Ex Tenebris

White Willow | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 20, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Laser's Edge
• ASIN: B00000BIF9
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,393 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, Beautiful Work of Art., August 19, 2003

By 

IcemanJ (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ex Tenebris (Audio CD)

This CD contains some of the sweetest melodies and songs White Willow has ever written. It is mostly calm, compared to Sacrament, which has a few roaring guitar parts. White Willow somehow has the power to write songs so uplifting, they might hypnotize you or put you in a trance, or just make you think of memories that make you laugh or cry, or smile. What a perfect album to listen to while watching a springtime morning sunrise in Norway (which is where they are from if you didn't know), or running and laughing in fields and meadows with fountains and butterflies and flowers and waterfalls and happy bunneys and rainbows and perfect temperature at midnight but it is still light out, because you are in Norway in early summer, land of the midnight sun. Sorry I got carried away...

The Opener "Leaving the House of Thanatos" contains nostalgic, psychedelic mellotrons that form a unique melody. It shifts through haunting and warm, joyful melodies. Sylvia's vocals are exceptionally outstanding. There are also more vocals other than Sylvia's on this album. "The book of Love" is mostly an astounding duet with male and female vocals, impressively harmonized. This charming ballad contains a flute solo and calm acoustic guitars.

"Soteriology" opens with a medieval acoustic guitar and soft piano melody, and suddenly transforms into faint organs in the background. If anyone walks into the room at this moment they might think you are listening to church music, which this sounds remarkably similar to, but this is way more beautiful than anything you'll hear in church. Sylvia's has almost opera-like vocals, which echo throughout the tranquil organ melody, which keeps blossoming and growing like springtime flowers.

After that, "Helen and Simon Magus" opens with one of the most touching piano melodies and vocal melodies you never thought were possible. Then some keyboard melodies and slightly rudimental drumming appears at the perfect moment and also one of the most melodic and heartfelt electric guitar solos is played. After that one of those loud distorted guitar sections is played with underlying organs, then a little flute which sweetens up any song, and goes right back to what the first part of the song was like, except with harmonized vocals. The song ends with a spoken female voice over a solemn piano melody.

"Thirteen Days" is a short melancholy love song with a bass and acoustic guitar. Asa Eklund's vocals are so sweet and clear.

"A Strange Procession" takes a different twist; it's an instrumental containing a chilling organ and imperial drumming. It reminds me of music you'd hear walking into a castle in medieval times, but a lot more toned down.

"A Dance of Shadows" is a quite long, epic and perfect closing song, the instrumental part being quite experimental with a totally wild solo, organs, and countless other surprises, being long and diverse enough for a whole song itself.

White Willow doesn't disappoint. All of their albums are beautiful in every way. Get them all!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars indelible dark beauty., July 25, 2003

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ex Tenebris (Audio CD)

I like White Willow a lot. Hailing from Norway, they are bar none among of the best prog bands to enter the scene in the 90s, even considering some pretty stiff competition. They are a imaginative group calling on different influences than their peers, mentioning in their liner notes the eternal inspiration of King Crimson, Nick Drake, and Blue Oyster Cult. Rather than pepper their songs with pop hooks and cheesy virtuosity, White Willow embraces mood, dark atmospheres, and delicate beauty. Instrumentation consists of guitar (mostly acoustic, with electric guitar solos and some other electric parts), flute, synthesizer/mellotron, bass, and drums (masterfully played by Anglagard's Mattias Olsson -- this guy is pretty incredible). The first two songs' lead vocals are sung by Jan Tariq Rahman, "Thirteen Days" by Asa Eklund, and the others (excepting the instrumental "A Strange Procession...") Sylvia Erichsen.

There has been a definite sense of development in White Willow's music thus far, from their first album _Ignus Fatuus_ to their most recent _Sacrament_. The music has grown more dynamic and far-reaching. All have been excellent, although I like this one the most so far. This album has a mellow "prog sound" but it never succumbs to any "White Willow prog formula" if you know what I mean. This is fresh stuff.

"Leaving the House of Thanatos" is an amazing, melancholy epic. It opens with a pastoral acoustic guitar and eerie synths blossoming in the background like will-o'-the-wisps passing through the nighttime forest. Then a synth's ivory beam of light sketches the beautiful main theme. A heavy bass vamp and sharp snare crack sunders this peace with and a baroque vocal line. The melody is unusual and haunting. The chorus echoes the synth theme from before, with Erichsen and Rahman creating a beautiful harmony. The swampy, slow rhythm jam that comes after shows the subtle complexity White Willow is capable of. The climax is the majestic, ultra-gorgeous guitar solo of Jacob C. Holm-Lupo. Then repeat verse and chorus and fadeout -- usually fadeouts are cheesy, but here it perfectly fits the lyrics of the chorus.

This is not an album that disappoints with tracks unable to match the great opener. "The Book of Love" is a bare ballad, with acoustic guitars and a flute solo, and male-female vocal harmonies that are sweeter than honey. Lyrically it is almost saccharine, but White Willow so surreally captures the sentiment with utmost earnestness. "Soteriology" is symphonic and haunting, a mood carried on by the following epic "Helen and Simon Magus". This piece bridges beauty with complexity, a mellifluous current hiding many surprises. The ending is very weird and creepy, with a female voice (spoken) over a baneful piano melody. "Thirteen Days" is an obsessive love song, instrumentation sounding like it comes from an amoral dreamworld. "A Strange Procession..." is a chilling organ based piece with slow, heavy marching percussion that rumbles the earth. "...A Dance of Shadows" is an effective, challenging closer. The instrumental middle is a twisted menagerie of intoxicated circus music and shadowy rites enclosed by beautiful elegy with Sylvia Erichsen's lugubrious vocal.

Lastly, this album is BEAUTIFULLY recorded. The engineer deserves a medal, in my opinion. BUY IT.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the symhonic rock is not dead, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ex Tenebris (Audio CD)

Unlike most modern progressive rock bands bands, While Willow IS progressive. Where other bands just end up being regressive White Willow is innovative, but there is never any doubt where they get their inspiration from. The music of Willow is deeply rooted in the tradition of 70's progrock bands like King Crimson, Genesis.... but White Willow never end up like sound-a-likes or clones. The music can best be described as dark and introvert symhonic rock. The lyrics reminds me in a way of William Blakes lyrics, probably because of it gnostic tendencies. All the musicians on the record is great, especially lead singer Sylvia Erichsen. If you you like dark symphonic rock this is THE band for you. Jørgen