Review Summary: With so many colors being used it can be quite difficult to craft a masterful piece of artwork.
Folk music with occasional hints of metal can often be a hit or miss with music enthusiasts. The endless barrage of material available can be quite overwhelming. "Azimuths to the Otherworld" does little to change the minds of such skeptics. It's as if Nechochwen, with their second release, have became victims of "miss identity". In some cases, being four tracks out of fourteen, you'll hear hints of metal, then the rest is all folk. This does not break the album but it does create lot of redundancy and the cohesive factor becomes scarce. This lack of "metal" places "ATTO" predominantly as a folk album.
Once an individual can come to grips with expecting a great deal of folk music, "ATTO" can offer many enjoyable aspects. The musicianship is definitely above average. This one man band, controlled by Nechochwen, has an apparent love for melody and blending beautiful harmonies. These attributes have the ability to draw listeners, laying down a sense of hope and enjoyment to their ears. The intro to "At Night May I roam" offers such characteristics but ultimately fails from redundancy as vocals continuously repeat a chorus line with little variance. This lack of "keeping the fire alive" can be a deterant to folk lovers.
There are fortunately a few tracks to be found on "ATTO" that manage to take the listener to places of the mind without sending them crashing by the likes of human passivity. Tracks such as "Gissis Mikana" and "Graves of Grandeur" showcase some of the most beautiful melodies I have heard; also flowing in and out of different euphony's almost instantaneously, without notice.
With enough enjoyable melodies, "ATTO" can be an album to enjoy while winding down from a long day or when an individual may want something more soothing to listen to as alternative to heavier music. However, the plethora of ideas, raging from dark emotive melodies to fillers to metal fusions, this folk release can be a bit difficult to grasp in its entirety. The sheer length can feel like a drag in more than one occasion. With this being said, I would recommend "ATTO" to be listened to in pieces if you are going to pursue such an album. If Nechochwen can focus more on capturing the listener with stronger compositions, rather than a lackadaisical attitude, future releases may hold greater potential to gain a greater folk fan base.
