I See a Darkness

An absolutely beautiful and, at points, heart-breaking album. I prefer the Johnny Cash version of the title track - to the surprise of absolutely no-one who knows me! All of his (many) other albums and projects are now officially on my "after the list" list

Excellent songwriting and atmosphere. Excited to spend more time with this one.

4.5/5

It's a very hard album to rate, because I WANT to like this album a lot more than I actually do. I remember this well from when it came out, and many of my friends loved everything about this, some even calling it the best they've ever heard.
And I get it. I just don't feel it.

No recuerdo nada de este álbum. Más mid imposible.

It was just slightly ever so boring

Decent album but a bit boring. I liked the alternative sound but it was just a bit too dreary

3 ⭐️

Lyrically it was good, but the instrumentation tended to be mostly uninteresting for me. Favorites were A Minor Place, I See A Darkness, and Black.

Not super interested. Not bad either

2.75

I really like this. I love how soft and melancholy it is. It's stripped back, yet still has a lot of depth. It's such a shame I had to listen on YouTube with all the advert interruptions, because it's a real mood from start to finish. I love his soulful singing. The artwork just tops it off. Great find!

I've uhmmed and ahhed on this all day, but the fact that I've listened to this album like 5 times already tells you all you need to know. I have to go big on the rating. They're rare, and few and far between, but this is what we all want right? Completely new musical discoveries that really take you and capture your imagination. Great stuff.

Ik was dit bij het tweede nummer met die valse samenzang al helemaal zat... Later komen er nog wat krassende geluiden. En blijkt het weer zo'n toneel-zanger te zijn. Wat komt dit nep over...

Hij ziet de ondergang; daar is hij duidelijk over. Ik hoor die ondergang. Dus er is een match tussen muziek en boodschap. Krijgt hij toch geen extra sterretje voor.

It’s a 2.5 that I’ll kindly bump up to a 3.

I just don’t think this album ever really hit a groove for me; I appreciate what it’s trying to do, and on the few songs where everything did come together for me, I thought it did its job well. I just think the other songs don’t execute the vision as cleanly or as clearly – there are times where I think the metaphors and the imagery and the storytelling get a bit muddled, and when those get muddled, it takes the focus away from what’s already a pretty minimal soundscape, which simply just never really worked for me throughout this album.

I get what it’s going for, and maybe if I caught this album on a moodier day, I’d be feeling it a bit more, but there’s nothing here that fully grabbed my attention save for a few songs. It isn’t bad though, just not my thing, so I’m OK with a 3.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Will Oldham; likewise, this was the first time he published music under the alias Bonnie "Prince" Billy. From what I can tell, this kind of music can be described as "gothic folk", where dark and weighty lyrics are sung over haunting melodies. In that regard, the album is certainly well-crafted. I can see why Johnny Cash would cover the title track shortly after.

There are just a few problems with this album - Will's warbly vocal delivery and the overall tone. This is not for everyone, given how bleak it comes off. If you're already in a bad or unpleasant mood, chances are good this album will not make it any better. From the right mindset, give it a spin.

I dig these folk songs that are so bleak they make Elliot Smith sound cheery. I’m not into the more country elements as much.

"Death to everyone is gonna come and it makes hosing much more fun"

Getting back on the album reviewing grind! This album was slow, sad, and milquetoast. I didn't mind any of the songs, but I wouldn't be purposefully putting them on to listen to either. This album offered very little unique value. Although the whole thing was unoffensive, I don't think that it quite warrants a 3/5 because of the lack of replayability.

2/5

Melodische ruhige Rhythmen mit einer markanten Stimme. Die Songs sind gut aufeinander abgestimmt und eignen sich den Hörer zu schnell zu entschleunigen und sich auf die wohltuende Klänge zu fokussieren. Es ist jedoch leider kein absolutes Highlight dabei.

Didn't like this one at all really. Poor singing, melodramatic, and fairly boring. Felt a lot longer than half an hour, even though I listened to it twice.

Hard to give this a fair review given it’s not on Spotify and had to listen to YouTube adverts, not an experience I’ll be rushing back to re listen. Maybe rerate one day it’s on a streaming service I have a subscription to.

I had no clue what I was in for this morning when I saw Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's name come up. Not a name I had ever heard before. From what I've read, he went through many name changes over the years before ultimately landing on this one.

Firstly, this album isn't on Spotify. Not strange since the whole Joe Rogan fiasco that ended with a bunch of artists pulling their stuff off. I was able to find it on YouTube.

Upon reading reviews of this album, it became clear that it was a fairly gloomy record of the folk rock/blues genre. I do tend to enjoy those genres, so I was hopeful that this would follow suit.

This is an excellent mood rock album, which at times reminded me of Hozier's style of gloomy folk rock. There was definately some deep seated pain that was worked through with the writing of this record. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy has a style of vocal delivery in which he records himself singing the same lyrics almost as an echo, so you're left with three or four layered vocal tracks all playing at once. It kind of sounds like if you sang in a church, or large open space.

I really liked the instrumentation on this record. It was kept fairly simple with keyboard and guitar in the forefront. It was nice and soft, and kind of backed up the gloomy feel of the record. It made me think of a rainy, gray, damp spring day.

Overall, a really good album. I quite enjoyed it, but can understand that you really have to be in a certain mindset to tolerate it, just because it is such a downer. But if you allow yourself to keep an open mind, there is beauty in the shadows that this record casts. If it wasn't such a pain in the arse to find, I would definately listen again!

Favorite songs: A Minor Place, Another Day Full of Dread, Madeline-Mary, Song For the New Breed, Black

Least favorite songs: Nomadic Revery (All Around)

4/5

Sounds quaint and nice

Herkkä ja kaunis levy, iski kyllä. 4/5, voi tulevilla kuunteluilla nousta täyteen femmaan.