Weihan
Hailing from West Flanders, Belgium, Weihan is the manifestation of the dynamic musical vision of Miguel Boriau (mastermind behind Simulacra, Insomnia, Mannus, Beyond Infinity, and NOTHingness REcords) and Jurgen (guitarist/vocalist of the pagan metal band Theudho).
Founded in 1999 as an industrial project to counter the stagnating and degenerating black metal scene, Weihan has become synonymous with musical progression and lyrical and conceptual integrity.
Even though the lyrics of Weihan have been devoted to Indo-Germanic culture, religion and history throughout the band's existence, the music has ventured in many different places. While the strictly limited 2000 demo “Wonnemond MM” stayed true to the original sinister industrial vibe, the 2004 “Galder” album shows Weihan performing rough and crude sounding neofolk.
Crafted in their own studio, the deliberate primitive production of the debut album seems to reflect the eagerness to rise up against commercial and conformist standards that besieged the underground scene. Some reviewers correctly noted the relation between the landscapes and the climate of the musicians' homeland and the organic nature of their compositions.
The stubborn decision to write all lyrics in their native language instead of English and to use paintings by their renowned countryman Pieter Breughel the Elder as artwork enhances the ethnic and almost patriotic feel of this album – a sense of patriotism that does not spring from ludicrous political overtones but rather from a sincere melancholic admiration for a place that seems to reflect the splendour of long gone times.
Throughout the years, Weihan has been fortunate enough to appear on a number of compilation albums (and even a split-EP) put out by both big and more modest record labels such as Fluttering Dragon, Cynfeirdd, Strength Through Joy Records, Sweet Farewell, Bunkier Productions, and so forth.
Never holding back, the material developed after the debut album gradually progressed into bombastic and grim neo-classical music, inspired by Romantic Slavonic and Nordic composers such as Mussorgski, Prokofiev, Kilar, Wagner and Grieg. The affiliation with classical music is a logical evolution for Weihan; indeed many Romantic composers insisted to musically paint the various landscapes of their homelands with eerie violins and keys being reminiscent of ice cold mountain streams, thunderous percussion and spiccato string sections invoking storms that rage and ravage in open plains and haunting choirs that seem to call forth the solitude of darkened sacred groves.
The cold, almost conjuring vocals add a pensive touch to the material that is presented on their new album.
Never shunning experiments nor fearing change, Weihan decided to work with producer Raf (Ahrayéph, Gorath, Theudho, Gracefallen) to give their newest compositions the most appropriate sound; deep, dark and powerful – a production that truly reflects the nature of the music.
With the material presented on this new collection of songs, “Symphonies of Divination”, Weihan hopes to set a new standard in the industrial / neoclassical genre. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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