01	The Poisonous Eye						06:55
	02	Worn Out With Dreams						05:43
	03	Charis						05:58
	04	Under War-Broken Trees						05:36
	05	Away From Barren Stars						07:28
	06	Winds Devouring Men						04:38
	07	Vision Is All That Matters						05:59
	08	The Newborn Sailor						05:54
	09	The Plain Masks Of Daylight						06:10
	10	A Staggering Moon						05:54

ELEND
Winds Devouring Men
2003
CD
Pro 058

The dark neoclassical project Elend return after a gap of five years with Winds Devouring Men, a 10-track full-length album. This Austrian-French collaboration was formed in 1993 by composers and multi-instrumentalists Alexandre Hasnaoui (Iskander Hasnawi) and Renaud Tschirner and rose to fame with their ambitious trilogy of CDs inspired by the cycle of Roman Catholic Easter masses (the Officium Tenebrarum).

The new CD is based on a French poem describing the homecoming from the Odyssey, which is combined with personal themes. The current lineup also includes Sebastien Roland and the group is assisted by five other vocalists and instrumentalists.

Symphonic orchestration in the form of real strings and brass are combined with vocals, strident percussion, industrial effects and programming to create a neoclassical sound informed by neofolk/gothic-industrial influences, and should strongly appeal to Dead Can Dance fans. Magnificent, beautiful and a very welcome return.

RIK - 11 May 2003

DISCOGRAPHY
Lecons de Tenebres (1994)
The Holy Bible (1995)
Les Tenebres du Dehors (1996)
Weeping Night (1997)
The Umbersun (1998)
Winds Devouring Men (2003)

ELEND
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4019/frames.html
HAMMERHEART RECORDS
http://www.hammerheart.com







This is, without doubt, the most difficult review I've written yet. ELEND do not play any form of metal at all, which makes this a real challenge to review for a poor metal-centered mind like mine. Instead of your regular guitars, bass and drums, this album -- and as far as I understand, the previous conceptual trilogy of ELEND albums -- is realized entirely with classical instrumentation with strings, reed and brass instruments, male and female clean vocals, very sparse percussion, subtle electronics and a few industrial-style moments with strange, at times somewhat disturbing samples. As the songs lack any sort of driving percussion, and often seemingly any structure at all, they are somewhat hard to grasp as songs -- this is an album that is best digested as a whole, preferably in solitude and with great attentiveness. When listened to properly, the music can almost by itself devour men...

The album has an ominous, foreboding mood in the beginning of the album, like that of a violent, unavoidable storm approaching. It would be around track 4, "Under War-broken Trees", that the storm arrives in the form of swirling, unnerving industrial samples laid over what would really be rather calm, relaxing music, were it not played under the powerful male vocals and violent samples. This rather uncomfortable -- in the "good" sense of the word -- violence continues for a few tracks, and in the last few songs, things calm down and become more beautiful again. In this, the album has a sense of movement which of course is good, but although all the tracks are fine pieces of music in their own right, I find it somewhat difficult to sit through this entire thing at once.

As I've touched upon, the music is very emotional and can be moving, even frightening at times, when given proper attention. Ability to affect the listener emotionally is almost always the sign of good music, and there is no doubt that there is a lot of quality music here. The song structures, arrangements and compositions, however, can be difficult to grasp or even explain for someone who's not into the genre, whatever the genre is, if there even is one. Words like "neo-classical", "industrial" and "gothic" are being thrown around to describe what ELEND attempt. I will not attempt to label it at all; I have no frame of reference for this type of music, and it has been very difficult for me to review. Nevertheless, I enjoy the album for what it is, and it will surely receive quite a few listens after this. Perhaps some time I will manage to wrap my head entirely around it and be able to listen to and enjoy it all straight through...

Rating 7.5/10
Reviewer Erik





Elend
Winds Devouring Men
~reviewed by Joel Steudler
Reviewers often use hyperbole when praising an album they particularly like. In the case of Elend's brilliant Winds Devouring Men, it would be impossible to use hyperbole since no matter how effusive my praises, they would not be exaggerations. This album is an artistic triumph of the highest magnitude. Elend has created a masterpiece of dark neo-classical music, a landmark by which other releases will be judged. Winds Devouring Men melds orchestral, synthetic, and industrial elements into an intense and powerful symphonic soundscape that that is both avante-garde and gothic in nature.

Winds... is a difficult album to discuss because it bears so little resemblance to most of the music reviewed in these pages. It is in fact more akin to a filmscore than an album of songs, and is best listened to in its entirety. It isn't totally devoid of traditional song structures either, though they're most often submerged in vast soundscapes that bleed into one another. Lengthy passages of the album are devoid of melody and are largely textural, blending traditional orchestration and thundering industrial percussion to startling ends. Sound design is one of Elend's greatest strengths, crafting eerie atmospheres and massive, disquieting industrial nosie. Paired with the exceptional production standards, Elend's knack for sound design pushes the intensity through the roof in the louder passages and allows for unnerving washes of sound in quieter times.

Mixed into the dense layers of audio are beautiful, smooth male vocals brimming with pathos. Though the album's cedits don't specify who does the bulk of the singing, whoever it was has a powerful and expressive voice that perfectly meshes with the music. His mid-pitched delivery is silky and crisp, and carries the same resonance as the instrumentation surrounding his vocals. Hauntingly ethereal female voices also surface from time to time, but in a choral role ('ahhh's and 'ooh's) rather than a lyric one. All of the acoustic instrumentalists deliver as poignant a performance as the vocalists, particularly the violinists, who are used to great effect. Every musician involved in creating Elend's 'Winds Devouring Men' is worthy of praise for their superb efforts.

If you're a fan of dark, atmospheric music and appreciate artistic expression at its highest level, you owe it to yourself to purchase Winds Devouring Men. Elend's style may be foreign to many listeners, but if you allow yourself to descend into the sonic world they craft, you'll be swept up into the music in no time. Fans of moody, dark filmscores or classical music should also find much to appreciate here. Since I review metal albums most of the time, I'm contractually obligated to make a horrible pun at the end of all my reviews. With that in mind, I'll just say that if you fit into any of the categories I mentioned above, Winds... will blow you away.

Track List:
01.) the poisonous eye
02.) worn out with dreams
03.) charis
04.) under war-broken trees
05.) away from barren stars
06.) winds devouring men
07.) vision is all that matters
08.) the newborn sailor
09.) the plain masks of daylight
10.) a staggering moon

Elend is:
Iskandar Hasnawi
Sebastien Roland
Renaud Tschimer

Vocals, programming, all other instruments, industrial landscapes and noise

And:
Klaus Amman: Trumpet, Horn, Trombone
Nathalie Barbary: Soprano
Shinji Chihara: Violin, viola
David Kempf: Violin, solo violin
Esteri Remond: Soprano

Elend Official Website:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4019/frames.html

Prophecy Records:
http://www.prophecy.cd/

06/10/03




Elend - Winds Devouring Men (9/10) - Sweden - 2003
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Prophecy
Playing time: 60:16
Band-Homepage: Elend

Tracklist:
The Poisonous Eyes
Worn Out With Dreams
Charis
Under War-Broken Trees
Away From Barren Stars
Winds Devouring Men
Vision Is All That Matters
The Newborn Sailor
The Plain Masks Of Daylight
A Staggering Moon
Zero Metal. Zero anything that belongs in this magazine. Zero aggression. Zero............ 100% awesome! A fantastic audio journey into a soundscape. Like a RHAPSODY keyboard track on slow motion, minus everything geigh and add a lot of everything awesome. This music belongs behind a movie showing trees and stars and tears falling from the moon.
I'm going to seriously slit my fucking wrist if I have to listen to this CD ever again. Jesus, man. SENTENCED should take a lesson on how to stir the air. I'm going to cry!

Fucking brilliant! Ambient! Sorrow! (Online June 22, 2003)


http://www.metal-observer.com/gb/reviews/rev3063.html