Hameln is a concept album loosely based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and suggests a succession of musical tableaux. The story takes its roots from an old medieval legend, from which the oldest reference dates back to the XVth century, and recounts facts from 1284.
An array of ancient instruments were used to create a dark medieval atmosphere suitable for our story, emphasizing the flute, common thread throughout the album. Hameln starts at a crucial turning point, when the city is being freed from a rodent infestation, and the Piper is betrayed by his kin. Every song depicts a different part of the story from the Piper’s point of view who, as nature’s herald, is torn between his will to save mankind and the sentence he has come to deliver. More than a simple story, Hameln is a metaphor for a nature overexploited by man, that will ultimately be his undoing: the children’s death symbolizes the destruction of the future of mankind. The Piper knows he has to kill the children to restore a balance destroyed by man, blinded by thirst for power and greed, endless plundering the Earth with no consideration for its well-being.
Every song follows Robert Browning’s poem The Pied Piper, and the audio extracts are read by Robert Hardy.