composition and songwriting. Before I even mention the project's performance-based merits, the songs here feel fleshed out and memorably arranged to an extent I have rarely heard in atmospheric black metal. No previously held genre-rules are broken, but Tilen Šimon seems to know exactly how to make a musical idea reach its potential. Each of the five songs on the album have at least one riff or motif that stands out in the listener's mind after the album has finished. Although Veldes is not immune to the atmospheric black metal epidemic of repetition, the said repetition is handled in such a way that the music never feels boring. Even when Veldes treads softly into slower-paced territory with "Within These Roots Only Sickness Dwells" and "Beneath the Grieving Waters", Šimon's skill with building compositions doesn't fail; the music stays interesting, and the atmosphere continues to broil. In spite of the slower sections' tendency to recall funeral doom aesthetics, To Drown in Bleeding Hope draws a great deal from the preexisting formulas of its style. Veldes' nature-inspired, lo-fi angle could be drowned in a flood of like-sounding bands if based on style alone; the lack of an inherently engaging style does seek to hold Veldes back, but it doesn't get in the way of the songwriting, which gives every impression of having come from a place of inspiration and sincerity.

"Earth as a Nest of Bones and Debris" opens with one of the most effective uses of samples I've heard in recent listening. Veldes' sampling of a particularly bleak monologue from the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road seeks to put my stomach in knots each time I hear it. Although the transition back into the black metal feels a bit abrupt, the rest of the song's tone matches the sample's atmospheric precedent perfectly. I know it's only a miniscule touch with regards to the album as a whole, but the way the despair and melancholic pessimism of The Road weaves itself so seamlessly into Veldes' emotional tapestry makes me wonder why I haven't heard that film sampled on more black metal albums.

Lyrically, To Drown in Bleeding Hope gives an apt indicator of its content and relative quality in the title itself. Tilen Šimon's poetry is solipsistic in its attitude, revolving almost entirely around sorrow, loneliness and death. It's such standard fare for the genre that it virtually denies analysis or criticism for good or bad; at the very least, it fits the album's despondent atmosphere. Though the lyrics may verge on the cliché, Šimon's vocals offer an impressive presence in the music, a tortured howl stretched to a greater expanse with the help of some tastefully moderate reverb. On the topic of effects and production, Veldes is the result of an artist with some obvious experience in the field; the guitars, while a bit dry at times, have been kept pleasantly raw, and the synth textures are cleverly innocuous to the point where an inattentive listener might not even pick up on them. The only real disappointment regarding Šimon's realization of his music lies in the use of artificial drums, which sound dull and unpleasantly monotonous in execution, in spite of being relatively well programmed and arranged.

While Veldes' raw production, emphasis on atmosphere, gloomy mood and Romanticized handling of depression all feel like resoundingly average fare for atmospheric black metal, Tilen Šimon's memorable, careful skill with composition makes the album a worthy experience. To Drown in Bleeding Hope offers a rare experience in black metal where each track feels distinct from the others; Veldes doesn't serve to innovate any of the genre's lasting trademarks with this one, but Tilen Šimon's first foray into atmospheric black metal with this fresh project has proved bountiful, not only in terms of the atmosphere it conjures, but the emotions that atmosphere has provoked.

Review originally written for Heathen Harvest Periodical: www.heathenharvest.org/veldes-to-drown-in-bleeding-hope

Veldes is the solo work of Slovenian guitarist Tilen Šimon, otherwise known as Isvaroth from Nephrolith, whose debut I reviewed a couple years ago. Unlike that act, which was a more decidedly face-scathing brand of Scandinavian-styled black metal, here the focus is largely upon swaths of involved, atmospheric sound reliant on more minimalistic chord patterns and melodies, secondary drum beats and even some samples. I suppose it sounds like it belongs in the Summoning camp, though this is directly centered around the guitar itself, and not the synths and masterful use of electronic percussion that those Austrians are known for. While To Drown in Bleeding Hope is not a long album by any means (36 minutes), it's certainly one that demands some patience on the listener's part.

These aren't dense compositions loaded down with riffs, and really only the first track "Through the Bitter Flames" casts the hue of a more traditional black metal blaze, with warm and mildly dissonant chord patterns that are refreshingly not all that predictable; though some of the tremolo guitar fills are bland, and even if this has the most intense beats throughout the album, they're still incredibly passive beneath those shimmering, bright guitars and Tilen's desperate, immense rasping vocal inflection. The other four tracks are more the norm, spacious and gracious and often involving catchy clean guitars accompanied by slightly swelling synth synth lines that give you the impression your watching birds take off over a lake. For instance, the openings to "Featherless Across the Burnt Skies" or "Beneath the Grieving Waters" are quite stunning, and when the metal element arrives it all feels like this vast, rustic space opening above you, as profound as the onrush of dawn, and I think that was the point here. Emotional, outdoorsy black metal as opposed to some sinister Satanic ritual being performed in a cave, with image-heavy lyrics of renewal and decay that do well to spark the listener's imagination.

Production is quite impressive here for just one guy, and though the drums feel too artificial in spots, they're not exactly the strong point, usually just keeping the pace cleanly, or informing the tempo changes. The bass lines are all rather simple and gentle, but they do their job in adding a deeper dimension to the generally high pitched rhythm guitars. I was scratching my head at the spoken word sequence in "Earth As a Nest of Bones and Debris", finding it eerily familiar, and then realized it was Viggo Mortensen's character from the film version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road! Aesthetically, it fits in rather well with the pianos and walls of distortion Šimon evokes here, and inevitable eruptions of resonant snarls. In general, the whole album possesses a consistency to it which flooded my thoughts with imagery of mists, hazy golden mornings, wildlife and an absence of mankind and civilization, so those seeking out a more majestic, rural black metal sensibility will likely get something out of Veldes. It's not exactly intricate or complex, and I think the rhythm section could be a little more ambitious to produce stronger results, but if you're looking for breathing, captivating black metal with a folk tint ala Summoning, Mirkwood, Elffor, Kroda, Falkenbach, or Drudkh it's worth hearing.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

'To Drown in Bleeding Hope' is the debut album from one man band Tilen Šimon of Slovenia, under the project name of Veldes. The Metal Archives calls this atmospheric black metal, but there is so much more to this release than that. If someone tried to tell me this was atmospheric/melodic black/doom metal, I wouldn't be able to entirely disagree. There are all of those elements and more, expertly woven into a starkly beautiful picture postcard of life, death and despair.

The atmosphere is provided by heavily distorted guitars, muted bass, a minimalistic playing style and a special vocal performance that is undeniably black metal whilst managing to keep almost every word understandable. There is so much emotion in Tilen's somewhere-between-growl-and-shriek vocals. For example, the lines "featherless they fly, across the burnt skies, where death is a fire, and life remains ash" aren't particularly inspiring on paper, yet through his vocal chords simple phrases become incredibly powerful and evocative, conveying strains of futility and melancholy with ease.

Tilen also seems gifted with a natural understanding of melody, evident on every track but especially noteworthy on 'Within These Roots Only Sickness Dwells,' a hauntingly beautiful song that uses mournful notes plucked from his guitar and left hanging in the air to conjure images of grey landscapes in a dying world. When Šimon needs to switch it up and generate momentum he turns to the rhythm section as seen on closer 'Beneath the Grieving Waters,' which had me headbanging through the faster sections. Both drums and bass are solid throughout the album, with every note of the bass audible in the mix and a rich and satisfying drum tone.

'Earth as a Nest of Bones and Debris' begins with a sample from the movie The Road (2009), spoken by Viggo Mortensen of Aragorn fame. It's an interesting idea, as the quote portrays a bleak picture and one assumes it is intended to add to the atmosphere, however on first listen the appearance of a 40 second audio sample at the start of a black metal song surprised me out of the grim reverie created by the previous tracks. I liked the idea though, and on summary listens it works well, barring the transition from sample to actual song, which I find too sudden for an album of this meandering pace.

Another minor complaint for the album is its length, clocking in at 36:15. This is just not long enough for a release of this style and quality. I feel another couple of songs are needed to bring it up to the 50 minute mark so as to have enough time to properly submerge myself the themes and emotions portrayed in this record. Overall however 'To Drown in Bleeding Hope' is an excellent debut and one of the best albums I have heard so far this year. I will be keenly waiting to see what Šimon follows it up with in the future.

Back in 2012, Tilen Simon started Veldes, not knowing what sort of impact he was going to have on people with the music he will create. After a year of writing and recording, their first full length album entitled To Drown In Bleeding Hope was released (which my review of will be up in a bit.) This sparked peoples interest and grew the band's fan base quickly. Now, after riding out the successful release of their debut full length for a year, Veldes is back with more! Skyward was released in 2014 and features a little over 26 minutes of absolutely beautiful melodies and astounding soundscapes. Consisting of only 4 songs, two being instrumental only, Skyward is a majestic piece of art that incorporates joy, sorrow, hate, and love all into one and portrays those emotions extremely well through the music. 

While listening to this release, I noticed myself almost in a trance while listening. It is extremely calming and meditative music while at the same time remaining rooted within the black metal veins. I have found that while working on something frustrating or after a long day at work, Skyward is the best thing to have playing in the background because it keeps you cool and collective instead of getting your blood pumping. I attribute these feelings to the chord progressions used on almost all songs, especially the intro track. I have listened to thousands of albums and with that, thousands of intro's and this one is by far my favorite. It has a melancholic vibe with the downward chord structure and the way the piano melody intertwines with the guitar. It is a gorgeous representation of how well these types of intro's fit within metal music. When the black metal kicks in, it still keeps the piano at the forefront for most of the time and that adds so much to the music. 

The drums are there, but are not overpowering in any way. If anything, I would have liked to hear them a bit higher in the mix to hear everything a little bit better. The guitars, both electric and acoustic, are played with expertise and skill. The riffs were well thought out and well written. No detail was overlooked when it came to interweaving melodies with the guitars and piano because they sound perfect together. The vocals are not present too often compared to the instrumental sections. If any of you have read some of my other reviews, you know that I like when bands do that. While the vocals are important, music like this can really come forward and tell a story or paint a picture for the listener without using lyrics to do the talking. When the vocals are present, there is always something interesting going on with the band in the background, it is never dubbed down so the vocals can have the spotlight but is never too present to the point where the vocals don't matter, giving it a perfect balance. 

T.S. is an extremely talented guy and being able to put all of this together by himself is a feat on its own, but executing it as beautifully as he did is extraordinary. While not everyone will find this as entertaining of a release due to the slower tempos and emphasis on melody, this is exactly what I look for in music because of the emotions it arouses. Needless to say, this has to be one of my favorite albums I've ever reviewed!

One thing I kept thinking back to as I was exploring this new Veldes EP was how Tilen Šimon (aka Isvaroth) has such a flair for cautious material held at a steady pace to provide patient emotional impact, only rarely fielding the explosions of frost tinted, blinding speed we associate with a lot of traditional black metal. Whether or not that makes Skyward partially folk metal, or black/doom I really don't need to delve into, but the result is that the music takes on this almost cinematic, sentimental form that I often equate with veteran composers like Hans Zimmer on some of his more recent material (Inception, etc) where the slow pianos hit those exact right notes, only here they are complementary to the powerful, catchy and simplistic chord patterns and driving double-kick drums...it's quite overwhelming when coupled with the hideous black metal snarls that Tilen will often sustain over entire note phrases.

Two of the four tracks here, the first ("Skyward" itself) and last ("Gone") are purely instrumental pieces using the keys which most closely manifest the principle I mentioned earlier, and both are gorgeous of their own accord, but the 9 minute "Woe Eater" also holds consistently to this theme with the pianos lightly caressing the burgeoning, melodic chords. This is also the song where he lets us know that we're not entirely in the safe zone by battering the life out of us with this concrete black metal blast sequence. "Of Rain and Moss", the other metallic track remains the slower, grandiose tempo and ties the harsher elements in with the instrumentals, though I found this was actually the most repetitive feeling tune among the four, though not at all bad if you like slower, sure footed melodies embroiled with angst and suffering. Bass lines are simple and generally tend towards the root notes of the rhythm guitar, but I can't imagine that by being busier or complex they would add much to the songs' unerring sense of sadness, like the fog slowly dissipating from the woodland scene in the cover picture.

I did find the vocal mix irksome, not because I don't enjoy Tilen's soul-baring rasps, which go sailing over the forested hillsides like blackbirds slowly plummeting from the heavens, but because there seemed to be a little too much of a buzz or distortion on the vocal track. Also I found myself wondering just how much more elegant these tunes might feel with soaring clean vocals, or a mixture of the two styles, but at least he's got one of those down pretty tight. Otherwise, I think this is slightly stronger material than last year's full-length To Drown in Bleeding Hope. The two instrumentals are beautiful, the way he weaves that style into the heavier material is also quite memorable. Riff progressions are mildly predictable, and he could probably construct melodies that come at you more from left field, but all in all, if you experience this EP in the proper climate, it conveys the sense of beautiful, maudlin desperation that Veldes no doubt set out to achieve, and those fond of slower, atmospheric black metal which doesn't shy away from piano sounds should find it appealing.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Of the two acts featured on this split, I'm more (but not much more) familiar with Veldes, having reviewed an EP of his, "Skyward", almost exactly 12 months ago as of this time of writing. Perhaps something more than coincidence drew me back to Veldes and this split which introduces Black Autumn, a one-man ambient BM act from Germany, to me. I see on his MA entry that BA has a history stretching back some 20 years with a lengthy discography so I have a lot of catching up to do!

Well both acts are ambient BM projects so we can expect music that's equal parts aggression and atmosphere that evokes a variety of mostly negative emotions and moods, and Black Autumn does not disappoint with his two offerings. A lonely plaintive introduction that tugs at the heart strings pulls this listener into a raging storm of tough, gritty tremolo guitar shower-falls, cold cloying, suffocating synth drone cover and pounding percussion. For once in the total history of music, the heavy-handed keyboard playing actually works in helping to create a dark smothering, choking world of gloom and negativity. Everyone must flock here to see how muddy production and clunking music can actually create something good and learn something from it. Second track "Tiefland" brings in a creepy organ and dark guitar blues into the dark murky mix of ambient BM / doom that develops into an overwhelming howl of despair with hysterical lead guitar over the percussion clunk. 

Veldes' side is dominated by piano playing over a more subdued soundtrack of repetitive depressive tremolo guitar growl and basic percussion. While the actual riffing is good, and the sound is balanced between tough and hard-edged on one hand, and pained on the other, there is far too much monotony over Veldes' half of the split, and not enough attention given to creating and maintaining a distinct atmosphere that would distinguish Veldes in a more general way from atmospheric BM.

If this split is typical of the two acts' styles, then I have to wonder how Black Autumn can have escaped notice for so long. His music here combines dark seething anger, bluesy melancholy and sorrow, and occasional (if all too brief) wistfulness in a very potent and powerful brew. Veldes on the other hand is drowning in too much boring repetition and I'm sorry that his side is eclipsed by a very long shot by Black Autumn.

Veldes counts among several of the pleasantly quiet discoveries I've found over the last few years. I still remember the debut To Drown in Bleeding Hope fairly well from when I first heard it in 2013. Veldes was the sort of project I may have never heard about, had the composer behind the work not contacted me directly. With a fairly innocuous, safe approach towards nature-themed black metal, it also wasn't the sort of music that would stand out so much as to create its own hype. Veldes remained a kept secret for most intents and purposes, but the debut's atmosphere made it a worthy find for any who came upon it.

That said, Veldes hasn't seen fit to reclaim the magic of the debut on its other outings. The EP Skyward bored me to tears, and the subsequent releases had nothing close to, say, the chilling moment where T.L sampled The Road via To Bleed in Drowning Hope. For whatever reasons, Veldes slunk into an even gentler mould as time went on. The spirit of struggle on the debut gave way to a meek sense of resignation. Such seems to be the case with Ember Breather, Veldes' second full-length, and a solid indication that the project has lost some of its original might.

As a composer, T.L has a sharp grasp of atmospheric black metal, particularly on the spectrum's slower end. Elderwind and early Drudkh are likely first stops in comparing Veldes, although the sheer introspection recalls blackgaze as much as anything else. Veldes' compositions unfold as slow, minimalist sprawls, generally building a single up over the course of a track. T.L is also prone to filling up the sound with simple keyboard accents atop the guitar. In this sense, Veldes isn't so far from Summoning. But where Summoning fills the arrangement with dense orchestrations, Veldes keeps the composition to its bare essentials.

This minimalism can work brilliantly well in black metal when done properly (see Filosofem for a glowing example of this) but without a certain fluid quality, it gets hard for the music to invoke an atmosphere. Veldes' gentle pace could have worked with an organic presentation, but much of the performance feels restrained and sterile. Even within minimal compositions like these, there is plenty of potential for a musician to have injected them with live and urgency. T.L. doesn't botch the performance here at all, but everything feels too safe and calculated to encourage atmosphere. A lot of the time, I found myself admiring the simple effectiveness of the writing without really feeling the atmosphere like I'd hoped to.

Veldes is still a relatively solid act in my books, although the absence of such apparent flaws seems to be a result of the artist taking the tame route too often. While I was writing this review, I was relistening to To Drown in Bleeding Hope to see if my opinion had soured on it at all. The debut still holds up as well as it did in 2013. I can hear a fire on that album. I smell ashes with Ember Breather. Hopefully T.L. can reignite whatever intensity he had tapped into with the debut; the work's he made recently hasn't come close to that standard.

Originally written for Heathen Harvest Periodical.

"Ember Breather" sounds like a great band name as well as a great title for an album and should Slovenian one-man atmospheric BM band Veldes ever discover that someone else beat him to the rights of his project's name, at least he'll have a ready back-up name. The music on this, Veldes' second album, is very good too: mostly raw and flowing melodic BM with plenty of sadness and rage and a tough edge in the churning tremolo guitar grind and the harsh screaming vocals. Add non-electric instruments like acoustic guitar, a plaintive piano and maybe a few other unidentifiable items, and the result is a recording of often hypnotic and deeply affecting music shifting easily from melancholy and anguish to sheer rage.

Opening track "The Roamer's Curse" sets the example that will be followed by the other four tracks: stirring, almost folk-like melodies and riffs that repeat throughout the length of their respective songs and which generate intense moods and feelings. The riffs may be taken up by piano and changed in ways that complement their guitar-generated originals. The screaming can grate on the nerves - it is extremely screechy and ragged in tone - but for impotent anger and frustration at the state of the world and humanity, the vocals are hard to outdo. Tracks are usually quite long - the shortest piece is just over 6 minutes in length - and since they are mostly instrumental and often repetitive, an argument could be made that they all could be shorter while still carrying the same force, passion and anger.

All tracks have very catchy riffs and hooks, and while no one track is better than the rest, probably the most Odinpop-accessible of them all is the middle song "To Ruins of Throneless Realm" which features some thrilling tremolo guitar work that just goes on and on, and some very crunchy riffing and hard grinding bass. The piano sounds even more isolated and pained in tone, probably as the contrasts between its pure tones and the rest of the music seem so much greater here. The mood is sadder here than on the rest of the album. There isn't much to fault here though if the drumming and the bass were deeper, we would have a real doomy and downbeat atmospheric BM monster. "Dust Scatterer" is another quite good song, introducing a slightly cleaner yet just as dark urban-blues feel into the overall Veldes style.

On the whole this is a good and consistent album of intensely sad and sometimes raging atmospheric BM - the only changes I would make to make this a great album would be shaving off a couple of minutes on the songs and taking out the last track which features no electric guitars and doesn't add much new to the rest of the album other than to reinforce the sorrow. If a major BM label were to pick up "Ember Breather" for release and distribution, it could very well be Veldes' break-out album.

Here Veldes man Tilen Šimon delivers what he does best: epic flowing atmospheric BM of fury, melancholy and longing with catchy pop melodies. "The Songless Forest" sets the pace and the tone for the rest of the EP to follow: majestic riffs performed on noisy raw BM guitars over and over, crashing repeatedly like waves roaring and rolling over onto a beach, over insanely flippy machine percussion rhythms while piano melodies waltz by without a care in the world, and in the far distance a harsh vocal rages, as if fighting and resisting that ultimate dissolution we all must face one day. The overall atmosphere is of regret and sorrow alternating with fury. It's as if a phantom is ranting and raving against the unfairness of the universe as it slowly and relentlessly crushes the spirit being, yet despite (or because of) that oncoming death the spirit vents its pointless anger all the more intensely.

The title track is a more reflective and subdued track but paradoxically seems the more powerful with slashing guitar surges and biting acid vocals. Later parts of the music can be chunky with riffs peeling off in slabs and clunky piano wandering all over the music while background synthesiser sighs away. (I have the feeling the piano should be a bit more subdued and less clanky here to preserve the sorrowing mood.) On the whole this is a very impressive piece of immersive atmospheric music of sadness and heartfelt yearning for something lost forever. "Where Rivers Turn to Ashes" is an upbeat and happy track (considering its title) with jaunty piano-playing, blasts of scourging BM guitars and equally harsh rasping vocals. I must confess I am no fan of the piano melodies here - they remind me of saccharine Japanese anime films of doomed teenage romances, of the kind directed by Makoto Shinkai - but thankfully they are not the dominant element as the more melodic post-metal guitar takes over and carries the emotion and mood for much of the rest of the track with the BM guitars as a backing chorus. For what it does, the track is rather too drawn out in its last few minutes and some editing could have made it much tighter and forceful, and less sugary in parts.

Bonus track "Desolation Heir", while a pleasant song in itself, adds nothing new and seems a bit muddled at times: it jumps from sad and sorrowful to happy or angry in ways that to this listener don't make much sense. As with "Where Rivers ..." the track runs out of puff after the halfway point and keeps going and going, subjecting listeners to a lot of unnecessary sugar piano tunes. 

Without the bonus track, the three-track EP is complete in itself and showcases Veldes' style very well. The piano playing could be better: in some parts of the music it could be much gentler than it is, and the melodies can be very sappy. The rest of the music is very good, especially in the first half of the EP. If Šimon can bottle the inspirations that led him to create a track like "The Songless Forest" and keep that balance for future recordings, Veldes itself will be an inspiration in emotional atmospheric BM.