Sky Of Rose And Wolves
CD-R originally released by DarkBlack MusikProduktion in Canada and reissued by Cat Sun Release in Poland. Both editions are out of print. Many settings of Christian Morgenstern poems, various covers and rereleases of some older tracks. Instrumental and vocal contributions by Feral Farnsworth (of Taint Meat), Matt Rosin (of Surreality and Aeonian) and Hermia Debussy.

The Ball Game ~ the spheres packed tight
The Raven ~ 'twixt foggy banks
The Gallowsbrother's Song To Sophie, The Hangman's Maiden ~ you are good
She dances ~ because she loves me
The Sigh ~ no more
Wind-Witch ~ Abset
No! ~ as if, there
Pills Of White Mercury ~ the unfortunate lass
Venus-Palmström-Anadyomene ~ after the sun goes down, especially
Lake Of Blood ~ in the forest
Daffodil ~ whispered
The Twelve-elf ~ midnight falls
Tree Of Woe
The Tolkien Song
The Brownie
Solitude
Daffodil
The Wrong House
Water-Lilies

Reviews

Dead Angel
Author: RKF
November 2002
More folk-gothic / noise suites from the ever-prolific Smolken. For the uninitiated, DRC's drawing mainly from two wildly disparate influences: traditional (if dark) country-folk idioms on one hand, and pure atonal noise on the other. The effect (particularly on this release) is in the ballpark of the sound of the Slap Happy Humphrey album (where gentle, lilting folk is often supplanted with or obliterated by sheets of white guitar noise), although rarely as pronounced -- often the noise content is so far in the background as to be nearly invisible, but it's there. The album itself appears to be a concept album of sorts, apparently the musings of various dead poets set to music (mainly acoustic guitar, piano, and the aforementioned background noise bleat) by the Dead Raven Choir and various guests. It's a lengthy one, too, with nineteen songs, and all appropriately gothic in tone. This would actually be a good place to start for those not yet hep to the Smolken discography (apparently vast). Note that Smolken's guitar-whackin' skills and overall sound remind me often of Greg Weeks, and the entire feel of this album reminds me of Tinsel (itself a homegrown Leonard Cohen for the avant-garde).

Maelstrom
Author: Roberto
October 2002
Here's another one of Smolken's folk incarnations of his Dead Raven Choir project. It may largely be more of the same, but the quality and interest of the material and execution has improved greatly.
This time around, Smolken got an actual band to help him. The richness of the instrumentation, featuring mandolin, banjo, tambourine, organ, piano and something called a pennywhistle to go along with the electric guitars and basses, plus a much less slipshod feeling concerning the musicianship and compositions make this album something that offers some things to enjoy.
Smolken loves Winnie the Pooh as much as he loves wolves. The liner notes even mention that Sky of Rose and Wolves was completed on the 75th anniversary of the children's classic. If Smolken were here I'm sure he'd say that he loves the A.A. Milne version of the honey-loving bear and not the version that Disney has been putting out since it bought the rights. Milne's writings are featured on several of the songs on Sky of Rose and Wolves, including the last five tracks on the album. These five stand as one piece and are narrated by a woman whose voice has something that really makes you take notice. Speaking of voice, Smolken seems to have gotten stuff right in terms of mixing his albums. The vocals have finally been brought up to a reasonable level, and the sound and interplay of the instruments is much better.
Dead Raven Choir culls its inspiration from various sources. In addition to Milne, there is also a quiet cover of an Averse Sefira song (yeah, the black metal band from Texas), to go along with covers of other bands that I've never even heard of (anyone know about Taint Meat or Deadskull?). Try not to snicker when Smolken drops his rolly "r" Eastern European accent for a twangy blues voice as he sings about his baby on "She Dances."
While Dead Raven Choir is still kind of goofy and remains in my mind the poor man's Kemialliset Ystävät, Sky of Rose and Wolves shows that Smolken is getting his creative steam going. I hope that the next Dead Raven Choir album is even better than this one.

Aversionline
August 2002
4/10
This project seems to change things up consistently with each release. This particular release is more along the lines of the experimental folk present on the previous "In All Poems There are Wolves" CD, though more abstract and obscure in a sense. Here most of the instrumentation used consists of guitar, mandolin, and string bass, with abrasive and chaotic electric guitars making appearances on occasion (usually in the background), along with piano, organ, etc. The vocals are a dramatic form of semi-singing that I don't like at all. I think that Dead Raven Choir has a wealth of potential, but with this type of vocal performance I'm not sure they'll ever win me over. I really enjoy some of the music, especially the more tangible moments of dark, melodic minimalism… but the vocals always ruin it for me. If they were an instrumental unit, or found some sort of way to add variation to the vocal delivery, then I could get into it. Towards the end of the disc some female narration is present, and that's a bit more tolerable. The recording is pretty good. Everything seems a bit warmer and clearer than the group's past efforts (except for the electric guitars, which are too dry to blend in well with the lush tones of the bass and mandolin, etc.), and the mix is very odd. The right speaker usually seems a bit louder than the left, which could very well be intentional, or I could just be hearing things. The CD-R comes in a slim jewel case and the layout is a simple xeroxed insert with minimal information about the tracks and the band alongside typical winter landscape imagery. Mysterious indeed. Most of the songs are very short (less than two or three minutes), hence the presence of 19 compositions, so I think I would really enjoy this if they had a strong vocalist with a diverse range and the ability to actually sing, albeit softly, as the music is very subdued. There's a great sense of atmosphere here, and the material displays more variety than it used to, which is a good thing… but I still can't fully appreciate what's going on. Potential indeed, I only hope it can be fully realized in the future.

Funeral Procession
Author: Hans D.
July 2002
One of three cdr's which i received form this project. Last year I already reviewed the album "In all Poems there are Wolves", which demonstrated an unusual dark and folky sound, rather grave and experimental. Dead Raven Choir is a project around a Polish guy named Smolken. On this release he is assisted by three other musicians. In the booklet can be read that this cd was completed on the 75th birthday of A.A.Milne, creator of Winnie de Pooh. This release contains two songs based on texts by A.A. Milne, as well as various songs with lyrics by Christian Morgenstern, all given the remarkable Dead Raven Choir treatment.
The music starts tranquil with the sound of an acoustic guitar. Soon things get more unstelling, with many dissonant chords and sudden electrical guitar outbursts. The estranging, theatrical voice of mr. Smolken makes the sound even more unsual. At times he sounds very creepy, like someone reciting an old horror story. Dead Raven Choir offers us a mixture of folky pieces, psychedelic fuzzy noises and at times even a bluesy feel. The fact that there are no clear melodies and refrains makes it not very accessible. I could have appreciated a little more variation, it is hard to remember individual songs. But overall this is quite interesting material, with an unique sound. My biggest problem: when do you listen to this music? Its is not something to dance to, and it is not very relaxing either. And I would not dare to listen to it late at night in the dark...
This cdr will soon also be released in Poland by Cat Sun Release.