I consider myself a fairly well versed JRR Tolkien/ Lord of the Rings fan, but there are those that are just next level, Stephen Colbert types that are just way beyond me. and the duo that forms Anfauglir, Griss (guitars/vocals ) and Lord Bauglir (vocal/synths/drum programming) are in that category.

Case and point; Anfauglir is another name for Carcharoth or ‘Red Maw’- the horrifying Giant Werewolf of the First Age and Akallabêth (their second album since 2008, after some time off) means ‘The Downfallen‘ in Adûnaic, the language of Tolkien’s Númenoreans. How many of you casually knew that? I fucking didn’t.

Either way get ready for some Tolkien deep cuts as Akallabêth is based on Tolkien’s less known books “The Silmarillion” and “Unfinished Tales“, and is set in the Second Age of Arda as it follows the rise and fall of Númenor, the island kingdom gifted to the race of men by the Valar, the gods of Middle-earth. A number of voice actors an guests lend their voices to tell the tale, giving it a truly epic scope.

OK, now how about the music?

Well, as you’d expect, its as epic and as grandiose as the subject matter, lurking somewhere between Summoning’s somber, Tolkien based plodding atmospherics and Aquilus’ more vast, classical music based epics. Now granted, it more urgent and bombastic than both especially when the duo does get a little more intense such as the finale of 20-minute opener “The Rise of Númenor”, but there are certainly strains of both in here.

The 4 sprawling songs cover over 70 minutes, so strap in. But like the hugely successful movies, there could be a little editing here and there. But for the most part the mix of mid paced, brooding marches, more urgent melodic black metal and triumphant Howard Shore-esque ethereal choirs and orchestration keep largely entertaining, even if there is some wading to do to get to the really good stuff, like getting through all the talking and walking from LOTR trilogy films to get to the battles of Helms Deep of Pelennor Fields.

For example, it takes second track “The Inevitable Truths of Time” five or so minutes to deliver a pretty astounding choral/orchestra laden blast beat that’s really impressive that only appears again 12 minutes later. The 22 -minute “Defying the Doom of Men” takes the opposite approach with the pretty killer bombastic opening few minutes, then meanders around for a while before it gets epic as fuck again around the 17 minute mark. The closer “The Downfall” even has a very “Sauron/The Great Eye” theme,  Shore-ish sound to the orchestration, and rousing moments at its halfway point, and at 11 minutes has a little less wasted time, being focused more in the epic music throughout.

The orchestration of Lord Bauglir is top notch cinema score worthy though his programmed drums are clearly programmed sounding. And I was aware of some hawk-ish black metal vocals, the vocal never really affected the listening experience and seemed pretty back ground sounding.

The the extended editions of the LOTR franchise of films, there is a lot of world building and exposition here so also like the films, there is some absolutely magnificent stuff here- but it also can bog down into slightly boring territory here and there. Either way, Anfauglir has has the potential to be one of the premier Tolkien themed bands out there, they are already one of the deepest.

[Visit the band's website]

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