First Utterance

What an excellent pick 😌 This is one of my personal favourite records. There isn’t really another band that sounds like them, except for bands that heard this record and wanted to do the same thing. Some of my fellow reviewers have complained about it being demented or disgusting, but that’s exactly the appeal! And right when we’ve been introduced to the ugly world of ”Diana”, we’re faced with the spellbinding ”The Herald”. This isn’t an album you can reduce to a simple statement, rather it is one you can get lost in for years

OK, so I'll state up front that this, on the first blush, seems like some bullshit gnomes and goblins prog tosh. It does, thankfully, have some genuinely interesting music in it.

There was a hole in my 1970s rock/folk knowledge and that was Comus. First Utterance is maybe not one of the best albums I ever heard, but it is an experience never to forget. I cannot remember an album that intrigued me this much in years. It is full of organic, black and disrupting folk songs that sound like desperate cries from the depths of a deep abyss. Progressive folk from 1971 that is so dirty that Lankum sounds like a bunch of choir kids.

Engagingly wierd and ahead of its time, but also uneven overall and frequently crossing the line into pretty demented territory. I can see this working very well as the soundtrack to some Wickerman-esque British pastoral horror film. As an album to sit and listen to for musical enjoyment... I don't regret the time spent with it, but doubt I'll be seeking out more.

Made me feel like I was on some pagan ritual with some songs. Very weird at times, but enjoyable none the less

Fascinating album - perfect feel for the Halloween season!

I've come across this one before- it's uncomfortable in places but iconic. Hard to believe it was two art students. Mesmeric and inviting. It's like a singular glistening gem, never repeated.

I will repeat this until I die: Fucky goblin music is the greatest music genre of all time and we desperately need more stuff like this. One of the best albums of all time. Literally not even a single second on this album that I'd cut or change in any way. If anything, the fact that "Drip, Drip" doesn't last an hour and a half is this album's biggest sin.

new favorite album just dropped?! (5 years before my dad was born) I’ve always been a diehard fan of freak folk, and this truly does EVERYTHING perfectly; a flawless album that sounds WAY too modern for its time I listened to this on loop about three times in a row lol, way too fuckin good to rate

Oh...the magical year that is 1971! This album pulls no punches. It’s unapologetically pagan, especially in its exploration of rape. I can see how it might be unsettling for the modern listener, but just read a little mythology and see how common the theme of ravishment is. And I use the word “ravish” advisedly. I’ve listened to this many times, and each time I listen, I focus on a different aspect of it, from the overall impression of the world that I perceived--a world larger than life--to the feeling that everything in a pagan forest is simultaneously both brighter and darker--the contrasts are more stark, the colors more vivid. Everything about it is more. This is probably the best pagan (music) fanfic ever made. For film, it's obviously "The Wicker Man". Some pagans play the Christians at their own game: "yes yes, you go to receive your martyr's crown, and we use your blood to rejuvenate the soil, so what are you whining about?" I warn you to pay the Herald no mind, and if you heed not my warning, well, then, you get what's coming to you.

The musical equivalent of a Hieronymus Bosch painting

Worked for me, but mainly as background music whilst doing other things. But the building intensity and random paths it was taking made me enjoy. 3.9

A surprising amount of depth to the lyrics. A decent "story album". Can't imagine grabbing for this at all though.

Cool that Opeth got an album title from this

Spännande album. Finns ett å annat guldkorn här.

Psychedelic folk, progressive folk. Ni fu ni fa.

This is interesting for sure. Dark and sort of disturbing. Not sure I would listen again, but glad I heard it at least once. 3 stars.

Could’ve come out yesterday and it wouldn’t surprise me

Prog folk/psychadelic folk from the 70s. It's like they took folk music of the Pentangle/Fairport Convention style and crossed it with King Crimson. And then took it to a very dark place. Favorite songs: The Prisoner, Diana, Drip Drip, Song to Comus Least favorite songs: Bitten 3/5

Interesting listen.

October 15, 2025 As one of the psychos who gave the Incredible String Band 5 stars, I assumed I would greatly appreciate this other strange folk album. And I appreciate it, but I don't love it at this time. The vocals are especially off-putting, especially in the opener "Diana", albeit appropriate for a spooky October night. The lyrics are also creepy, but not always in a good way. Based on the fact I listened to this on the 15th, then the 16th, and am writing this on the 17th possibly means I'm still processing this album. The flute-laden instrumentals are often transcendent.

Pretty good. Prog folk is interesting.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Diana

I like the instrumentation a lot but the lyrics are kind of gross and unpleasant!

Prog folk is what the worst folks at the renaissance fair are listening to on their way home and that’s nice for them. I’m not sure I personally need 1hr 11 minutes of it

I found Mikael Åkerfeldt's account.

Especie de folk-rock con canciones melódicas e instrumentales. Evocadoras de sueños. Algo diferente de escuchar, aunque no engancha del todo

Everything has its fans, am I right? Listen to this, I enjoyed the vibe, and I only thought how crazy the 70s were to build material for this kind of progressive folk stuff.

Split some of these longer songs in two. They don’t sound like they go together. There was an obsession with making long songs in this genre at this time. It didn’t need to happen. Was there a point to it? Why make the songs long just to make them long? I need serious help. Please help me. Am I worth saving? Are any of us? Why do we keep going? I liked this album a little. Just a little boring, nothing much going on. Respect the vision, though. 3/5

Certainly an interesting and eclectic sound.

Hm

Sorry this just isn’t my cup of tea.

Didn't strike me very much. At this point I have heard other similar folkish off center stuff. Maybe this came before?

Oh spare me. I'm on the 4th song and want to throw myself off a bridge. It gets more than 1 because the guitars are actually very cool in places. But the overall thing is just disgusting tbh. 2/5.

Lengthy folk LP that doesn't go anywhere or say much of anything – purely a matter of taste, just never understand the journeys that the albums in this genre go on.

Not one for me. What I am sure is a relaxing and soothing album for some was a cheese grater on styrofoam for me.

This was something out of a pagan cult. I’m sure Charles Manson had to have listened to this once in his life. The first song was pretty weird and it got a little less weird as it continued but overall just some of the weirdest compilation of sounds. Not quite sure what the allure of it is but no thank you. 2.9/10