Before me lies the fifth QNTAL album, "Silver Swan." In its time, the project amazed everyone with the possibility of so harmoniously crossbreeding what had seemed to be very different genres in essence — darkwave and medieval. And this trio accomplished it as far back as 1992. In its current lineup the band has existed since 2002: Michael Popp and Fil (Philip Groth) handle the instrumental side, with Michael taking on the "folk" portion and Fil managing keyboards, guitars, and computer processing, while Syrah (Sigrid Hausen) has been the project's vocalist since its earliest days. Let's begin listening. The first three compositions are sustained in a unified spirit — quite ceremonial yet somehow detached from everything: unobtrusive percussion, occasional horn and bagpipes, with male choral backing vocals entering periodically. In terms of the album's direction, one can already say here that at its core this is certainly darkwave, but new age elements are traced very distinctly. The fourth composition, "Von Den Elben," is one of the most beautiful on the album — honestly, the intro was sustained in a russian tradition; I don't know what influenced the writing of this piece, but the authors have definitely listened to russian classical composers of the 19th century. The album is very harmonious yet diverse: the composition "Lingua Mendax," for instance, stylistically resembles the Celtic musical direction. The remaining five compositions on the album are distributed as follows: three of them are keyboard-driven, slow and sorrowful songs, while two lean more toward folk — I'd especially note "The Whyle," written in waltz rhythm. The final, eleventh song from the album, "Silver Swan," is simply a masterpiece. Just keyboards and voice. You simply have to hear it.
From a material standpoint, one can only bow deeply to the band members as composers — it is magnificent. The performance is likewise top-notch; we sense an astonishing harmony, evidence that the musicians labored hard in the studio. The last thing worth mentioning is the lyrics — they are drawn from various sources, partly self-penned, with texts in English, Spanish, German, and Latin. The disc and booklet design are executed in the spirit of late medieval miniature art, with the mystical traditions of that historical period playing a significant role.