wow, this has been a favourite song of mine for a long time and never thought the band or song would ever have a reaction. always enjoyed the atmosphere of this song and the build later on in the song. Nice to hear your thoughts on the song!
I'm a long time fan of Nocte Obducta and i think they are definatly black metal, but at the very outer edge of that genre. The clear production with the very innovative melodies and lyrics are perfectioned on their Nektar albums, i love those songs and i think people who don`t like black metal could still enjoy these.
Thank you for this awesome analysis! I was thinking a looong time about which song I should present to you, but I'm happy about my choice. I saw a very fresh perspective on a song that accompanies me for many, many years, and learned some new things about it! As for the genre, others have already pointed it out, for me they were always some kind of BM (especially since their earlier albums tend to be harsher), but they are very experimental, and some albums don't have any metal in them. I myself have experiences with seasonal depression. Winter here in Germany, especially were I grew up, can be very long and dark. We have had 5-6 months of barely any sunlight, just the same grey skies, dark tree skeletons, and dirty snow in the streets. No colors, no scents, no warmth. It's hard to not be affected by that. And thus, the lyrics very much reasonate with me. But aside from that, I just love the highly metaphorical style and the beautiful words and compositions they use. Like you said too, you can feel what they are describing, you can see the atmosphere in your mind, you can almost smell the clammy scents right after the rain stopped on a beautiful spring evening. This has a similar impressive effect to me as some of the historically great poets are able to evoke with their writings. And, as the other commentator pointed out, the lyrics are reflected in the music as well, sometimes maybe more in an intertwined, atmospherical way. And that opposition of reminiscing about the past and being in the now, reflected in the harshes and cleans. To me, this also has a feeling of not being able to fully be in the present, thinking that the next winter will inevitably come again and all these beautiful impressions of a spring evening will be replaced by the grey again. And he desperately screams "breathe" to himself as if to remind him to be here in the now, stop thinking about it, just breathe. The flowers will die, like in winter, but don't say anything, let me be here in the now and just try to take in the atmosphere with all my senses. (I kinda reversed the order here, but you can see how the intro lyrics are building up into the first harsh section with those memories about autumn and winter) Since German and English are relatively closely related languages, I don't think that too much has been lost in translation, but surely some subtleties, like feelings that certain words evoke and other connotations. A thing that German poets like to utilize is making new compounds with existing words, something that works only limitedly in English. Like in that one line that speaks to the different senses: Just listen to the clammy scent of the spring evening light. Lausche nur dem klammen Duft des Frühlingsabendlichts. I can't say that I heard the word "Frühlingsabendlicht" anywhere before, but it's immediately understandable and, at least to me, goes a great way to creating a certain atmosphere. They do this in their other songs as well, and I love it!
Yeah, nuance is what I meant when I said lost in translation -- like the core idea is there but the smaller aspects aren't. I could see this being a very personal song to those who have or understand seasonal depression. And thanks for the translation!
Never thought I'd see a reaction to this band. The whole album is fantastic, "Und Pan spielt die Flöte" is my favourite song overall since I first heard it more than 10 years ago. Always saw them as sooooome kind of Black Metal, some albums more and some barely. According to the Encyclopaedia Metallum it's Avant-garde Black Metal. But regardless of the label you put on them they do their own thing.
I was so excited to see you react to that band. I thought for a while about: if he would listen to Nocte Obducta, which song would be best? "Atme" was the one I thought as well. As if reading my mind... Some additions from my side: The songwriter himself said he doesn't like the discussions about genres and generally avoids it. Which makes sense because if you listen to an album of their that you haven't listened to before, you'll never know what you get except that it will sound like Nocte Obducta. Good examples for that would be "Umbriel", which is way more slow and clean, or "Sequenzen einer Wanderung" which translates to "Sequences of a hiking" (I guess) which is basically just that title packed into music. A important part about their music in my eyes is that they emphasize what a song "feels" like, for example that the atmosphere created by a song fits the lyrics. They use a vast variety of what sound their instruments (they normally also have a synth/ keyboard, in this song as well) can do to get the correct atmosphere of a song (e.g. "November", there's a live video of it) Regarding this song: At the beginning, he is talking about that it finally has stopped raining and describing his ambience which is exactly what they translated into the music. This ends with a deep breath into the word "Atme" (Breathe). When I listen to this opening, I find myself taking a deep breath everytime as well, but maybe that's just me. You're talking about guitar solos from time to time but that doesn't really fit Nocte Obducta in my eyes. It's not that some instruments stand out in their music at some point but rather everyone using their intruments to fit the atmosphere that the song needs. Hard to explain, but I think their viewpoint is a bit different compared to other music. Like at the beginning of this song, where the strumming of the guitar depicts the rain and the picking afterwards are the single droplets coming down from the leafs. I also think that when you hear the more clear/ spoken vocals, the mind of the singer (his mind) is in the present. And with the scrowls he is in thoughts, thinking about things mostly in the past. Then there is also the interesting contrast between the first "Atme" at the beginning, which is more like to calm down. And the last "Atme" he literally screams to himself in his thoughts. To be honest, the lyrics and the music are so intertwined that it's hard to understand the song without looking at both at the same time. Which makes it a lot harder for you, first is the language barrier and second the structure of your analysis (first talking about music and then about the lyrics). There are a lot metaphorics used, but generally the songs of Nocte Obducta are about themselves. There's often cross reference to their own songs, too (the previous Album "Nektar - Teil 1" has a songs about each season of year for example) You mentioned the 2 chords idea always being present: building tension and then release it -> this is literally what you do when you breathe. All steps done in my eyes are done thematically, this counts for the supposed ending as well. This "Startle" comes after a build up section, where you can here the breathing in the background, but the tension is rising (so he is breathing but not calming down but rather the opposite). And we have the fall off, basically a resignation into the anger, the despair. Overall, it was very interesting to see your take on that song. Learned a lot here even though I know this song quite well, so thumbs up from my side.
Thank you for this great and detailed addition! I totally agree with your analysis about the present and past, the tension and release, the breathing etc
Thanks so much for this comment, there's so much good info in here. Nice read on the tension->release being the literal physical concept of breathing. That plus the atmospheric stuff you mentioned showcases just how much attention to detail they put into this song.
VERY (early) Opeth inspired! Like their take on that "style" though. This (and most from Opeth up until the album Heritage) sounds very prog DEATH to me 😊 But then again there might be some blackened moments just like progressive/symphonic/epic black metal might allow some death adjacent moments (just to make genre identification more difficult 😉)
To be honest, I think it's the correct decision. While "Und Pan spielt die Flöte" is the most popular of their songs, the band themselves are not very fond of that fact. It doesn't represent them that well I guess. Though I like that song a lot as well.
Und Pan spielt die Flöte is an amazing track, but I felt like it doesn't quite represent the variety that they have to offer. Also, I just love the lyrics of Atme. My favorite used to be Nektar though, but Atme recently grew for me. But feel free to special select "Und Pan..." for yourself :D
It's something I struggle with. Do I make each video a good entry point for anyone or should I treat them like a series and expect people to have seen older videos to understand what I'm talking about in this video? Neither method is perfect. I have decided recently that I want to be more concise about what I say. I don't think every topic I bring up, nor how deep I dive into them, is always 100% important. I don't expect my videos to suddenly drop to 15 minutes ones but I am hoping to reduce them a little by cutting the fat out, metaphorically speaking.
Never heard of it, but I guess I’m a fan of them now. Thanks for your reactions, I often add some songs in favourites from your videos
wow, this has been a favourite song of mine for a long time and never thought the band or song would ever have a reaction. always enjoyed the atmosphere of this song and the build later on in the song. Nice to hear your thoughts on the song!
I'm a long time fan of Nocte Obducta and i think they are definatly black metal, but at the very outer edge of that genre. The clear production with the very innovative melodies and lyrics are perfectioned on their Nektar albums, i love those songs and i think people who don`t like black metal could still enjoy these.
One of my favourite bands of all time. Their entire discography is amazing.
Thank you for this awesome analysis!
I was thinking a looong time about which song I should present to you, but I'm happy about my choice. I saw a very fresh perspective on a song that accompanies me for many, many years, and learned some new things about it!
As for the genre, others have already pointed it out, for me they were always some kind of BM (especially since their earlier albums tend to be harsher), but they are very experimental, and some albums don't have any metal in them.
I myself have experiences with seasonal depression. Winter here in Germany, especially were I grew up, can be very long and dark. We have had 5-6 months of barely any sunlight, just the same grey skies, dark tree skeletons, and dirty snow in the streets. No colors, no scents, no warmth. It's hard to not be affected by that. And thus, the lyrics very much reasonate with me. But aside from that, I just love the highly metaphorical style and the beautiful words and compositions they use. Like you said too, you can feel what they are describing, you can see the atmosphere in your mind, you can almost smell the clammy scents right after the rain stopped on a beautiful spring evening.
This has a similar impressive effect to me as some of the historically great poets are able to evoke with their writings.
And, as the other commentator pointed out, the lyrics are reflected in the music as well, sometimes maybe more in an intertwined, atmospherical way. And that opposition of reminiscing about the past and being in the now, reflected in the harshes and cleans.
To me, this also has a feeling of not being able to fully be in the present, thinking that the next winter will inevitably come again and all these beautiful impressions of a spring evening will be replaced by the grey again. And he desperately screams "breathe" to himself as if to remind him to be here in the now, stop thinking about it, just breathe.
The flowers will die, like in winter, but don't say anything, let me be here in the now and just try to take in the atmosphere with all my senses.
(I kinda reversed the order here, but you can see how the intro lyrics are building up into the first harsh section with those memories about autumn and winter)
Since German and English are relatively closely related languages, I don't think that too much has been lost in translation, but surely some subtleties, like feelings that certain words evoke and other connotations. A thing that German poets like to utilize is making new compounds with existing words, something that works only limitedly in English. Like in that one line that speaks to the different senses:
Just listen to the clammy scent of the spring evening light.
Lausche nur dem klammen Duft des Frühlingsabendlichts.
I can't say that I heard the word "Frühlingsabendlicht" anywhere before, but it's immediately understandable and, at least to me, goes a great way to creating a certain atmosphere. They do this in their other songs as well, and I love it!
Yeah, nuance is what I meant when I said lost in translation -- like the core idea is there but the smaller aspects aren't. I could see this being a very personal song to those who have or understand seasonal depression. And thanks for the translation!
Never thought I'd see a reaction to this band. The whole album is fantastic, "Und Pan spielt die Flöte" is my favourite song overall since I first heard it more than 10 years ago. Always saw them as sooooome kind of Black Metal, some albums more and some barely. According to the Encyclopaedia Metallum it's Avant-garde Black Metal. But regardless of the label you put on them they do their own thing.
This is one of my favorite comments. I pride myself on checking out music that doesn't get much, if any, exposure in the reaction circles.
That is absolutely one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Glad someone mentioned it
Good pick on favourite song
I was so excited to see you react to that band.
I thought for a while about: if he would listen to Nocte Obducta, which song would be best?
"Atme" was the one I thought as well. As if reading my mind...
Some additions from my side:
The songwriter himself said he doesn't like the discussions about genres and generally avoids it.
Which makes sense because if you listen to an album of their that you haven't listened to before, you'll never know what you get except that it will sound like Nocte Obducta.
Good examples for that would be "Umbriel", which is way more slow and clean, or "Sequenzen einer Wanderung" which translates to "Sequences of a hiking" (I guess) which is basically just that title packed into music.
A important part about their music in my eyes is that they emphasize what a song "feels" like, for example that the atmosphere created by a song fits the lyrics.
They use a vast variety of what sound their instruments (they normally also have a synth/ keyboard, in this song as well) can do to get the correct atmosphere of a song (e.g. "November", there's a live video of it)
Regarding this song:
At the beginning, he is talking about that it finally has stopped raining and describing his ambience which is exactly what they translated into the music.
This ends with a deep breath into the word "Atme" (Breathe). When I listen to this opening, I find myself taking a deep breath everytime as well, but maybe that's just me.
You're talking about guitar solos from time to time but that doesn't really fit Nocte Obducta in my eyes.
It's not that some instruments stand out in their music at some point but rather everyone using their intruments to fit the atmosphere that the song needs.
Hard to explain, but I think their viewpoint is a bit different compared to other music.
Like at the beginning of this song, where the strumming of the guitar depicts the rain and the picking afterwards are the single droplets coming down from the leafs.
I also think that when you hear the more clear/ spoken vocals, the mind of the singer (his mind) is in the present.
And with the scrowls he is in thoughts, thinking about things mostly in the past.
Then there is also the interesting contrast between the first "Atme" at the beginning, which is more like to calm down.
And the last "Atme" he literally screams to himself in his thoughts.
To be honest, the lyrics and the music are so intertwined that it's hard to understand the song without looking at both at the same time.
Which makes it a lot harder for you, first is the language barrier and second the structure of your analysis (first talking about music and then about the lyrics).
There are a lot metaphorics used, but generally the songs of Nocte Obducta are about themselves.
There's often cross reference to their own songs, too (the previous Album "Nektar - Teil 1" has a songs about each season of year for example)
You mentioned the 2 chords idea always being present: building tension and then release it -> this is literally what you do when you breathe.
All steps done in my eyes are done thematically, this counts for the supposed ending as well.
This "Startle" comes after a build up section, where you can here the breathing in the background, but the tension is rising (so he is breathing but not calming down but rather the opposite).
And we have the fall off, basically a resignation into the anger, the despair.
Overall, it was very interesting to see your take on that song. Learned a lot here even though I know this song quite well, so thumbs up from my side.
Thank you for this great and detailed addition!
I totally agree with your analysis about the present and past, the tension and release, the breathing etc
Thanks so much for this comment, there's so much good info in here. Nice read on the tension->release being the literal physical concept of breathing. That plus the atmospheric stuff you mentioned showcases just how much attention to detail they put into this song.
awesome 👌👍 so glad you got to these guys
Instrumentally reminds me of early the ocean
VERY (early) Opeth inspired! Like their take on that "style" though.
This (and most from Opeth up until the album Heritage) sounds very prog DEATH to me 😊 But then again there might be some blackened moments just like progressive/symphonic/epic black metal might allow some death adjacent moments (just to make genre identification more difficult 😉)
Why on earth would anybody recommend this track from that album instead of "Und Pan spielt die Flöte"?
To be honest, I think it's the correct decision. While "Und Pan spielt die Flöte" is the most popular of their songs, the band themselves are not very fond of that fact. It doesn't represent them that well I guess.
Though I like that song a lot as well.
Und Pan spielt die Flöte is an amazing track, but I felt like it doesn't quite represent the variety that they have to offer. Also, I just love the lyrics of Atme. My favorite used to be Nektar though, but Atme recently grew for me.
But feel free to special select "Und Pan..." for yourself :D
I personally prefer Atme as has more variety to me, although Und Pan Spielt Die Flote is a close second....
A NO song from Nektar 2 and it's not Und Pan spielt die Flöte... I'm disappointed
im a fan of yours but i feel like hour long analysises are overkill and you end up repeating yourself over and over across different videos
It's something I struggle with. Do I make each video a good entry point for anyone or should I treat them like a series and expect people to have seen older videos to understand what I'm talking about in this video? Neither method is perfect. I have decided recently that I want to be more concise about what I say. I don't think every topic I bring up, nor how deep I dive into them, is always 100% important. I don't expect my videos to suddenly drop to 15 minutes ones but I am hoping to reduce them a little by cutting the fat out, metaphorically speaking.