And so, The Warren of Snares trilogy is complete and the UKs sadly short lived and now defunct (at least according to a farewell show back in October) Fall of Efrafa have a trilogy to their legacy that can be called truly special.
Starting with 2006s more crusty, D beat based Owsla (‘Warrior’), then the cryptically brilliant post rock of 2007s Elil (‘Enemy’), Fall of Efrafa with Inle, (‘Death’) and their take on the writings of Richard Adams (Watership Down) have taken their vegan/social/atheist diatribes and created a climax to the trilogy that ensure the band is remembered as something truly amazing. It’s a pity they won’t get more recognition for it.
Starting with some striking spoken prose from the Watership Down novel, opener “Simulacrum”, sets the tone perfectly as it builds with tense, shimmering atmospheres before “Fu Inle” lopes into view with a somber, doomy rumble and the mood of the album and the enthralling next hour or so. While certainly rooted in the Neur-Isis genre of things, Fall of Efrafa and Inle itself, having dropped the crust is now far more varied, foreboding and different than many of their peers.
Of course, the whole ‘talking rabbits rebelling against a sadistic police state’ is the obvious element that sets Fall of Efrafa apart, but musically, their music matches the depth and intellectual approach of Adams’ writings. The menacing, almost recurrent structures that surface in the lengthy “Republic of Heaven” (14 minutes), “The Burial” (12 minutes), “Woundwort” (17 minutes) and “Warren of Snares” (17 minutes) make for a grim take on post rock even, with the expected builds, peaks and crushing peaks and angst filled roars.
So many moments of Inle are just pure, thunderous, emotive, rending genius; 6:50 into “The Republic of Heaven”, the mid section of “The Burial”, with its segue from acoustic shimmer to thunderous peak, the brooding march of “Woundwort” (the central villain of Watership Down that gave me nightmares for weeks) and the aptly paced and structured closer that brings the entire trilogy to a fitting close with a stern but epic climax.
How Fall of Efrafa have slid under the radar (at least in the US), in a time where post rock is pretty saturated with clones, is beyond me. However, with the legacy left by The Warren of Snares, especially Elil and Inle, Fall of Efrafa should be considered a short lived elite, cult act that have been taken by The Black Rabbit after delivering musical perfection.
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this band is amazing, I agree Erik, there is a huge audience out there that would love these guys.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 16:27I’m proud to be part of that audience, cause I looooooooove this album. Have you seen the animated movie, Erik? I’m trying to buy that along with The Plague Dogs.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 18:40Yup- saw it when I was 5 or so- Woundwort scared the shit out of me
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 18:51Wasn’t one of the rabbits named Hazel or something? I think I remember liking that one for some reason when I was a kid…
What, post-rock? Alright…
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 20:56yeah Hazel was the leader, also there was Fiver and Bigwig and Blackberry and Silver and Dandelion
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 23:42I think Owsla is quite special as well. But yeah Inlé is truly majestic. I hope FoE someday gets all the recognition they deserve. If you listen to this amazing and emotive music in the knwoledge that it has been recorded with no budget and no label back up and that it is actually availble for nought from their website. It just makes it so much grander, relegating so many hot-shot hype bands to what they really are: posers with big heads, small dicks and an ulcerating one-up-syndrome.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 03:37You guys know anywhere i can order their albums from? Been looking for a while and no one that i usually order shit from carries them.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 06:35I think you can get all the cds direct from Halo of Flies and Sound Destruction Records (the bands UK label).
Plus I believe you can download the albums from the bands official site:
http://www.fallofefrafa.com/
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 10:24