H.E.R.R.
Hopes Die In Winter
Fifteen Tokens
Fruhlings Erwachen

Der Arbeiter
La Virgen De Los Hielos
Lichtgeburt
El Hijo Del Viudo

Storm Of Capricorn
Un Dernier Exode
Un Dernier Refuge
Un Dernier Souffle

Ghosts Of Breslau
Train In The Fog
Dig Your Own Graves
Lullaby (For A Dead Child)
The Beauty & The Nightmare

"Hopes Die in Winter" is a limited edition (which coming from the Beast of Prey label isn’t a great surprise) CDR compilation of 4 groups…or a 4 way split CDR recording for all you pendants out there.

Featuring Herr, Der Arbeiter, Storm of Capricorn and Ghosts of Breslau the music is a mixture of neo / apocalyptic folk, martial ambient, dark ambient and neo classical spread over 13 dynamic tracks dealing with the plight and suffering of refugees displaced, voluntarily or forcibly, by the ravages of war and famine. With such a high calibre of participating new(ish) acts on the continually excellent Polish record label, will they ever release a piece of shit I ask myself, this sells itself in the must have stakes.

H.E.R.R. (and what a future they have) contribute three tracks with the first two featuring suitably grim martial / orchestral funeral music over spoken book samples which, I’m 100% certain, was also used by ACOH on the "Monuments" release**. They even sound like a less aggressive Von Thronstahl on their last contribution. Der Arbeiter are from Chile, with a Divine Comedy release already under their belt, and they play a combination of neo folk, with a strong Latin American flavour, and danceable military ambient sung in Spanish. Strange but very original. Storm of Capricorn features Serge of Neon Rain fame and Celine and their sample abundant classical military arrangements sung in French put the S into sensual, serene, stylish and stupendous. As for Ghosts of Breslau…read my review of "Peste" [read here]. No hyperbole. They keep justifying all the accolades being slung their way.

All these groups are going to be ‘HUGE’ in the forthcoming years, mark my words, and you can hear them all in their expressive expansive glory on what will eventually be recognised as a classic Beast of Prey release.

ANM

**Correction…I’ve sincebeen informed that the two HERR tracks which I thought contained the same samples as used on the ACOH release ‘Monuments’ were in fact totally original and copyright of HERR. So far from being 100% right…I was in fact 100% wrong. Doh!! Although in my defence…and also taking into account my poor hearing…due in no uncertain part to too much Whitehouse & Merzbow played at full wack through headphones…if you compared these three spoken word passages back to back they do sound very similar. Try it and prove me wrong. This, of cours, in no way detracts from the fact that the two HERR tracks concerned are still very emotive and thoroughly entertaining…which after all is all that you would or could wish for from a recording. I made a mistake. God will punish me accordingly.

ANM