Band:	Stille Volk
Album:	Nueit De Sabbat
Style:	Medieval folk metal
Release date:	January 2009

01. La Danse De La Corne
02. Joglar
03. Banquet
04. In Taberna
05. Forêt d'Outre Tombe
06. Egérie Nocturne
07. Mascaria
08. Ivresse Des Dieux
09. Bestiari
10. Gaste Flamme
11. Nueit De Sabbat

Disclaimer: if you are one of those for whom folk only means festive music with traditional instruments mixed with heavy electric guitars and insane drumming, you might be disappointed by the music by Stille Volk. Indeed, even though the band plays folk metal and uses traditional instruments (such as jew's harp, bagpipe...), you will not find any synthetic and electric instruments in their music. So, if you don't care about folk without these modern elements (and in a lesser extent to reading this slab of review), simply just go ahead and click on the previous page button in your internet browser.

For those of you who have never heard of this band until reading these lines, Stille Volk is more precisely a medieval/Celtic folk band from the Pyrénées area in France. The band was formed in 1994 and Nueit De Sabbat is the fourth full-length album from the band and was released on January 2009 via the French label Holy Records.

Compared to the band's previous release Maudat, the new album can be described as less dark, more melodic and by extension more accessible than its predecessor. Anyway, the recipe used in the music played by the band remains the same. The lyrics are indeed once again mostly pagan-themed, evoking the nature, the sorcery, the myths and the legends. Furthermore, the band has used once again the French, Occitan and Latin languages in the lyrics. These languages fit like a glove to this kind of music and they fully reinforce the medieval strength of the album (leading to a back to the roots of the old/ancient times). Just have a listen to the opening track "La Danse De La Corne" to be convinced. Another highlight is "Egérie Nocturne". The rest of the album follows the same style developing a musical ambience which could have been played by minstrels during a medieval banquet.

The pure acoustic side developed on Nueit de Sabbat makes this album quite atypical. With such material Stille Volk bring something different to the folk metal scene which is already a respectable point. The eleven genuine ritornellos contained on the album are solid tracks. The sound is clear and the production is far from being bad too. If you want to listen to something different from the folk genre (or if you are fed up with generic folk metal) you should really have a listen to Nueit De Sabbat. Play this album and join the medieval banquet where the troubadours of Stille Volk invite you. Have a good entertainment with them and enjoy this exotic album.