{"id":113200,"date":"2022-04-06T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/?p=113200"},"modified":"2022-04-06T11:06:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T16:06:28","slug":"track-premiere-interview-melopoeia-of-the-valar-part-i-seven-and-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/track-premiere-interview-melopoeia-of-the-valar-part-i-seven-and-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Track Premiere & Interview: Melop\u0153ia \u2013 “Of the Valar, Part I: Seven and Seven”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Metal has more than its fair share of Tolkien-inspired band names. There’s Amon Amarth<\/strong>, Cirith Ungol<\/strong>, Falls of Rauros<\/strong>, etc. etc. However, despite this obvious admiration for the late Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon<\/a>, few bands go deep into the actual lore Tolkien created beyond using the\u00a0Lord of the Rings\u00a0<\/em>trilogy as a source of epic battle narratives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Melop\u0153ia<\/strong> is different. This microtonal black metal project rests on a firm foundation of Tolkien’s lore and uses microtonal guitar<\/a> on their latest release,\u00a0Valaquenta<\/em><\/a>, to narrate The Silmarillion<\/em>. The band is painstakingly recording the album track by track using the text as source material, so one imagines it will be some time before the double album is finished.<\/p>\n

Dave Tremblay, Melop\u0153ia’s principle songwriter, describes his technique as a kind of translation of the text into music using a self-devised system. This method of songwriting is as literal as it sounds\u2014J.R.R. Tolkien is credited as composer here, with Melop\u0153ia using close reading of The Silmarillion\u00a0<\/em>to go word by word through Tolkien’s densest book. The songwriting is less granular than it was on the band’s last release, Ainulindal\u00eb<\/em><\/a>, which was crafted electronically going letter by letter\u2014the band notes that while Ainulindal\u00eb <\/em>could be listened to alongside the text, Valaquenta <\/em>is much more of a palimpsest, with words translating as tone rows over the top of the original writing. This gives Valaquenta\u00a0<\/em>a grander aspect than its predecessor and makes for a more immediate listen (arguably, this is a more exciting way to experience The Silmarillion\u00a0<\/em>and Tolkien’s creation mythology than just the book itself). [That was Nazg\u00fbl<\/em> of you, Theo! ~Roldy]<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’ve got the premiere of the 4th track on Valaquenta <\/em>here for you today. While this is hardly easy listening, it’s a fascinating look into a textual system for generating brutal black metal.<\/p>\n