Qntal - Silver Swan
Qntal is a German “electro-medieval” band founded in 1991 by Michael Popp, Ernst Horn, and later the vocalist Syrah (aka Sigrid Hausen). It has roots in Estampie, a band of similar genre but different style; Michael Popp and Syrah are the principal members. Ernst Horn left the group in 1999, to concentrate on his other band, Deine Lakaien. He later formed Helium Vola in 2001. Philipp Groth then joined Qntal. The band’s lyrics are primarily drawn from historical sources. Throughout their first three albums, lyrics were primarily in Latin, medieval German, and a few other European tongues. On ‘Qntal IV’, the band added a few songs in English to their body of work. Qntal’s debut US concert took place in September of 2004 at Dracula’s Ball in Philadelphia. “Qntal” is a made-up word that appeared in one of Syrah’s dreams. Its pronunciation varies among different sources.
There are two versions of Qntal V: Silver Swan that have been released in the United States, a regular 11 track CD and a special addition that includes a second 5 track CD. Both additions include artwork created by Brian Froud, whom is best known for his Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book (which I also highly recommend - it is fun, twisted, and most creative). I originally bought the cheaper 11 track regular album and after my first time through the album felt that Qntal III (at the time one of my favorite albums) was the better album. The second time I listened through the entire album I was sad that I didn’t buy the much more expensive special edition album, as I was floored by the beauty and artistry of Qntal V. I later went and bought the special addition and gifted the regular addition to a friend whom never had listened to Qntal before (she now likes the band as well - perhaps the cycle will continue).
I’m actually going to recommend you buy the regular version of the album. The second CD in the special edition is a multimedia CD that includes a small gallery of some of Froud’s work in addition to 5 audio tracks (3 dancefloor oriented remixes and 2 new tracks). Of the 3 remixes, though Fil did an awesome job with them, I actually prefer the originals … in otherwords, they alone wouldn’t justify purchasing the special edition. However, the 2 new tracks are amazing … particularly Veni (which is labeled as being a mix, and yet this is the first time Qntal has released this track). The Froud gallery is nice, but if you collect his work, there actually is some of his new album art included in the regular edition that didn’t make it to the special edition. For some reason the liner artwork is almost the same between the two albums, but the order of the art is slightly different and a few pieces of art didn’t make it to the other edition.
