The kings of minstrel metal are back! Hold it.... Wait… Did you just said minstrel METAL? Yes, I sure did. Indeed, in this group of seven men who all hail from Germany, one can find neither guitars and bass guitars nor drums. They don’t use anything electrical at all.

Corvus Corax only utilize instruments that hail from medieval times. Things like bagpipes, lutes, the medieval shawm, great horns and various percussion instruments all make part of their distinguishable sound and coupled with a whirling and intense theatrical like show, these German guys sure know how to rock your socks off.
And now they are back with a new album, called “Venus Vina Musica”. It has become a concept album which has become a sort of musical journey around the world of the 13th century.
In “Venus Vina Musica” a tale is told about the quest of a traveling minstrel who became obsessed with the need to find “Sanyogita”. In those times it was told that this was an Indian princess as well as a legendary dancer. She was also supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Our hero travels a musical journey through a whole lot of countries to find this dreamwoman, and in the meanwhile he gets to know interesting foreign cultures. He learns new songs and stories, and hears the sound of the strangest melodies and instruments.
The title song “Venus Vina Musica” (track 1) for instance is supposed to be the music from the home country of the minstrel. It’s a long slow intro of about two minutes which transforms in an up-tempo song with big drums that do a lot of heavy percussion, a lot of frantic shawms, and viking-like vocals. It has the feel of medieval party hit.
“Sanyogita” (track 2) is a rather bombastic song and has a little bit of an Indian or Tibetan feel to it.

It even has some traditional overtone singing mixed in at the beginning. “Tuska” (track 3) is more or less gypsy themed, whereas Katrinka (track 4) has a Balkan flavor to it. The other four songs have theme and flavors like Britannic (track 5), Himalayan, (track 6), Arabian (Track 7) and a traditional medieval churchlike song (track 8). The musical journey on which Corvus Corax takes their listeners is convincing. All the song have flavors from the different countries put into them, but the original Corvus Corax elements are still very much present.
Musically seen this CD is certainly allright. I expected that already, with “Venus Vina Musica” being their 16th (!) full length CD to date. There are no highlights for me though. They’ve certainly made better records and most songs won’t stay in my head.

Still I find “Venus Vina Musica” a very likeable CD to listen to. The approach that Corvus Corax took by putting elements from the music of other cultures in their music, but at same time preserving their own elements is certainly noteworthy.
But… I can’t help but to think: “We all have heard this before somewhere….”. So isn’t Corvus Corax repeating itself one too many times? Maybe, but Corvus Corax exists for 17 years already, and they still have hold on to the same formula more or less with success. They still rock my socks off. Especially with their live shows with a lot of medieval attributes.

This album is for for fans of Tanzwut, In Extremo, Schandmaul and Subway To Sally.
Now excuse me while I go look for my monk robes and a tankard filled with fresh Trappist.