Kurgan Compass™

Posts By James Paterson

New Moon Fortnight: OTYKEN, Pawl D Beats, Bjorth, Vildemo, and more

May 30, 2022 — As seasons turn and summer draws ever nearer, this latest New Moon is the last before the heathen celebration of the Summer Solstice. Soon, warmer months will truly be upon us. In this bi-weekly, lunar-spun round-up of Kurgan-approved releases and news, James Paterson ably reports about music from colder climes focusing on a wide range of metal, neofolk, and world artists like surprise-finds OTYKEN and Pawl D Beats, plus more.

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New Moon Fortnight: Fuimadane, Nebala, Wardruna, Sun and Moon Dance, Herknungr, and more

April 30, 2022 — With the New Moon aligned to block the sun, signaling the start of summer and spring as per ancient rituals, this particular Black Moon coincides with a lunar eclipse, thus the movements of the night’s sky are making for potent natural forces. Kurgan Compass™ recommends readers shy away from moon magic because the eclipse energy is so intense as we move forward into May. That aside, the abundance of the past two weeks’ releases has been spectacularly potent in its own right.

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New Moon Fortnight: Neofolk & metal by Noiduin, Bjarla, Sowulo, Faun, Danheim, Foresaga, Etc.

April 1, 2022 — As the new moon of April occurs on the first date of the first month of magical spring, the forces of folk and metal team up once more to gift the world with a variety of artistic endeavors and some rather epic music. With such a bountiful bevy of recently-released material, we put veteran music journalist James Paterson to task with articulating the finer points of today’s neofolk and metal rundown.

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Album Review:
Nattramn – ‘Sonatorrek’

March 22, 2022 — The darkfolk flair of Sweden’s Andreas Axelsson’s Nattramn project has time and time again taken inspiration from the poetry, language, and culture of the Nordic people, with most of his previous releases focusing on the characteristics of the mysteriously enthralling Elder Futhark runes.

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