Album Review: Крода - Schwarzpfad

 

Artist: Крода (Kroda) [Ukraine]
Album Title: Schwarzpfad
Record Label: Purity Through Fire (Germany)
Released: 2011
Purchased From: Ebay (Apothelyptic Reign)

Wow.  That pretty much sums up my initial reaction to hearing this album.  It is Kroda.  It is different in some ways than what we heard on previous albums, but it is Kroda.  And it is awesome.

I feel a little guilty now at being so surprised, but I have heard bands attempt to carry on after losing an important creative member and fail to live up to its previous work.  And because Kroda was previously a duo, with one member essentially playing all the instruments in the studio, and because that member left the band a year earlier, it seemed like a longshot that Kroda could continue, at least at the level of greatness they had previously known as the duo of vocalist Eisenslav and multi-instrumentalist Viterzgir.  But Eisenslav decided to continue after the departure of Viterzgir, rebuilding the band from the ground up and making a few changes to the sound.  The end result is that Eisenslav was able to keep the band not only relevant but, some might argue, even better than it was before.

One of the first things I noticed about Kroda on Schwarzpfad is that the sound is more stripped-down than it was on the first three studio albums.  The atmosphere on the earlier material is pretty palpable, with lots of sopilka (a type of flute used in Ukraine), vargan, and ambient sounds.  They almost sound otherworldly.  On Schwarzpfad, Kroda sounds more down-to-earth, more raw, more "live," more immediate.  There are still keyboards and the lovely sopilka (as well as a lower, droning wind instrument), but at its heart Kroda sounds even more like a black metal band here, with Eisenslav's vocals taking on a fearsome and passionate presence, similarly to how he's handled the vocals in the live setting.  Guitars are raw and not over-produced, the drums (live rather than programmed) sound awesome and powerful, and you can even hear the great bass parts.  The production is more bass-heavy, I'd say, than I'm used to hearing in black metal, but it works to Kroda's advantage.  This is a black metal album that even those audiophiles who can't stomach typical "raw" black metal could probably enjoy.  Acoustic guitars make a rare showing here and there, which I believe is something new for the band.

Keyboards and other atmospheric effects are used more sparingly than in the past, though the entire last track is an ambient instrumental piece.  When they are used, they sometimes take the form of ambient pads and sometimes choirs, which support Eisenslav's harsh vocals.  The sopilka appears on each of the first four tracks, and I am grateful for it.  There's something about the sound of that instrument and its use on previous Kroda albums that it feels like an essential part of their sound, adding some softer melodic touches to help balance the ferocity of Eisenslav's vocals and the other instruments.  I don't know who plays the sopilka on this album, but my hope is that it will always remain a part of the band's sound.

Every track on the album has its own highlights... I even love the ambient outro, which serves the purpose of bringing the listener into a state of quiet bliss after the first four long, blistering black metal tracks.  Other highlights, for me, are when Eisenslav's vocals make their first appearance on "Schwarzpfad I (First Snow)," accompanied by the synth choir, and when the clean vocals make their appearance in "Schwarzpfad IV (Heil Ragnarok!)."  But I could easily point to a number of other great moments.  Eisenslav and the talented bunch of musicians he has surrounded himself with have made, in my opinion, an arguably perfect pagan/black metal album.  I wish I could say that I knew it would end up being this good, but I must admit that I didn't know at what level to place my expectations.  It is possible (though pretty unlikely) that at this point there may be other Kroda fans who have avoided Schwarzpfad so far out of fear of being disappointed, but, if you do exist, let me say that you need to track down a copy of this album as soon as possible.

I don't know what the future holds for this band, who have achieved so much and have faced so much opposition in their short nine years or so of existence, but I am confident that Kroda is in good hands and will hopefully achieve many more great things down the road.