- Quote Last.fm ("Echtra")
The hero’s journey par excellence, Echtra represents the transition between this world and the others. A seed, carried as close to one’s heart as spatiality will allow, germinates rebirth and a nomadic wandering no longer bound. A symbiosis of brown, green, and red; the saturation of the grey with the vibrant shades of being: these are the transformations made possible when the otherworld reasserts itself unexpectedly. An immersion in the deep past reveals the portal through which the Soul may emerge unscathed, as an unqualified rejection of the mundane bog of modernity loosens the chains. The adventitious dross of this age sloughs off, revealing the unheralded spectral interior light, and all swirls around the spirit in its adventure towards Home.
An Echtra or Echtrae (pl. Echtrai) is one of a category of Old Irish literature about a hero's adventures in the Otherworld (see Tír na nÓg and Mag Mell); the otherworldly setting is the distinctive trait of these tales. More generally, echtra was the Old Irish word for "adventure", the Modern Irish word is eachtra.
The echtra was one of the most popular of Old Irish genres, so much so that the word later came to be used in the titles of any romance, regardless of otherworldly content. Earlier on, however, an echtra's emphasis was on the hero's time in the Otherworld, the journey to which served merely as a frame story. This distinguishes the echtrai from the Immrama, or "Voyages", which focus on the hero's journey rather than the otherworldly destination.
The hero of the echtra is usually invited to the Otherworld by a beautiful maiden or a great warrior, and he must cross either the western ocean or a plain blanketed by a mystical fog. The host is revealed to be one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, or fairy folk, and Manannan or Lugh often figure into the tale. The hero's fate after his sojourn varies from tale to tale. Sometimes he stays among the sídhe forever, and sometimes he returns with knowledge and gifts for his people. Sometimes the hero discovers his visit has lasted for years or even centuries though he thought no time had passed. He is warned that if he ever touches his home soil again, he will surely perish. In the Voyage of Bran, the heroes describe their adventure to listeners shore, then sail off into oblivion. In a popular story from the Fenian Cycle, Oisín touches the ground and instantly ages three hundred years. He tells his story to Saint Patrick and received a Christian baptism before he died.
References
- James MacKillop (1998). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-860967-1.
- Quote Wikipedia ("Echtra")
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Echtra is probably the Fauna related project that I enjoy the most. All songs on every release clock in at 23 minutes exactly, which is a nice song length for this type of music etc, which is comprised (their second release more with more melody/folk than the first) of largely ambient/atmoshperic, melodic, folk, mixed in with of course, black metal.
And though not as long as Fauna in song length, still requires some patience, and listening to it a few times always helps with stuff like this.
Enjoy.
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Album Name: Burn It All Away
Band: Echtra
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal/Drone/Folk
Year: 2004
Country: USA
Track Listing:
| 1. | Burn It All Away I | 23:00 | |
| 2. | Burn It All Away II | 23:00 | |
| 3. | Burn It All Away III | 23:00 | |
| Total playing time | 01:09:00 | ||
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Echtra is the solo project of one-half of the apocalyptic atavist black metal duo Fauna. Originating from the green forests of Cascadia, Echtra’s music reflects the deep sense of reverence that emanates from the surrounding rich natural landscape. Steeped in live ritual, Echtra transmutes betrayal and abandonment into wisdom on A War of Wonder, conjuring visions of the soul achieving its ultimate reintegration into the corpus of Spirit.
Conceived in 2004 and utilized for ritual performance two years later, A War for Wonder chronicles an experimental aural landscape, eschewing allegiance to the strict confines of black metal in the relentless pursuit of personal mastery. Consciousness is immersed in a musicality wherein the abstractions of “genre” drift away as the sound deepens and swirls, engaging the emotional and etheric bodies in tandem with the intellect.
As the wooden timelessness of the acoustic melds with the distorted vibration of electricity, a new gnosis is reached, shielded from the reductive eyes of reason and allowed to loosen the bonds of the true being within. Containing this liberation is the seed of Echtra, the heroic journey of the Self from the shadows. Initially circulated only within a small circle of collaborators, this work is now issued into the world by 20 Buck Spin, as dictated by the spirits and for the benefit of all beings.
- Quote here.
Album Name: Burn It All Away
Band: Echtra
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal/Drone/Folk
Year: 2009
Country: USA
Track Listing:
| 1. | A War for Wonder I | 23:00 | |
| 2. | A War for Wonder II | 23:00 | |
| Total playing time | 46:00 | ||
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