Once upon a time, in a land not so far away…. That’s the way you could start the story of Poppy Proudneck. A Belgian Folk Metal band, founded by Peter, a long time ago. Peter was a lazy jock, for it took him no less than 3 years to make something useful out of the band. The name Poppy Proudneck indeed is quite weird, just like the story behind it. Lynn, one of the members of the band was inserting her colleagues’ names into an ‘elve name generator’ on the net. When she hit ‘GENERATE’ after adding the name of good friend Heleen Camilleri, the name Poppy Proudneck appeared on the screen. The name fitted the band perfect.

Behind the anecdotes and stories there were also internal issues. The band was forced to let 3 people go, what is also the reason for the large number of guest musicians on the album. Luckily they gained two new members : Enrico and Eveline.
The lyrics of Poppy Proudneck are all telling tales of Greek Mythology and are, if you put it this way, unique in their kind.

Album : Poppy Proudneck
Label : Unsigned

The Album

The first thing you can say about this band is that they have great potential! So it’s a pity this CD doesn’t fulfill the expectations. The songs are very good indeed, but the mixing is quite bad. All songs sound to cheesy, they don’t have the raw sound you’re expecting. The ‘pagan’ sounds are too bright of sound… just because of the bad mix.
The first song, Pegasus, is a nice and happy song. It tells us a story about Pegasus, the winged horse of the gods. The vocals are good, but not my kind of cookie yet.
In Eros and Psyche you hear Lynn can really sing. The violin an banjo are quite amusing aswell. But like I said before, their bright sound doesn’t fit the raw guitar sound. Especially when the flute takes part. Stories And Lullabies is a song that’ll just stick in your head all day! Nice vocals and rhythm. The Bonus Track makes me think of trollfest to be honest. It’s a part of Pegasus, sung with a funny voice effect.

Conclusion

Poppy Proudneck is a good band, they bring good songs, but the bad mix just ruined the album. They are very unique, and I just hope the follow up will be better, because i know they can do it!

Rating

45/100

Line up

• · Lynn – Vocals
• · Peter – Banjo / Mandolin
• · Charlotte – Guitars
• · Enrico – Guitars
• · Evelyne – Accordeon
• · Saskia – Flute
• · Yornick – Bass
• · Jonas – Drums

Guest Musicians

• · Nick- Guitars
• · Tsane – Accordeon
• · Gert - Violin

Tracklist

1. Pegasus
2. Eros & Psyche
3. Stories & Lullabies
4. The Poppy Proudneck Song
5. Bonus Track

Links

• · www.myspace.com/poppyproudneck

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