Encorion were formed by Dutchman Danny de Graaf in order to pay tribute to his passion for both music (with an accent to Metal in general, as well as Folk and Classical Music) and cultural tradition (read: traditional culture; I guess this flag covers the package much more). Soon his project was joined by some same-minded souls, and after signing to Sleaszy Rider, Encorion released a first full length, Facing History And Ourselves, some collection of demonstrational material done in the (short) past. Next step was performing live, with brothers-in-battle from e.g. Slechtvalk, Myrkvar, Adorned Brood or Skyforger, and soon the very same quintet (besides guitar player Danny: singer Raymond Dubbelt, his brother Michael on bass and clean vox, drummer Jark Zilverentant, and Tessa Freeke, performing violin and flute) started recording the sophomore full length, Our Pagan Hearts Reborn.
For the better part this new record goes on in the vein of the debut, yet it certainly is much stronger, much more professional and much more coherent. With Facing … I guess the band was looking for an own identity, but they sort of developed an own being-of-entity with the impressive activities during the last couple of years. Not only the songs have been written with more cohesion and persuasion; the performance, the production, the atmosphere, all of it did evolve positively. For sure the Lowlands-roots (read: the southern parts of the Netherlands, and Flanders) are of undeniable presence / importance, but this kind of material is what might be ador(n)ed as well in Finland, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Swiss, France, and even Zimbabwe, if you want to…
I surely recommend this to fans of the (European) Folk / Pagan / Black-scene!