Fall of Efrafa - Elil LP

I was introduced to this band by a friend of mine who knows the Singer (Alex) of this band. I asked a little about them and he briefly explained that they were a "Melodic Crust" band, that the time it seemed quite the oxymoron to have a Crust band that plays melodically. Never the less this did not deter me and I typed their name into my trusty Google search engine and their name popped up. I clicked and read about the band discovering that they were somewhat of a concept band. This concept being Richard Adams' Watership Down novel (a tail about rabbits and their quest for a safer spot to set up a warren), I'm sure most of you have either read the book or remember being traumatised by the animated movie. The band see the book as the Animal Farm-esque tale of the evils of Fascism (the Efrafa Warren lead by the war mongering and vicious General Woundwort) and incorporate this metaphor into some of their songs about the mistreatment of animals and of the planet in general.
Anyway on their website they had stuck up a track from their first 12" Owsla called the The Fall of Efrafa and immediately I was hooked. I hunted down their original 12" (which took some doing, and eventually found one thanks to Nick), I then patiently awaited the second installment of The Warren of Snares (Owsla being part one).

Eventually it arrived (and after that long winded back story so does this review) with the title Elil, Elil being "Lapine" (rabbit talk) for the enemies of rabbits (principally, us, humans). Its pure bliss to listen to (I dont mean its tame by that). Its a brilliant record, Alex's gruff howling vocals sit perfectly within each track. The instrumentals are equally fantastic with almost harp like playing in the intro's and outro's of the songs before erupting into the thumping blasts that lovers of crust are familiar with. However the music is really delivered by the Chello which gracefully scythes its way through the grinding guitars and feels so brilliantly soothing. Ill admit, I had my eyes closed this entire LP in sheer relaxation because of the skillful playing of the Cello.
The songs are also introduced with a sound clip in this 12" case it is Richard Adams reading an extract from his book and their is also a lengthy piece (but still very interesting and brilliantly chosen) piece read by Richard Dawkins from one of his novels on athiesm (which I've not had the chance to read).

Althogether a brilliant 12" and I look forward to hearing the 3rd installment from this brilliant Brighton based band.

-J.W. [Sound Devastation + others]
(Sorry for lack of track details, I dont have the record with me right now).