renkls
Fauna is, to my knowledge, a very obscure band, dealing with themes of nature in a black metal interpretation, mixed with nature sounds and ambience. Their second release, The Hunt, is their best thus far, but coming off the cathartic release that is Rain, The Hunt is not too different in design or concept, except to delve into a dirge concerning humanities pursuit of food. It is structured as a single, 80 minute track in initial release, but in re-release, slightly shorter and in mulitple parts. The album plays out as a continous track, with an ambient intro, then black metal outbursts, then further ambient sections. Although the ambitious nature of the albums design may not appeal to all, I have no qualms with an album designed as such, as long as the concept shines through because of it. In this case, it certainly does - but in such an ambitious concept, you can see that there are some flaws/qualms that do arise. It could have shaved 10 minutes here or there and been a bit more concise. Overall however, if you like black metal which takes turns in being atmospheric, cathartic, frenetic and slow burning, then this may be the release for you.