If you have a review, be that for a zine, or just for fun, please send it to us, positive or negative, it will get posted here.




FALL OF EFRAFA - A story in three acts
(original in german at their site, badly translated using google translate)

The dubbing of the successful novel "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, the name "The Warren of Snares" bear goes into the third and final round. FALL OF EFRAFA treads one last time on their strengths and tell the story to an end. A band created by a musical legend to life, over three albums epic proportions. Three albums, nothing more, then end. This takes courage and, above all, a great degree of self-discipline.

"Inle," the final act begins quietly, with the subliminal threat. Silent guitars, a recurring melody played. They will cite a story, a part of the book: "These throws of rapture, kindly hands Caress broken bones, hands that cut through parched soul like a sharpened stone. What is it that we leave in fitting these moments? Sentiment ?.....". Curious listening to the spoken words and over again compounded short attacks on the percussion, which can scare .. Gradually, it will be louder, the more aggressive beats, massive guitars, until it is quiet again and we are already at "Fu Inle is located. What follows here is a positive value to the monotony that is second to none and always will remain intense. There are the driving drums, the harsh and gloomy voice and melodies, which can listen spellbound. A listening, which should be rewarded. FALL OF EFRAFA tell the story of the death of Hazel-frame, the leader of the rebels Owsla from the first part of the trilogy of the band. This all comes in a metaphorical conversation between the dying and the black rabbit is told and lyrically very exciting. The monotony, which is inherent in this song yet the listener and pulls him completely under their spell. Here is history, but it was already said.

From the slow monotony out about it seamlessly into the driving early highlight of the album. The pace is faster, the game with catchy guitars and the structure no longer equals that which we previously heard. "Republic Of Heaven", a song with a voltage arc for an entire album. A 14-minute epic with a climax, which is initiated by the words "The king is dead" and is accompanied by brachial proclaimed "We bound his face! Cut off his head! We spit at thee, we curse at thee, the king is dead! Brothers and sisters, the king is dead! Cut him down, his skin Flay, our god is dead. " The goose bumps, which comes about when the whole band to the audience screams against these lines, is almost indescribable. Then change the track again and again proposes completely new ground, only to then return to the starting position to land.

FALL OF EFRAFA from those minutes are rampant than ever before, and know always continue to increase. From this point knows "Inle" no turning back and goes only forward. The tracks to find an extra intensity, energy and sometimes even geniegleichem madness. Under the ten-minute limit makes it not a piece on "Inle more, except for the very brief and purely instrumental pieces held interim" The Sky Suspended. " A particularly striking is because "Woundwort", which with a campfire romanticism of a somewhat different type ones. The quiet sounds of the beginning is also the harsh voice of front man Alex, by her emotional vocal could not be broken. This gives calm before the storm, although one always has in mind that the finale of the trilogy, the bitter end of FALL OF EFRAFA, inevitably once again all of his listeners will demand.

And that is then reflected in "The Warren of Snares", the last track of this epic journey. The liberation of Owsla is imminent and so is the conclusion. FALL OF EFRAFA again take all their skill and their strength together and leave the album with a post-hardcore blow in the pit of the stomach. Here again, all you need. The all-building tunes that are in the overall context as proving a huge tower, which always threatens collapse threatens to bury everything under itself. This happens during the 17 minutes, but it also has something of liberation, as the story also states that incredible melody underscores the conclusion that only once. The chapter FALL OF EFRAFA closes just like the last chapter of "Watership Down" and so is the band's history. A lasting impression, however, has left and this is perhaps even more than you originally wanted.

'Inle' is massive, intense and rich in both energy and emotional, as well as musical outbursts. An absolute masterpiece in terms of post-hardcore, and this trilogy is a long time to none. An excerpt from the statement of the band on her project will now finish this novel and of itself, because even more will I have to say: "In the context of the trilogy, The Warren of Snares is a metaphor for our uneasy footing upon the earth. As we continue our arrogant reign, we set traps for ourselves. Be that climate change, over population or reliance on medieval teachings for guidance. We open those snares wide, for us to Tread upon at a later date, to die at our own hands. "

allschools.de



the inevitable nose


Fall of efrafa  - Inle.

This a preemptive review of the record, now available for download, but to be released on Double LP and CD later this month.

Inle is the final installment of a trilogy of records collectively known as The Warren of snares - an ambitious project involving a concept surrounding the book watership down. Although the lyrics are steeped in metaphor and the odd use of the rabbit language called "lapine" - fall of efrafa have created a dense multi layered project that should be appreciated for its mere tenacity, even f you dislike the music they play. They formed in 2006 in brighton, uk - blending angry fast hardcore punk with elements of atmospheric metal, they released Owsla - the swansong of a dying world. A year later the second part of the trilogy Elil was released, an entirely different animal, three 20 minute songs, turning their sound on its head with epic passages of driving post rock, isis esque post metal and the hardcore punk as crescendos to each monumental build up.

So it was not at all surprising that Inle is yet again a mile apart from its predescessors. Two years in the making, Inle is a marked progression of their sound. Guitarists Steve McCusker, Neil Kingsbury, bassist Mike Douglas and drummer George Miles have pushed their sound to breaking point. Gone is all sign of the d-beat elements of the band, yet they still retain the anger and desperation incorporated into a controlled, overwhelming oeuvre.  The sound is more open, apparently recorded in a semi live environment. There are five actual songs on this album, yet the massive introduction piece "simulacrum" could be counted as a song on its own, a haunting dark lullaby of epic proportions, blending seamlessly into Fu inle, according to the lyrical explanation, a conversation between the albums dying protagonist and death itself.  Vocalist Alex Bradshaw screams with more heart on this record than the last album, which adds to the overall energy. This track climaxes before falling into the second track,  Republic of heaven, almost a call to arms, a song blessed with a triumphant chorus, and massive ending. The burial is a crunchy bombastic song, riff heavy rocking hardcore with envyesque ethereal qualities, before stripping back the layers for Woundwort, a song that harks back to Elil in its somberness.
It also adds an unexpected southern quality to the mix, a twang that features on this song and on the subsequent segue  The sky suspended,  a quiet reflective piece. This paves way for the final ever fall of efrafa song The warren of snares, the title track of the entire trilogy. This song seemed to represent the whole album. Fall of efrafa have never been a complicated band musically. Their songs are simple structures that build on simple structures. Their technical ability is in the pacing of their songs, and in most cases the long (and often burgeoning on too long) single chord build ups break at just the right time, allowing great chasms to open up and swallow you whole with crushing chord progression. It is also the strong mythological narrative that blesses this band with a unique quality that will no doubt be copied and pasted on every progressive metal band for a few years to come.
Inle is about the feeling invoked. Inle means death, but this is an uplifting album. It has the feeling of a band in control.  There will be many that miss the up tempo changes, the crusty hardcore sound that they created on Owsla, but it is obvious this was not a conscious decision and more of a logical next step. This is exactly how they describe themselves, a mixture of distinct genres. 
This album also manages to maintain the Fall of efrafa sound without playing up to the many bands that inhabit that world of post metal. It is a beautiful, record, full of feeling and passion.
Fall of efrafa are still angry at the world, but a little more reserved.

Matt ZOMG! zine

"Excellent parting gift"
As the saying goes: If it tastes best to stop it ... The same thought probably the post-hardcore troupe Fall Of Efrafa from England, with "Inle" her most mature yet, but simultaneously also be presenting their latest album because the band will disband soon. And that's really a shame, because the exciting force, whose approach to the setting of individual aspects of the novel "Watership Down" by Richard Adams is based, has focused on "Inle" re-developed and for instance, the faster hard-core parts that are still on " Elil "and" Owsla "operators, were completely ignored. in and of itself simply structured and instrumented songs is to say, without samples, and genre-external tools] that can not fail of their effect and thrive precisely because of their frequent Oversize very well. The Warren Of Snares“. We spit at thee, we curse at thee, the king is dead! ", The impressive" Woundwort "and the hypnotic" The Warren Of Snares. 'Inle' also sounds like a whole, because the individual chapters are interconnected and consistent during the 80 minutes playing time because of the good sets Quiet-loud-dynamics not bored, even if an occasional experiment Fall Of Efrafa with the monotony as an art form and some parts deliberately play long, but always keep an eye on the thread.  In addition, never looked in the direction Doomcore and sludge, yet the quiet acoustic parts, and the interlude "The Sky Suspended" still remember most of CULT OF LUNA. Of course, the British invented so that's not entirely new direction, which would be difficult anyway, but despite the sometimes overwhelming References CASE OF Efrafa sound on their third full length substantially independently of what lies at the very likeable and genuine DIY approach. Those Who always liked fall of efrafa, will not be disappointed, even if this time is controlled exclusively of mid-tempo range and lacks the quick bursts of predecessors. That the songs are arranged, despite its length, exciting and excellent, while the production sounds pretty earthy and rough, and therefore fits perfectly to the music of the quintet. And who is not yet of Inle 'conviction or as a fan of the aforementioned bands, the great tunes by Fall Of Efrafa still not yet known, has once again denovali records at the chance to download the album perfectly legal from their website or completely in Stream test out. Here, however, is, as in the great CELESTE: If you like the disc, please be sure to also buy one of the lovingly designed models and thus supports this very interesting label Take care, Fall Of Efrafa - a beautiful parting gift that you have been able to deliver!

metalnews.de (bad google translate from german)


Fall of Efrafa proves further that there is still a great deal of inventiveness in existence within the underground music scene by basing the entire concept (from band name, to topical song material, to artwork) around a singular work of literature by exploring the themes and moods and the mythology within Watership Down. Inle is the final installment in a trilogy of albums by this U.K. act and impressively lives up to its moniker (in Watership Down the black rabbit of Inle is the Grim Reaper of the world in the book) by bringing an end to the cycle for the band.

Fall of Efrafa demonstrates an exceptional skill with manipulating soft to loud and loud to soft dynamics while at the same time imbuing their music with a spatial depth that mixes harsh distortion with pleasant melodies. Coarse vocals contrast with music well and adds another element to the band's overall sound. Still, the one aspect of Fall of Efrafa that is most impressive on Inle is the exceptional compositional quality of their songs; the songs flow well and do not wear at all, even with some tracks that easily break the fifteen minute mark, possibly due to the music having a narrative quality itself, like it is speaking to the listener. The tension builds and falls only to start the process all over again as the songs roll in a wholly natural and organic manner that is evident from the very beginning with “Simulacrum,” and while the band somehow marries the different musical motifs (imagine if Neurosis got together with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and created a kind of amalgam of their unmistakable styles) to create their sound. Powerful sounding guitars and percussion combine with impassioned vocals and excellent song composition to provide an engaging and oft times exciting listen, and without a single weak track to be found on Inle, the album captures one's imagination.

I truly am taken aback by Inle from Fall of Efrafa, due in no small part to its breadth and scope. The whole album is impressive with little detail, if any, left out of the release from the music from the composition to the overall sound to the lyrical narrative to the packaging. The best way to experience Inle is to sit with the record on the turntable and the stereo turned up loud enough to force out any type of interruption; have the lyric sheet out so that you might follow along with the story, and just absorb the entire atmosphere that emanates around you while you listen.

scene point black


If the sun will slowly fade caused by human hands, it is going to do a new album Fall Of Efrafa!

To say the album is cool to say nothing.  It is brilliant, from and to, from first to last the sound.  Gloomy, heavy, sad, desperate, angry, depressing, melodic, beautiful, airy, beautiful, yet hundreds of synonyms to describe all its diversity.  Beginning with the first intro Simulacrum Creates an atmosphere for further listening, bust strings, female voice narrating about the last moments of life (always been indifferent to such interpolations), growing, oppressive wall of sound is associated with a slow sunset, and nightfall, when the sky appears full moon, and it's time Fu Inle, as the name of the next song.

Music begins gently with a light guitar playing grows in the rumble and then blow all the tools, like a dying rabbit nut was pulled in a different reality for a conversation with a black rabbit Inle (this is actually a metaphor and narrative in the text), and then in the case comes vocals, vocals became more rough and sincere, emphasizing the tragedy of the moment, and there is already becoming clear what the style would be followed album (mentioned that the sound of Inle is something else, so I waited for biting his elbows covershenno something new from them) that, in general I was not disappointed as some, I think the dominant position of post-metal on the album just brightens it, this is exactly the sound they wanted, and what they recorded this album live in the forest has helped them in this.
Then the third song Republic Of Heaven, telling of the funeral procession of the god, from the first seconds befalls the burden of hatred and music, and only in this song, growling vocals, blending into the traditional cry of Alex, as if cursing everyone and everything, in fact that demagoguery that imposed on us from above and saying that that this time coming to an end, and like the phrase of explanation to the text "and that they should not cry for what has been lost but rejoice in what there is to gain.", I think this is the most blatant and tragic track from the album.

Then follows a track that will be only on the CD version of the album The Burial, proper burial to whom narrated earlier, the song of sorrow for the past, the joy and ease the coming time, a beautiful and melodic composition, but also full of anger and despondency.

Next, slowly growing and sad melody Woundwort, speaking of the fallen the general, tempered his people in the metaphorical "he died at the hands of companions, and with the last sigh of the shackles of oppression fell for themselves as to express a song about finding hope, as sunrise after a long night, as I said at the outset. The end of the track as a hammer on the lid of the coffin, beneath which lie all the sadness and suffering ever experienced, something that no longer want to come back ...

Then the instrumental track The Sky Suspended, beautiful, slow, calm as the dawn of a new kind of day, and then the final composition of Warren Of Shares, which sets a huge fat point in the trilogy and creativity of his beloved and respected by me of Fall Of Efrafa! This song is about the new time, new dreams, new hope ..The most successfully arranged the track on music and lyrics, easy on the perception of a musical number, impoverishing the morality of all three parts. Since the beginning is sadness and sorrow for the old days, in fact all that had to endure and survive ... Then, after a slight loss is part of the despair, and hope, about change and new dreams, a chorus of voices, as it were, and marks the beginning of a new, cleaner future, and that comes with the first sound of the guitar and its intensification, the music of a new day ...
And with its development, adding instruments, growing melodies and atmosphere, the last cry of Alex on the integrity of society, under the rumble of the bass in a compartment with shock, slow and hard to draw the curtain summarizing the story and the group. This song puts an end to all work, and the inverted ...

These are the thoughts that's formed me about the album when he died, I sat in silence 10 minutes under the impression my expectations and assumptions about what the album will be confirmed by a brilliant, nothing better could have been devised for completion.  Excellent music, great text, great ideas, even if the first and second do not like for their ideology is respected. I do not regret that there will be nothing after inle.

And everyone noticed that the last track ends with the intro of Owlsa?

Funky souls forum

1. The Fall of Efrafa chapter is soon going to an end. Looking back, how do you see it ? Any regrets?
We have plenty of regrets, but overall, fall of efrafa has been one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. We have accomplished so much more than we ever set out to, i personally never thought this band would get past the first practice. I never thought that Neil would believe my lie when i asked him to join "my death metal band" But he did, and we soon convinced everyone else, and now we have created these three records, which we are all equally proud of (although we all cringe at the cello part in "a soul to bare") i guess it will only dawn on us once we play the last chord and i scream the last "warren is empty".

2. What is your best memory ?
Playing at ABC no rio in New York, playing with Icos in sweden in a forest. driving through the mountains in the snow, meeting some of the loveliest people in places we never thought we would go!

3.  What about the worst ?
Long journeys, shitty arguments. the band ending. 

4. It looks like everything was carefully planned and hatched out in FOE, like nothing was left to chance and improvisation. Is it the same with the general direction of the band, was it linked to Adams' work right from the start? Or has the evolution been natural ?
Musically it was a very organic experience, each record is a product of its time. The music progresses as we did as people. Lyrically, i wrote and modified the story as we went a long. Some things were changed, but most of it was written at the start. The story was influenced by Watership down, but bears only a skeletal resemblance to the book, borrowing from the political and  religious mythology and the names of his characters. It is still an ode to the essence of the book. But the music is more about feeling, i don't think we referenced our previous records when we sat down to write new music, perhaps why all three records sound different. 
5. With this particular approach centered on a work of art being itself the aim of your career, it seems that everything usually revolving around a band (touring, career plans, success...) has been nonexistent or largely secondary for you...

Interview for ZOMG! zine.

FALL OF EFRAFA are an interesting band. They play heavy, atmospheric music, influenced by post metal, post rock and hardcore, the songs engulf you not only in their length, but in their epic simplicity, raging passion and intricate melodies. They are also a concept project, based around the novel Watership down. I spoke with their vocalist, Alex about the band, and their final album, which is due out this year.


For those who do not know the concept behind fall of efrafa, could you explain to us what this means, and how you describe the music you play?

Fall of efrafa is a project based around our own reimagining of the mythology expressed in the novel "watership down" by Richard Adams. The book deals with a group of rabbits that wish to establish a new warren after their home is destroyed by man. Whilst trying to find sanctuary they encounter a number of warrens with varying extreme governmental systems which mirror human political ideology - the last of which is Efrafa, a fascist dictatorship. Within the book there are many fascinating characters, and the rabbits themselves not only have their own language (lapine) their religion is strikingly similar to most human monotheistic belief - a holy trinity, Frith their sun god, el ehrairah - the christ figure, and the Black rabbit of Inlé, somewhat of a holy spirit and grim reaper rolled into one. I took these ideas and created my own interpretation.Fall of efrafa is a metaphor for the collapse of oppressive institutions, and turning to one another for guidance.
Musically we play heavy ambient post hardcore, which i guess incorporates post rock, post metal, black metal, doom.

Could you explain your interpretation of the story, how its fits with your ideologies as a band?


In the narrative of Fall of efrafa, there is the Owsla, an iron age society on the brink of social collapse. Their ability to breed is dwindling, the spread of the "white death" (mixymatosis) has wiped out many of the females and they no longer have the numbers to function as a democracy.
One morning the warren awakes to find four huge stone pillars erected at the entrance to their stronghold. The stones are massive but their is no sign that they have been moved, the ground untouched around them, as though they erupted from the soil. Stories of other warrens destroyed by an unseen force reach the Owsla, and with it a name - Efrafa.
Their is panic, the government collapses and the society is overthrown by a theocratic rule - implimenting various horrific ideologies which they believe will instill order in the wake of these fearful omens. The Owslafa, soldiers of this council are sent out to kidnap females from other dwindling societies and bring them back to help bolster numbers. This religious government plays on the strong faith of their people, who dare not question the highest order of power, their god Frith.
But there are factions of social unrest. Those who believe the Efrafa are not a sign of deific judgement, but of the encroachment of a species that will take the earth from under them. It is the will of the people, those who wish to change Owsla society for the better, who plot to overthrow this religious dictatorship and fight this unknown enemy.

The trilogy is called "the warren of snares" which in context is a metaphor for this planet. Our warren, our home - is under constant threat from our own misdeeds and misguided actions. we set traps for our own downfall, be that shortsightedness in regards to climate change or deforestation. All moves towards a more convenient society end badly.
The idea was to create three records, each dealing with a different point in this societies history. Owsla, our first record is the last part of the story, the final charge against the efrafa. Elil, our second record, deals with Owsla society overthrowing the rule of this religious extremism, and metaphorically the rule of their god. Inlé, the final record in the trilogy deals with  how these underground factions begin the war against the efrafa and against those who wish to silence them. I didn't want to focus solely on this narrative, so from time to time the lyrics dealt with our own human issues with religious oppression.

It seems like a grand project for a diy band, both musically and lyrically. I imagine a lot of people could see it as pretentious?

Definitely! but in the same breath, if they do, there are plenty of other bands to listen to. I guess at the end of the day, we create this music for each other - it would be silly to ask those outside the band for commentary on what we create. The whole idea of creating music is very fluid and once you find something - be that a sound or an idea that you like, you should stick to it. We also build on each release, so the sound progresses, as does the story. For me, it took the last two records to really immerse myself in the ideas behind the band, and i think the music is the best we have ever created.  When you create music, or when you do interviews to explain the music or the lyrics, you run the risk of sounding pretentious or arrogant. But it doesn't matter. we do this for fun.

Could you tell us a little about Inlé, your final album and how it differs from your previous releases?

I decided recently that what we set out to do, and what we created is a product of its time, and how we clicked as a band. Owsla was written before we had a permenant line up, it was a little one sided, as we really weren't sure what we were doing. We had no grand plan when we started the band other than "heavy hardcore with a cello". A lot of owsla was hastily rewritten once steve and george had just joined and both rightly wanted to have  say in how the songs were structured, but. In hindsight i wish we had given ourselves another year to compliment each others tastes, before we recorded it, we quickly pigeon holed our sound in a box that we were already wanting to get out of.
Elil, our second record was definitely the first step in finding the sound that we all liked, a mix of post rock, ambient metal and hardcore. On inlé we have let go of those preconceptions of what we sound like.
I would say our sound on Inlé is what fall of efrafa has been working towards all this time. Mikey said recently that "post hardcore" is the most apt explanation for our music.  For some of us the changes in Inlé were difficult to take on, i myself found some of it so different that even i had to take a step back. We had moments where we tried to incorporate aspects of our earlier songs, but it just didn't work. Now we are nearly finished on the last song we will ever write, as far as i am aware, it ends on a high both musically and emotionally for all of us.

could you name some of your musical influences?

If steve and neil (who wrote the music for Inlé) wrote down the bands that influence this record, it would be bands like metallica, bohren, sigur ros, mastodon, Earth, black sabbath, buried inside and always neurosis. But these bands dont define our style, because our style is more a case of whether or not it works for all of us, because i can't say we share exactly the same tastes in music. Neil was never a fan of fast punk, so are move away from that suits him a lot more. As long as it makes us feel something- steve said that recently. He wants all of our songs to make people feel something. Even if they hate it, which a lot of people do (we're like marmite, this british yeast spread, their slogan is "you either hate us or love us", we're the same.) As for george, mikey and I, we all have eclectic tastes. I hope that through the changes in fall of efrafa, George now has more of an opportunity to stretch his drummer muscles. The lack of any fast beats means he is experimenting a lot more, which is amazing. As is mikey, the biggest advocate for retaining some aspects of our past records, yet easily the biggest influence on us in regards to his massive knowledge of metal, doom and post rock.

So as a DIY band playing "heavy post rock" in the DIY punk and hardcore scene which has a strong political and aesthetic identity, how does your sound fit in that scene? Was it a conscious decision to stay away from the world of metal magazines? can you tell us a little about the labels you work with?

We play so rarely and there are so many positives, that in many ways it outweighs the few limitations to playing predominantly in the diy punk scene, but i guess playing 20 minute post metal/rock songs to a room full of people expecting black clad anarcho-punk might be one. People tend to ignore what they don't like, and a lot of people in the diy scene didn't enjoy our second record, as it was so different from our first. And therefor a lot of people do not appreciate that we have changed a great deal musically. we are not that sprightly young emo-crust band from 2005 anymore! we are grumpy old bearded men playing post rock and singing about bunnies. We get amazing distribution from our labels so i hope our music reaches people of all musical tastes.
Finding that equilibrium is almost impossible. I guess removing genre is the best idea. Bands should not be limited by the style of clothes they wear or the stereotypes that they adhere themselves to. If people want to see us, they can, regardless of the t shirt they wear.
But we want to stay DIY.  There are limitations to any scene. If we moved into the post metal scene, we would have to deal with promoters, agents and money. I personally do not have a problem with bands making money, it is their decision, and everything that comes with that is for them to either choose or reject. i make a living from my art and therefor i would be a hypocrite to condemn it. I only have a problem when bands use DIY as a stepping stone or wax lyrical about how important DIY is, and then abandon it when money appears.

If we condemned mainstream music we would condemn our friends who are in major bands, or brothers who are successful record producers. But our decision to stay DIY is because DIY is about friendship, community, its about traveling thousands of miles and meeting new friends, its about experience. If you read mainstream metal magazines there is a whole world of false admiration, a lot of words spoken and a distinct lack of integrity, passion and depth. Its also fickle, and damaging.
We have dealt with a lot of labels over the years, and have built up some fond friendships with these guys. Cory who runs Halo of flies in America, deals with doom, metal and hardcore, . Timo who runs alerta antifascista, an awesome label run out of germany, as is Loewe at Behind the scenes, who puts out a lot of dark emotionally charged heavy punk, Sound Devastation records, run by Chris - a post rock/indie/prog metal label based in the UK, and last but not least Denovali records, who we have recently added to the list, who deal with a similar style to sound devastation, a lot of pretty, epic music. Its a great mix of labels, so we cover all our bases.

How do politics play a role in the band, would you call yourselves a political band?

We have strong individual politics but we do not bring that into the band as we tend to differ on how we see the world. We sometimes get associated with anarchism or animal liberation, but we have never made any statements advocating or condemning direct action. That harks back to the whole genre stereotype idea. I guess, from my point of view, if members of FOE wish to be involved in that they should do it, but it has nothing to do with Fall of efrafa. I guess that brings up the question of why people listen to music. I listen to music because i love music, not because someone is telling me to smash the state or be vegan. If a message in those lyrics influences me, then that is incredible, it was listening to political music that made me turn to veganism, but it is not the driving force behind most music.

Fall of efrafa deals with personal beliefs, atheism and animal equality, because these are the two ideologies that we all agree on. They are also ideologies that can be applied to your life in your basic day to day actions - you can choose what to consume, what to think. Education in its rawest form is the key to the betterment of society, but even now terms like "atheist" and "vegan" are still taboo, hundreds of years after the age of enlightenment, we still battle with beliefs which have no place in society, they are not even worthy of being written down, but still a majority of humanity actively follows these doctrine. I guess preaching our ideology to the miniscule percentage of people who agree with us is almost pointless, and so i guess in a way political music is more of a soundtrack to social change, or indeed a reminder to those who engage in political thought. Thats my opinion, and not the bands, but as i write the lyrics, this is how i feel when putting pen to paper.

You recently toured the US, could you tell us how that went?

It was incredible. From my point of view, the people who we met were the icing on the cake, so many passionate wonderful kids who made a lot of effort to come to our shows, which were some of the best shows we have ever played. The whole point of being a band is to incite something in people and to see that, 3000 miles from home was heart warming, if a little baffling. waking up in an apartment overlooking central park and thinking " we just played in New york" - to americans, that may not seem like much, but playing iconic cities, half a world away..wow. The band we toured with, Protestant were brilliant, and awesome guys, we made a good team for those two weeks, and got to see them tear the world apart every night. After we came back i found it really hard to function in reality, seeing all those places and people was a little overwhelming, and in hindsight, reminds me what life is for.

How do you feel about the finite nature of Fall of efrafa, as i understand it, you will break up after the recording of inlé?

We will probably play a few more times after Inlé before we split, we all have different opinions on this. Some of us want it to end sooner than others. I feel that the band has put a lot of strain on our friendships, we have all changed so much in the five years we have been together, we have seen and done so much that it is hard to know how it will feel when it ends. Mikey said to me the other day that it will break his heart, and i guess thats probably true for all of us. This band is a massive pain in the ass, but i also love it and love these guys, it is one of the things i am most proud of. We have learnt so much from it, as individuals, as friends. Its going to be really difficult to fill the void. Regardless, i think the end of Fall of efrafa will give us all a chance to relax a little and remember why we were all friends in the first place. We will no doubt go on and create other bands after this, so we have that to look forward to.

Cheers alex, any last words?

Thanks for the interview Matt. Our final album, Inlé - will be out this fall, We are all really excited about it, its longer than Elil, but shorter songs, its definitely a fitting end to this whole experience. We unfortunately will never play in america again, but we are playing some festivals in mainland europe and the UK before we split. you can find out where on our myspace page. Cheers!

Fall of Efrafa have been one of the most interesting bands to watch progress in the last few years in terms of work ethic, seeming to produce album upon album of serious quality, but at the same time maintaining a DIY theory for all their output.

They are perhaps one of the few bands doing things this way completely in 2008 and regardless of your thoughts on DIY and what it has come to mean (a nice concept in theory and not in practice, or a still-sacred way of doing things that is to be admired) this band have done things their own way and have succeeded.

This release entitled 'Elil' is the second release under the proposed trilogy of albums comprising their own vision of the work of Richard Adams' political novel 'Watership Down'.

'Elil' comes after the first part of the trilogy, 'Owsla' and along with the next, yet-to-be-released 'Inle' forms the 'Warren of Snares'.

As concepts go, it's rather ambitious, to give a good portion of your creative output for three albums to a single novel seems stretching it, but FoE manage it in spades.

From opener 'Beyond The Veil' it is clear FoE intend to create a foreboding atmosphere, the explanations of the lyrics on their website outline that the songs are focused on the shame that man has bought on itself through negative aspects like religion, control, etc.

A spoken word intro from philosopher Richard Dawkins over stark, picked notes begins the album and sends over a tangible bleakness in the first few moments, before a rolling, post-metal riff comes in with the screamed vocals often associated with the genre.

That is not to say FoE are a copycat affair, their music flows through several stems of influence, the undeniable stamp of bands like Cult of Luna, Deadbird and the like are present, but then so are the intense, angry spirits of bands like Remains of the Day and His Hero Is Gone, particularly prevalent when they choose to up the tempo, d-beat slips its dirty rhythms in now and again and it's a unique, engaging take on the old adage.

All three tracks here are about twenty minutes each and explore every possible angle of their concept, shifting from lone guitars picking out minor chord patterns to full-on breakneck sections where the band sound their tightest, second track 'Dominion Theology' has an epic sound to rival even Neurosis in terms of life-affirming vastness.

Closing track 'For El Ahraihrah To Cry' features another spoken-word section from Richard Dawkins, this time extolling the virtues of atheism and the fact we are lucky to be on this planet and the music has similarly epic scope. There is enough here to keep the casual listener entertained for the twenty minutes it takes up (no mean feat) but also enough for fans of the genre to get their teeth stuck into.

This is an album that could well change the way people play this sort of music, the amount of ideas thrown into the mix here is astonishing.

ninehertz.co.uk

Out of all of the bands that I've been listening to that combine the grimly beautiful chamber rock of groups like Godspeed You Black Emperor and thunderous, heavy hardcore - and there are a few, including Requiem, Remains Of The Day, and Dimlaia - few have sounded as majectic and epic and catchy all at the same time as Fall Of Efrafa, a UK band that combines gloomy instrumental music often augmented by piano and cello, crushing hardcore of the darkest sort, and descents into bleak, apocalyptic doom, all surrounded by imagery and lyrics that draw from the mythology of Richard Adam's classic novel of rabbit society, Watership Down. Their name, their album titles and lyrics and much of their artwork is all taken from Watership Down, and that conceptual quality by itself sets these guys apart from most of what's going on in hardcore. Their first album Owsla, which is almost out of print, was a powerful piece, but the fusion of epic instrumental rock and melodic crustcore is even more fully realized on Elil, the second in their ongoing Warren Of Snares trilogy. Each song on Elil is a 20+ minute epic, beginning with the very Godspeed-ish first half, where sorrow-filled guitars and patient drumming is met with faintly distorted spoken word samples, and then bursts into a triumphant blast of Tragedy-esque melodic crustcore about 10 minutes in, finally ending in a mighty droning dirge metal coda. "Dominion Theology" again starts with a quiet post-rock intro, but that's quickly overtaken by a crushing melodic metal dirge, think Mouth Of The Architect or Neurosis, super epic and majestic, erupting into faster hardcore parts that are so melodic that the hooks are actually pretty "poppy" despite the grim atmosphere in the song, and then settling back into extended instrumental rock, a grooving bassline and heavy drums paired with soaring guitar leads. The spoken word samples apppear again in the opening to the last track "For El Ahrairah To Cry" over softyl strummed acoustic guitars, but are quickly swallowed up by monstrous doom metal. All three songs follow a similiar pattern of alternating passages of folky, Godspeed style post-rock with hard charging heavy crust a la Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone, and slower, doomier heaviness, and the album is pretty much laid out to be listened to as a single work. It's one of the most epic "crust" albums I've ever heard, and I've been coming back to it over and over this past week, in spite of how overwhelming and huge it sounds. The disc comes in a thick, 6-panel gatefold jacket printed on recycled stock, which houses the disc and an 11x17 poster. Highly recommended. "

crucial blast

-----------
The follow up of their 2006 "Owsla" LP an part 2 in a Trilogy known as " The warren of Snares" 3 new Songs... in fact very long songs as they are dived on 3 sides of this Double LP with the forth side is a beautiful etching. All in all covered in a beutiful package with screenprints, lyric sheet and what can i say. One of the most outstanding and best modern crust bands i heard recently. Political and musically very inspired by darkened slow motion crust / hardcore... Neurosis comes to mind mixed with a high of melancholic "God seed... " bursting into dbeat drummed crust... excellent! Only a limited stack of copies and i fear we run low on stock very fast...

Skuld Releases

--------------------
"Retribution, the Warren is empty". It is by these words that Fall Of Efrafa enclosed Owsla, first part of The Warren Of Snares, inspired by the work of Richard Adams "Watership Down", divided into three acts whose listening of the first section left a curious impression of vacuum in its completion. One year after, the warren is now deserted but Fall Of Efrafa is always there. Second part of the Elil trilogy, produced by Peter Miles, breaks up into three long pieces. In the terminology of Richard Adams, Elil is "the enemy", "the predator" of Owsla. Transposed in the universe of Fall Of Efrafa, it is clearly identified as being Religion, a concept created by Man enabling him to exert a spiritual control on all and to destroy any velleity of emancipation. Even if Fall Of Efrafa uses the vocabulary and the language of The Watership Down, its anger and its hatred of a reducing Religion and castratrice are only more tangible, tackling the problem under several angles of which that, very instructive, of a fundamentalist monk arising from the North-American Dominion Theology wishing the introduction of a Christian theocracy ( "Dominion Theology"). In order to give more force to the matter, Fall Of Efrafa incorporates in the pieces some extracts of speech by Richard Dawkins, atheist evolutionary biologist.
There is only one objective: to denounce the influence of Religion and to return it to the field which it should never have left, that of mythology.
To call it epic, perhaps, may appear a bit presumptuous on Owsla, here it takes all its significance. Without artifice,
Fall Of Efrafa most naturally imposes its view of the world, preserving the sound as much as possible, giving again all its importance with the music and rejecting any previously concieved aesthetic.
Thus, the songs are marked by important variations, impregnated with in an indelible mark on our deepest beings. It works on the spirit, but the body also, each change is the subject of a sudden visceral upheaval, a chaos of the entrails.
Elil is progressive, adopting a posture more posed, more post hardcore not unlike Neurosis, and even post rock. Slowly but surely, they work their work, proceeding from small melody, simple keys impressed with a strong melancholy, on which support some rhythmic innoffensive appearance but which, while becoming more massive,ever building, transform the cracks into crevices by which run out a torrent of resentment and incomprehension.
With the manner of a symphony, the titles are sanctioned by allegros, moderattos and larghettos, lines of rupture such as the guitar on "Beyond the Veil", where the tone of despair from the voice of Alex Bradshaw, evoking changes of attitude, periods of doubt, of renouncement where anger succeeds. Dark and stripped in content, Elil is also in the form. Delivered in a recycled paperboard, the artwork appears in total adequacy with the music Fall Of Efrafa being a group for which the visual, textual and the music are as of much importance as each other. To note the superb etching decorating the fourth side of the Double LP.
The detail, its artistic step, its obstinacy to belong to no pigeon hole, its refusal of basic instincts, the quintet of Brighton crosses an additional stage, choosing a not very common approach, less instinctive, certainly, but more considered, making Elil the worthy successor of Owsla."

Metalorgie

With each year that passes and each new band that marches in under the banner of atmospheric doom-sludge-post-metal comes and goes, the excitement and flare of metal's artistic side seems to have gotten a bit stale. Fortunately, Britain's Fall of Efrafa are here to prove that their special breed of hardcore "crust-punk" can be just as epic and creative without succumbing to ambient pseudo-doom shenanigans. Keep your labels at home—this isn't post-rock, post-metal, post-hardcore, or even progressive metal. It is a grandiose tale of mankind's most pitiful disease, told through tormenting sounds of raw intensity and aggression.

Elil is the second installment of a trilogy called "The Warren of Snares," which is highly influenced by the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. Accordingly the album's lyrical content deals mostly with the rejection of religion (specifically Christianity) and all of its destructive forces. Structurally, the most striking feature of the album is the length of its songs—three tracks summing up to an over 60-minute album—incredibly long for a style which is known by definition for its brevity. Despite the length of the tracks, the band still maintains a relatively clean-cut hardcore style. As a result, there is unfortunately an overabundance of slow build-ups in between the exciting segments that often overstay their welcome. For many, this issue will most likely come down to a matter of taste, but personally I could have done without a 6-minute single-melody intro to the first track.

Shortcomings aside, the band deserves due praise for approaching the ever-popular style of epic song structure without turning into another faceless Neur-Isis clone. In staying true to their hardcore punk roots in Elil, Fall of Efrafa have chosen to join the next generation of extreme music with a style all their own.
sonic frontiers

-------------------------------------------

FALL OF EFRAFA "Elil" 2LP 16€ + postikulut
(Sound Devastation Records)
Fall of Efrafa follow up their debut release 'Owsla' with the second part of the trilogy known as 'The Warren of Snares'. Elil is an even deeper insight into the concept of Watership Down and the relations to human society, tackling mainly with religion and featuring two of my personal favourite quotes from Richard Dawkins. Musically it is a 3-track EPIC. Influences such as Mouth of The Architect, Rosetta, Cult of Luna and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which were prehaps overlooked slightly during Owsla, can here shine through alongside a strong d-beat/crust background, in what can only be described as the most innovative, beautiful and thought-provoking atmospheric-metal release in the past decade. 2xLP gatefold, 500 copies on black vinyl with etched D-side.

sound devastation

---------------------


As a child, one of the movies that left an indelible imprint on my psyche was 1978's Watership Down. As a five year old I was too young to grasp the political, religious, social and possibly misogynistic undercurrent of the movie based on Richard Adam's deeply engrossing literary works-I was too busy being horrified by General Woundwort and the generally anti Disney presentation of the movie.

So when I got this second album from the UK's Fall of Efrafa , Elil, the second in a planned trilogy of albums called The Warren of Snares, loosely based on Adams's work (the first being Owsla, which I have not heard yet and the third, Inlé, is not yet finished), I was curious to see how this group of intellectual atheists and vegans from England would fare in mixing the metaphors of Adams work within the confines of epic post rock.

In a word? Brilliant. Much like Battlefields' Stained With the Blood of an Empire which I reviewed early in 2007, despite it coming out in 2006, this is a release that if I had heard in 2007, it's year of release, it would have made my year end list, and it's a release that (at least conceptually) breathes some originality to the crowded post rock/Neurosis worship scene.

Despite all the tenets of the genre being heavily handed in place (ebbing acoustic builds, huge crumbling peaks, pained roars, etc), Fall of Efrafa, with Battlefields again being a sonic comparison deliver 3, twenty minute songs that are expansive, enthralling pieces that imbue all the elements of tangible peers from gently building acoustics and haunting atmospherics (God Speed! You Black Emperor), huge, draining, mountainous riffs (Isis, Neurosis) and even D- beat crust. All three tracks have a similar formula that includes all the above, just mixed in at various times as well as some well placed spoken word (from Adam's work I assume).

Opener "Beyond the Veil" has six minutes of repetitive but hypnotic build, before crescendo-ing into a thunderous hardcore gallop for its mid section and a suitably epic climax. Second track "Dominion Theology" puts the hardcore canter nearer the beginning, and is overall the albums most introspective, evocative track with chord progressions and textures that hit you right in the soul. Closer "For El Ahraihrah to Cry" has a somber, draining first few moments before developing into a surprisingly uplifting metalcore gallop, before ending with a suitably majestic yet despondent closure.

Where most albums of this genre often bleed into one long track, Elil, while not on The Ocean levels of ambitiousness, is a gem of a record from a unassuming and eloquent band that has a grasp of the genre while injecting their own unique themes and characters. I mean how many post rock records are about rabbits?

Amazing stuff.

teeth of the divine

-------------------------------------------

The CD pressing of "Elil", the second full-length from UK act Fall of Efrafa, was released late last year by a trio of international labels: Halo of Flies (US), Sound Devastation Records (UK), and Alerta Antifascista (Germany). This is my first exposure to the band's work, which is apparently "based loosely around a re-imagining of the mythological and political overtones in the book 'Watership Down', by Richard Adams". I'm not familiar with the book, but the band's bio outlines more specifically how their records (which are part of a trilogy called "The Warren of Snares") are tied into some of its concepts.

There are only three songs on the entire album, but be not misled, because each track surpasses the 20-minute mark, and the band certainly has it right when stating that they "write very long, epic, heavy, melancholic, melodic songs; taking influence from post-rock, post-metal, D-beat hardcore, etc." It takes nearly seven minutes for distortion to kick in for the first time, and they really do transition effortlessly from driving His Hero is Gone-esque hardcore/punk rhythms to more dissonant and spacious twists ala Cult of Luna or more recent Burst, etc. - and from there to softer clean breaks or plodding, bass-centric runs, the occasional use of samples, and even a few beautiful acoustic passages. There are definitely quite a few lengthy instrumental segments in the tracks, but I have to say that the songwriting is far stronger than you'd expect given the sheer length of each composition. They make great use of the time, and manage to keep things interesting throughout - and they generally do so without making each 20-minute song feel like just a bunch of shorter songs strung together, you know? There's obviously a lot of thought and effort being put into how all of the different atmospheric elements piece together, and thankfully they stray from most of the typical characteristics of "post-" genre influences. You can certainly pick up on some of those elements, but the band keeps most of their tones warm and stripped down, favoring a more natural sense of texture and space as opposed to dousing everything in effects or what have you. And it is pretty epic shit, I must say. There are some really powerful buildups and I'm really liking what's going on here as a whole. This is an intelligent band that has something to say, and they're doing so in a pretty curious manner.

Fall of Efrafa "For el Ahrairah to Cry" (excerpt)

"Man built god creates the veil. It hangs before us all and waits. Those who choose its warm caress, dignify this empty fate. Angelic mythos cracked in the kiln. Shards embedded in the mouths of liars. Charged nature as unfit, disfigured the sanctity of love, tore down all that is good, all that is whole… "

The disc is packaged in a simple gatefold digipack that includes the lyrics and song explanations, as well as a decent-sized foldout "poster" of sorts, and is also available on double-LP (with alternate artwork, I believe). Very cool. I'll have to keep an eye out for more from these guys for sure…


aversion online


-------------------------------------------


First off, Efrafa sounds like something Animal from the Muppets would say. Apparently it's from the book Watership Down, but I haven't read that, so I'm going with the Animal theory. Second off, Elil is one of those records that I feel is aimed right at me. Like some kids were sitting around somewhere saying "you know who we should write a record for? Todd. That's who."

See, I've never really been a hardcore purist. I'm not one of those people who feels that hardcore attained perfection in '82, or '88, or '93, or whenever, and thusly I like it when bands push the boundaries of what could be considered "hardcore" music. That doesn't mean I always like the results, but, hey, at least they tried, eh?

In the late '90s some of my favorite bands were bands that did just this with the proverbial three chords. His Hero is Gone pretty much tattooed themselves on my eardrums. The State Secedes, in many ways, changed my ideas about how long and how repetitive a song could be and still kick ass. and Isis, of course, in their early days stretched the definition of hardcore to its limit, prior to venturing more into sludge and prog-metal territory in their later years. Fall of Efrafa is, in many ways, the sonic progeny of bands like these.

Having said this, they'll get compared to Neurosis because it's easy, but I think there's something else going on here that merits a look.

Nothing on Elil falls outside the realm of what could be called "crust." There's not a riff on here that would be out of place on a Tragedy, Remains of the Day, Disfear, or After the Bombs record. The big difference is that Fall of Efrafa takes a cue from some of that boundary pushing late 90s hardcore bands listed above and stretches their riffs about as far as they can go. In that regard they kind of share an epic quality with other crusty sludge bands like Wormwood and Wake Up On Fire. Each riff Fall of Efrafa plays is hypnotically repeated to its breaking point, with the drums often upping the intensity as the parts drone on.

Fall of Efrafa's sonic cousin may be the experimental thrash band Ictus, who, as I mentioned in my review, really test the idea of what constitutes a thrash song. Fall of Efrafa is kind of the darker, moodier underside of the coin to Ictus' more thrashy, uptempo approach, but the two are kindred spirits in the world of bands who look at the average one minute and fifteen second hardcore song and say "so how can we make this a half hour without it starting to suck?"

I should also point out that Elil is chock full of over-wrought, ham-fisted talking samples, like one where a guy says that the "god of the old testament" is, to put it simply, an asshole. The third song has a guy, who I'm assuming is Richard Dawkins, ranting in a polite, British sort of way about atheism. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I know it's done to death, and super easy and all, but some things are done to death because they work. For example, apple pie. It's done to death, but it still kicks ass. Over-wrought talking samples and pie cannot be overdone. Look for some over-wrought talking samples on our next release and look for some apple pie in my stomach sometime soon.

I should also point out that Fall of Efrafa is from the UK, so everything I've said may not apply given my American point of view. Oh well.

Either way, the thing that sets this record apart, however, is the riffs. They're just perfectly droning and repetitive in a beautiful way. They tend to go for REAL simple riffs, like usually two chords or so, but the space between those chords really creates the suffocatingly beautiful space that fills up this record.

This band is also the kind of band that is the exact reason I wanted to do this summer series. The kind of band that needs more people listening to them with fresh ears, looking for the nuances in what they do.

Overall, Fall of Efrafa has enough punishing sludge for anyone into Neurosis or early Isis, enough pissed off Crust for anyone into Tragedy or From Ashes Rise, and enough kick-ass to make me want to listen to this record over and over again. If you're one of those people who only wants to listen to heavy stuff when there's no hint of hardcore, or only wants to listen to hardcore when it sounds exactly like some band from the vaunted past, you'll probably want to skip this one. Anyone else can join me and Richard Dawkins in hell as we pump our fists to this shit, eat apple pie, and compare notes on atheism.


http://www.itmifpitw.com/

-----------------------------------------------------

Fall Of Efrafa - A Band To Believe In

By Ben Patashnik

Posted on 03/13/09 at 12:48:27 pm

You’ll definitely have to bear with me on this one.
Fall Of Efrafa are from Brighton and are a hardcore/post-metal/ambient/post-hardcore (yeah, told you you’d have to bear with me) outfit with intense political overtones. They also happen to be one of the best bands I’ve heard in the last who-knows-when because they merge all of these weird, disparate influences and create something genuinely thrilling.

And yeah, they are what could be called a ‘difficult’ band – 20-minute songs aren’t going to appeal to everyone, but then again that’s because a lot of people are congenital idiots with the attention span of a dying canary. It’s almost like they don’t write songs, they craft mini symphonies out of the sky: their first record, ‘Owsla’, was heavily influenced by crust and hardcore but entirely transcended the boundaries of those genres. And ‘Elil’, its follow-up, takes much more of an Isis/Pelican route, straying much deeper into avant-garde metal territory, but retains an incisive bite that makes it one of the best records released by a homegrown band in ages.

It’s easy to scoff at Fall Of Efrafa for seeming to be so po-faced (scanning over their lyrics isn’t exactly a recipe for fun) but it’s incredibly refreshing to find a band who aren’t afraid of standing up for what they believe in. There’s a real fierceness to their music, which comes not simply from any technical proficiency, but because every shredded note and rasped scream that always seems to be the last howl of an exhausted, dying man is embedded within a belief structure that means, simply enough, they fucking believe what they’re singing about. Yeah, running around in circles is fun but this is a band whose name you could carve across your chest and not regret it two decades later.

You can pick both of their records up for, well, not much money at the Sound Devastation website right here. Do it. Their third and final album is coming out in a couple of months.

the NME