Saltatio Mortis – Sturm Auf Paradies

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Saltatio Mortis are a folk rock band on Napalm Records, and as such might find themselves confused with one of many folk metal acts spread across Europe. However, the primary strain of folk-influenced rock from Germany has developed and matured in isolation away from the rest of the continent. Led by bands such as In Extremo and Subway To Sally, the distinctly Deutsch sub-group enjoys great success anywhere that German is spoken, and a fair bit less everywhere else. This might explain why Saltatio Mortis aren’t a household name in places like the UK, whilst they enjoy chart success back home in Germany. Sturm Auf Paradies, the band’s umpteenth album, demonstrates all the reasons why this kind of folk rock is so different to what is happening further North. At its root, the band play simple hard rock with a bit of a punk edge, coupled with that classic, rugged German vocal delivery. If this sounds like Die Toten Hosen to you, well, that’s because it does. The band’s folk instrumentalists carry the lead melodies, but that’s pretty much all they do. There are no ambitions to seriously intertwine rock and folk on this particular record. This is, at its very heart, a straight forward rock album with straight forward songs. That’s the big, unavoidable drawback though – Saltatio Mortis have a good song here and there, but their songs otherwise come across as very pedestrian and offer nothing outstanding. Its all just a little too simple and a little too mid-paced, with a few fancy instruments but no fancy playing; which works just fine when you have a talent for writing great songs, but Sturm Auf Paradies doesn’t demonstrate this at all. Compared to the aforementioned leaders of this particular sub-genre, who have an incredible talent for writing great rock melodies, Saltatio Mortis simply sound second rate. If the band want to bring this music to the rest of Europe, they’ll need to make something a lot more inspiring.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Folk Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Saltatio Mortis