The Final Age

Site Update

2011-10-30T21:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, the elephant in the room here is that I stopped updating The Final Age blog throughout most of 2010, and have only sporadically updated it in 2011. In fact, other than the first few months of keeping the blog, my reviews have been pretty sporadic and I haven't kept things updated as often as I'd like. There are many reasons for this, including other projects, hobbies, etc., as well as personal matters, but I feel like I've turned a corner this year and will finally be able to start updating regularly and reliably.

My motivation for this blog has always been that I love this music and I want to do what I can to support the bands and labels that create and publish it, and I want to help spread the work of these bands by possibly helping others discover new music (as others have done for me over the years). I do not consider myself to be a very good "critic" or a good music writer at all, but I enjoy updating this site and getting feedback from fans or artists. I plan to be here for a very long time and to hopefully do it a lot better. I don't think there are any regular readers of my reviews, but if so, I appreciate your patience and hopefully I am getting back on track. I have a huge backlog of CD's to talk about, so the potential material is there; I just need to keep at it. Thank you and good night.

Album Review: Всполох - Печаль о прошлом

2011-10-30T19:53:00.006-04:00

Artist: Всполох (Vspolokh, Vspolox, Vspoloh, etc.) [Russia]
Album Title: Печаль о прошлом ("Sorrow of the Past")
Record Label: Purity Through Fire (Germany)
Released: 2010 (December)
Purchased From: Ebay (Apothelyptic Reign)

In 2007, the German record label Hammermark Art (which, at that time, was the label of the highly-acclaimed Kroda) released an EP by a young Russian band called Всполох, which they romanized as "Vspolox." This EP, Сумерки, or The Dusk, was actually a demo from 2005, and as such felt kind of half-baked and immature. The production was pretty obscure and the drums were programmed, while there was nothing extremely compelling about the songwriting or vocals. It was not altogether bad considering it was a demo, but it seemed an odd choice for Hammermark to put forth the expense and effort to release it on CD. I bought the EP sometime in 2008 or 2009, shortly after purchasing the EP My Lands by Smaga, a band which shares a member with this one, and my impression after hearing the two EP's was that Smaga was definitely the more promising band.

However, Всполох stuck with it and, after adding a bassist and drummer and losing one of the two original guitarist/vocalists (though he appears as a guest vocalist on this album), the band released their first full-length in 2010. I was on the fence about buying it when I saw it for sale, but then I checked out a sample on Youtube and decided it was worth giving a try. One thing that caught my attention was the artwork, which this time around was done by the talented Kogaion Art (one might remember them from the artwork for Wodensthrone's Loss and Askival's Eternity, among others). Later, upon hearing the album and reading the lyrics, I realized that the dark, somber artwork is very appropriate considering the subject matter. Another thing that caught my attention was that, in the sample, I heard a large improvement over the debut EP/demo. I actually ordered this at the same time as Kroda's Schwarzpfad, kind of as a supplement to that order, but upon having the time to absorb this CD properly I was immediately impressed. If you heard the band on The Dusk and didn't like them, I encourage you to give them another try. This is so different that it might as well be an entirely new band.

One thing to get out of the way is that the band's name has been transliterated a few different ways. I already mentioned that they were called Vspolox on the 2007 EP, but on this release their name is romanized as Vspolokh. Vspoloh may also be appropriate. Their website and Myspace uses "Vspolox," so I'm at a loss as to which version to use. I'm going to go with the spelling that's used on the spine of the CD, so, going forward in this review, I'm going to call them Vspolokh. Okay, so now that's settled. One thing that's easier to settle is the name of the CD, which is translated as Sorrow of the Past. This title is very appropriate, because the lyrics (which are in Russian, but are helpfully translated into English in the insert) are primarily concerned with lamenting the loss of the old, heathen ways of Russia, which have been largely replaced by the alien faith of Christianity. This is certainly not a subject that is new or original in pagan metal (the subject is probably dealt with in roughly 95% of all pagan metal albums), but the lyrics are poetic and are pretty well-translated into English, and I get a sense of earnestness from the band as I read along and listen to the anguished and proud shrieks of guitarist/vocalist/flute-player "Vel" (aka "Velemudr" on the first release). I find some of the lyrics very moving and wistful, like: "Where are the flames and sparkles of Kupala piles in the night? Nowhere. There are only ominous shades of crosses on Earth." According to the liner notes, the lyrics are inspired by a story called "Death of Volkhv" by G. Osetrov.

Vspolokh is a band with a strong backbone of black metal, with some folk as well, though they tend to keep that separate from the black metal. The lead-off song, "Grief," begins with a sorrowful-sounding a capella folk song which floats in the distance, accompanied by sounds of nature (and soon a thunderstorm). This piece of music, as well as the way it is replaced by a doomy guitar tone, reminds me of the Hate Forest album Battlefields, though here you've got a real drummer and can actually hear the bass. The doomy section is replaced by a brief moment of acoustic guitar (accompanied by more nature sounds), and then the song speeds up and the proud, powerful harsh vocals emerge. The guitars here have a similar thick, fuzzy sound and style that Drudkh has, and I would guess from that and some of the songwriting that the well-known Ukrainian band has had some influence on Vspolokh, though that certainly is not a bad thing. At times they also remind me of Khors, except without the keyboards.

The second track begins with a clip taken from the 1930's Russian film Alexander Nevsky, also not really an original thing to do, but in this instance they don't use any speech, only a brief (and creepy-sounding, due to the poor condition of the film's soundtrack) musical fragment that leads into another fairly Drudkh-like riff. I like the simple but competent drumming and the audible bass, and I like the vocals, which don't have a lot of variety in style but do display emotion. I would imagine they are even more effective if the listener understands the Russian language. Towards the end of the second track, the acoustic guitar returns and is accompanied by a nicely-played flute. This folk section is very brief, however, and the metal comes roaring back with a very nice guitar solo (the first of the album).

The third track continues in like manner to the first two tracks, but then the album features a nice five-minute acoustic interlude: the instrumental entitled "Long Forest Paths of Rus'." It's a pretty simple song, just guitar and flute, but it gives the ears and spirit a little time to rest before the band tears through the final two lengthy songs, "Extrinsic Obscurantism" and "The Call." These last two songs are similar to the first three in that they contain a variety of moods and tempo, a few little acoustic sections, and long stretches without vocals. Admittedly, the songs tend to sound pretty similar to one another, and they all have similar characteristics, but everything is very well-done and it is a nice album to listen to. Despite the aggression, it has a rather melancholic, ancient quality, like one would hear listening to Drudkh's Blood In Our Wells or Estrangement. Not that Vspolokh is a sound-alike of that band, as they feature more acoustic parts and less repetition than Drudkh does, but that is the closest comparison I can find. If I knew more about the actual playing of music, I could dissect the guitar playing and rhythms and things like that, but unfortunately there is not much I can contribute to that discussion.

Sorrow of the Past is a very good pagan black metal album. It is lacking in originality, but it makes up for this (in my opinion, at least) with its sincerity and solid writing and performance. This is the kind of album that fans of Khors, Drudkh, Wodensthrone, and the like will want to check out if they're looking for a new album in the style of those established bands, with great, beefy production and a rather satisfying and ear-pleasing group of songs. I'm sure that Vspolokh will, in future releases, better establish their own identity, but the foundation is here. All the basic elements are in place already. It will remain to be seen if they will reach for true greatness, but, whether or not it ever comes to fruition, Sorrow of the Past is already a valued part of my collection, and I recommend it to fans of atmospheric, melancholic, pagan-themed black metal. If you can listen to the album while ignoring the shadow of similar bands that have come before them, you may find that these guys are heads-and-shoulders above many bands in this style. In my opinion, Vspolokh can proudly stand beside the bands that influenced them.

Also, this is certainly better than Drudkh's Handful of Stars or their Old Silver Key album.

Album Review: Dalriada - Ígéret

2011-10-26T22:31:00.002-04:00

Artist: Dalriada (Hungary)
Album Title: Ígéret
Record Label: AFM Records (Germany)
Released: 2011 (February)
Purchased from: Ebay

Okay, before I start my review, take a moment to look at that album cover. One of the unique things about folk metal is that an album cover featuring a field of flowers really doesn't seem all that strange. How many genres of metal can you say that about? Maybe some power metal, possibly. Then there's Opeth's cover for Orchid. But really, the typical metal image of "evil" is really done away when you look at an album cover like that of Dalriada's Ígéret. And there's something kind of refreshing about that. Anyway, this has nothing to do with the rest of the review, so ignore this entire first paragraph if you wish.

I've reviewed the last three Dalriada albums over the last few years and I consider myself to be a huge fan of their music. The fact that, in the past, I've only had one consistent source from which to buy their CD's (a Hungarian seller on Ebay) has made me wonder with each of their albums I was able to obtain that there might come a day when I would be unable to legally purchase Dalriada CD's at all. So with each review of their latest album, my only real complaint has been that they need to land on a label with better worldwide distribution. Naturally, then, I was overjoyed to find that their latest CD, Ígéret, was released on AFM Records, a German label with very good distribution, because now hopefully I will not have to worry about whether or not I can get my hands on future releases from the band. Also, their signing to a label like AFM means hopefully more exposure and better promotion for the band that I feel is one of the more underrated folk metal bands in Europe. Things are looking up for one of Hungary's best-kept secrets, and that makes me happy.

Ígéret arrived about fifteen months after their previous album, the excellent Arany-Album, which is a pretty typical turnaround time for Dalriada, who has now released six full-length albums under this name and their previous name, Echo of Dalriada, since 2004. Just as impressive as how prolific this band is, is that every album starting with 2006's Jégbontó has been pretty amazing (even their 2004 debut, Fergeteg, is pretty good). Fortunately, Ígéret does not break this streak of great albums.

The album begins with a folk song, but I don't know what the source of it is. As the track fades in, I hear what seems like a scratchy record sound, so I don't know if this piece was taken from a previously existing folk recording or if the "scratchy record sound" is just an effect, as midway through the track the sound becomes crystal clear. I suspect, therefore, that this is an original piece to the album, though the song itself may not have been written by the band. At any rate, the album properly begins with the second track, "Hajdútánc." This song is awesome, what can I say? It's catchy and fun, and, most surprisingly of all, for the first time lead vocalist Laura Binder shrieks as well as sings. Laura has long been one of my favorite female vocalists in pagan metal, with a voice that isn't quite power metal and isn't quite folk, but something unique. In the past, the black metal shrieks were always performed by guitarist András Ficzek or, more recently, drummer Tadeusz Rieckmann, but here Laura proves to have a pretty wicked sounding shriek as well, sounding not like Masha Scream (Arkona) or Rodonitsa (Ruyan) but more like Kriegtalith (Darkestrah). However, Laura keeps the harsh vocals to a minimum, and they only seem to appear on this track as well as "Leszek A Hold" (growls do appear elsewhere on the album, but not from Laura). The band recorded a pretty great music video for this song as well; I recommend checking it out.

One of the improvements Dalriada made to their sound beginning with 2009's Arany-Album was the addition of various folk musicians to flesh out the sound. While in the past the band has introduced folk instruments that would disappear with the next release (ie: the flute on Jégbontó or the violin on Kikelet), happily this time they've returned, and the various stringed instruments and even a harmonica on "Hozd el, Isten" add nicely to the sound. Not that Dalriada is the type of band to rely on the novelty of traditional instruments to make up for any deficiencies of their own, as this is a band known for its talent and tight musicianship. The sound of Dalriada is difficult to describe, as they feature elements of power metal, black metal, and occasionally even doom metal. But comparisons with other bands are pretty difficult because I haven't been able to find another band that sounds at all close to Dalriada. Perhaps it's the way they incorporate traditional Hungarian melodies into their sound, or the way they blend their influences into something completely their own, but, regardless, Dalriada is Dalriada.

Another strong element to their sound is the harmonizing of vocals. Mostly it's Laura harmonizing with András, but here we have a number of choruses that feature a lot of voices in the mix, sometimes with a low growl in the background (as is the case with "Mennyei Harang"). Add in some great drumming, the occasional guitar or keyboard solo, excellent folk instruments, and those awesome and unique melodies, and you've got a folk metal album that should appeal to many.

As for highlights on the album, other than "Hajdútánc," as I already mentioned, I particularly enjoyed "Igazi Tûz," mainly due to its wonderful and catchy chorus, and a particularly nice guitar solo. Both of these tracks are certainly in my top 10 Dalriada songs of all time. Another highlight is "Leszek A Hold," the last proper song on the album (unless you count the short outro). Besides the catchy chorus and beautiful violin solo, this track also features a guest appearance by Korpiklaani vocalist Jonne Järvelä. He appears to sing in his native Finnish, and even does some joiking and possibly even throat singing here.

Not every track is a winner, as there are some that aren't as interesting as the others. A few of the tracks are more rooted in black or doom metal, with a lot of harsh vocals, and these didn't appeal to me as much. After the very consistent Arany-Album, I'd say Ígéret doesn't quite maintain its greatness on every track as that album did. However, past Dalriada albums have always had a handful of songs that didn't work as well as others, and with a band that utilizes so many different styles within their overall sound, it's natural that songs that emphasize one particular facet of their sound may not appeal to each listener as much as songs that emphasize other facets. All in all, I'd say this is a great release from the band and a worthy release to serve as their introduction to a wider audience. Hopefully their earlier releases will also see wider distribution, because more people should hear this band and be able to purchase their albums.

I've been listening to Dalriada for about four and a half years now, and so far they have yet to ever let me down. Though Ígéret will likely not be my favorite album of theirs, it is only because they have consistently managed to release great albums, and this is one that stands proudly with the rest of their discography even if it doesn't quite manage to top everything else they've done. I am glad that the band has found new opportunities and I hope that they will make the most of them. After seeing a number of lesser bands find big record deals when the "folk metal trend" as at its zenith, it's good to see a worthy band like Dalriada finally get their break. Hopefully good things are ahead for this talented group.

Album Review: Alkonost - On the Wings of the Call

2011-10-26T21:09:00.003-04:00

Artist: Alkonost (Russia)
Album Title: а крыльях зова ("On the Wings of the Call")
Record Label: Einheit Produktionen (Germany)
Released: 2010 (May)
Purchased from: The Omega Order

On the Wings of the Call is Alkonost's long-awaited (by me, at least) follow-up to 2007's Stone Heart Blood, an album that was mostly made up of re-recordings of very old Alkonost songs from the mid-to-late 90's. On the Wings of the Call is also their first album for Germany's well-known pagan metal label Einheit Produktionen, home of a few of my favorite bands in the genre, like Odroerir, Finsterforst, and Mistur. While this isn't the first of their albums to be released on a non-Russian label (their 2002 self-titled compilation was released on Germany's Ketzer Records), it will probably serve to introduce the band to a number of fans who are unaware of or hadn't had a chance to hear their earlier albums. That being said, this isn't exactly a "typical" Alkonost album, specifically in the vocal department, because a temporary line-up change carried over to the recording. However, the album is very good and should give new fans a solid indication of the kind of quality music this band is capable of making.

For a while around late 2009, Alkonost did some live shows without their operatic female vocalist, Alena Pelevina, who was on a temporary maternity leave from the band. Replacing her for these shows was Irina Zybina, whose folk vocal style is very different from Alena's. But apparently the band was so impressed with Irina that they had her perform roughly half of the female vocals on this album. The line-up change is noticeable immediately on the first track, "Bird-Ship," as Irina handles most of the lead vocals on this song. "Bird-Ship" begins with the sound of a small choir, made up of guest vocalists Ilya (Svarga), Kseniya (Kalevala), and Alexandr "Shmel" (Kalevala, Rarog), accompanied by the ambient keyboard work of long-time member Almira Fathullina. Soon the dual guitars of Dmitriy Sokolov and band founder Andrey "Elk" Losev join the mix, as well as the solid drumming of Anton Chepigin. The harsh vocals of Alexey "Nightbird" Soloviev appear next, and then the ice-meltingly beautiful folk vocals of Irina bring a refreshing softness to the overall blend. Later in the song, Kalevala's Kseniya handles some lead vocals as well. The rest of the songs on the album do not have the same kind of vocal variety as "Bird-Ship" does, but it's a great lead-off track even if it doesn't give an accurate view of what is in store for the rest of the album.

The second song, "Chilly Fire of the Night," is a more typical Alkonost song, one that would not sound out of place on their excellent 2006 album The Path We've Never Made. On this track, Alena Pelevina returns with her higher-pitch, operatic-style vocals, and Irina Zybina disappears until track 5. This, as well as the next two songs, are closer representatives of what you could expect if you pick up most Alkonost albums from 2004 forward. Their unique blend of gothic, folk, black, and doom metal stands out from every other band I've heard in the folk metal world. There are no folk instruments to be found on this or any other Alkonost album so far, but the "folk" style can be heard in the guitar leads and in the lyrics themselves, which often read like dark fairy tales. I believe many of them are based on Russian folklore, but I'm not certain. Fortunately, although the lyrics are in Russian, in the booklet they are translated into English for their international audience, a thoughtful touch.

Tracks 3 and 4, "Thought-Trees" and the great "Ineffable Light," are pretty similar to "Chilly Fire of the Night," but on track 5, "Wonderland True Story," the band slows things down a bit and we get something unique on this album: both Alena's and Irina's vocals on the same track. Their differing styles of vocals sound good whether alternating or blending, and both of these things happen on this song. Also, Ilya from Svarga lends his voice to the mix again, singing while Alexey "Nightbird" growls in the background. This song is probably the highlight of the album for me, and it makes me wish we could hear more of Irina Zybina on future Alkonost releases, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

The next song, "Fire Bloom-Charm," features Irina's folk vocals again, and a nice, catchy chorus. Her voice reminds me of the female vocals on Natural Spirit's Sita Rosa, which is a good thing. On "Princess' Lament," a cover of a song by the band Canonis (of which guitarist Andrey "Elk" Losev was once a member) things slow down again, as this has more of a doom metal sound. I have no idea what the original sounds like, but it sounds so much like a natural Alkonost song that I'm not sure anyone would have suspected it's a cover song. I'm impressed with Alena's vocals on this track.

The last two tracks on the CD are re-recordings of songs that originally appeared on Between the Worlds in 2004. The primary difference with these re-recordings, other than the fact that "New Unknown Lands" is a little slower than the original and "Hard Times" is a little faster than the original, is that they both feature Irina's vocals exclusively. I suppose these tracks serve as a send-off for Irina for her great work filling in for Alena, as well as a gift for fans who enjoyed hearing these songs live with a somewhat different vocal style. I would have preferred a few new songs, since I already have two different versions of each of these songs (the original English versions on Between the Worlds and Russian versions on Межмирье, the 2005 re-recording of the entire album), but, taken as bonus tracks, they are a nice addition to the CD and I'm never tempted to stop the CD after the new songs are finished.

Because of the unusual line-up situation, it's difficult to say exactly where On the Wings of the Call fits into the Alkonost discography. It's something unique, a capturing of a specific moment in the band's history. As it turns out, it will also be the last album to feature founding member Alexey "Nightbird," as he parted ways with the band later in 2010. The band replaced him with a guy whose vocals sound remarkably like his, but Nightbird also wrote the band's lyrics and undoubtedly has had a huge hand in the direction of the band over the years, so I'm not yet sure what his departure will mean for the band's future. However, as a sort of introduction to the larger metal world of Alkonost's existence as a band (though they have enjoyed much popularity outside of Russia already, despite the relative difficulty of finding their music outside of Russia), On the Wings of the Call shows us a band that has quietly been perfecting their craft and are ready to enjoy the success and opportunity of a larger international audience. I would not quite put this album up to the high level of their arguable peak with The Path We've Never Made, but it's certainly a step up from their vaguely disappointing Stone Heart Blood and gives me hope about the band's future, despite the loss of one of their founding members.

Pagan metal fans looking for something abrasive, aggressive, and relentlessly dark may balk at the female vocals, everpresent keyboards, and folky leads, which definitely balance out the heavier elements into something accessible and often beautiful (though, I would argue, not lacking in power). Some will compare them to middle-of-the-road gothic metal bands and will claim that their songs all sound alike, but, you know, detractors of Alkonost have been saying that for years and yet they are still going strong and gaining fans all over. If the sound clicks with you, it is likely that you will enjoy their entire discography, and if it doesn't, then you probably won't like anything they've released. For those of us with which this long-running Russian band has already clicked, On the Wings of the Call will undoubtedly be a solid addition to our collections and hopefully a sign of even better things still to come.

Album Review: Темнозорь - Урочища снов

2011-09-12T20:38:00.004-04:00

Artist: Темнозорь (Temnozor) [Russia]
Album Title: Урочища снов ("Haunted Dreamscapes")
Record Label: Stellar Winter (Russia)
Released: 2010 (January)
Purchased From: Ebay

Temnozor was pretty quiet for a while after the release of their second proper album, Folkstorm of the Azure Nights, but then suddenly as 2010 dawned they put out two big releases: the live CD/DVD Twilights at the Winter Funeral and the studio album Haunted Dreamscapes. I ordered them both at the same time, but it was Haunted Dreamscapes that most interested me. As is usual for Temnozor, there had been some lineup changes since the previous studio album, and because of that, and the relatively long period of time since Folkstorm, I wasn't sure what to expect. The albums Horizons and Folkstorm are highly respected among fans of pagan/folk metal, so many of us wondered if Temnozor could maintain their place towards the top of the pantheon despite the time passed and lineup changes.

Well, looking through the various reviews of Haunted Dreamscapes, it seems that reception to it has been rather mixed, but I'm pretty impressed with the album. First of all, the artwork. I have the Stellar Winter digibook edition, and the word I'd use for it is "lush." The cover is quite evocative of a dreamscape, with its gray fog and ghostly figures. The beautiful artwork continues throughout the generous insert (well, I say "insert" but it's attached to the front cover of the digibook), and one can see a mix of dreamlike and pagan visuals here. Props to Temnozor and Stellar Winter for making the effort to make this packaging really stand out.

The mystical blend of dreamscape and paganism continues with the music and lyrics as well. I don't know who wrote the lyrics to the album, though Gorruth (a non-musical member of the band and the head of Stellar Winter) is credited as lyricist on their Metal Archives page. He also wrote the lyrics to Walknut's Graveforests and their Shadows, which are very good considering English is not his first language, but all the lyrics on Temnozor's Haunted Dreamscapes are in Russian so it would make sense that these are even better. There's an excellent and poetic English translation on Metal Archives, and when I read along while listening to the music, it really helps the atmosphere. A favorite part, from "The Heart of Crane Distances," goes (in English): "Pinewoods stand like ancient armies, In the blue mists of endless distances, In the hands of autumn, I heard, The heart of my land still beats." Now, Temnozor has a bit of, let's say, "notoriety" due to past lyrics and the political positions of band members, but you won't really find any of that on this album. Perhaps it's due to the lineup changes (for instance, Kaldrad Branislav, Mr. Blazebirth Hall, is apparently not present on this album at all... I think he may be in prison).

On to the music itself, it seems that not a lot has changed since Folkstorm of the Azure Nights, though it appears that most if not all of the guitars, bass, and drums were played by live drummer Svyagir (from Walknut and various other bands). I would say that Haunted Dreamscapes, overall, has a more mellow feel to it. Yes, there's still a black metal influence present, and fans will instantly be able to identify the band as Temnozor when "Evilgod's Ravens" starts after the intro. Ratibor's unmistakeable flute can be heard throughout that track, and later in the track you can hear the distinct clean vocals of long-time member Petr. I was a little worried after hearing samples from the live CD/DVD that Petr had been replaced as vocalist, but fortunately he is here and his vocals are used a lot over the course of the album.

"Sunwheels of Solstice" (or "Kolyada," more accurately) is a pretty decent song, though probably my least favorite track on the album. Lead vocals on this are handled by new member Rodoslav, probably best known as the frontman for pagan folk band Krynitza, though he's also shown up in Oprich and Vo Skorbyah. I like Rodoslav as a vocalist, but not so much as a part of Temnozor. One of my main criticisms of the live album was that they used Rodoslav to do a lot of the clean vocals on songs that should have had Petr's voice instead. That's just personal opinion, though. Petr does sing a little on "Sunwheels of Solstice," in what I guess I would call the chorus of the song. This is a pretty heavy song, like "Evilgod's Ravens," but after this the album gets a little more mellow (and, in my opinion, becomes better).

The title track is a gentle song, with what I would call "grim whispers" along with the sung vocals. This album restores the dreamlike quality established by the album's intro that had sort of disappeared with the second and third tracks. Light synths swirl around like fog in the background, and some beautiful voice-like synths complement the melody and atmosphere. The lyrics on this track reinforce this atmosphere, with talk of burial mounds, a wizard moon on a ship (portrayed in the artwork as well), and ancient oaks. The next track, "Chalice of Morrow," is a fairly typical Temnozor track, beginning with what may be some sort of bagpipes or zhaleika, as well as the flute. I don't mean "typical" to say that it isn't a standout track, though, because it's quite good.

However, the last two tracks on Haunted Dreamscapes are my clear favorites. "The Heart of Crane Distances" begins with soft synths and acoustic guitar, and Petr's excellent vocals. It's a relaxing and beautiful track, at least until about four and a half minutes in, when it suddenly turns into a metal song. But it doesn't stop being beautiful when that happens. Petr's voice becomes stronger and more forceful, and at this point I realize that the track this most reminds me of is my favorite Temnozor song, "When the Lazure Skies Tear the Hearts Apart," from Folkstorm. And it is also at this point that I realize that, lineup changes or no, Temnozor has managed to recapture the things I loved so much about the previous albums.

Haunted Dreamscapes finishes with "Silent Be the Wind," which starts softly again but doesn't take long to become a metal song. On this track, Petr is supported by Rodoslav on vocals. It is also on this track that the band veers closest to Nationalistic themes, with the lines: "For this ancient land, for these azure skies, For our freedom we would fight till the end, Till the rivers would run red with our blood, Death is all what awaits us." That's about as controversial as they get here. As the track winds down, the guitars fade and Petr finishes the song (and album) a capella, with words that translate to: "Silent be the winds in the fields of rye. Do not disturb our slumber. Soon, as the morning rises, I will go away. Forget me not, but don't await my return." Somber and a little sad, it's an appropriate end to an album that is dark but not oppressively so.

The 41 minute running time of Haunted Dreamscapes seems to go quickly each time I listen to it. Sometimes if I don't pay enough attention to it, it just sort of glides by in the background. I don't know if that's a fault of the album so much as it is a statement about how subtle it can be. The album is solid from beginning to end, but it may be too mellow for some fans, or perhaps too "gray," if that makes sense. It feels kind of low-key compared to the past two albums, but the songwriting is good and the production values are high. I doubt that it will be held up to the same level that Horizons or Folkstorm is held, but I feel that, since its release, more and more fans have been warming up to it. It's a great little album, a minor work I would say, but one I'm glad I have in my collection. Temnozor managed to surprise me a bit, but they didn't disappoint me with this one.

Album Review: Nokturnal Mortum - Голос Сталі

2011-09-09T22:35:00.003-04:00

Artist: Nokturnal Mortum (Ukraine)
Album Title: Голос Сталі ("The Voice of Steel")
Record Label: Oriana Music (Ukraine)
Released: 2009 (December)
Purchased From: Ebay

Back in September 2007, I reviewed the album Mirovozzrenie by Ukraine's Nokturnal Mortum, and right at the beginning of the review I stated that it was quite possibly my favorite pagan metal album. Since then I've stated the same thing about Moonsorrow's V: Hävitetty, but I think I'm ready to give the title back to Nokturnal Mortum after giving myself sufficient time to absorb the absolutely monstrous piece of art that is The Voice of Steel.

Nokturnal Mortum went a bit quiet for a while, taking a long time to work on the album. I think the title was announced way back in 2007 or so, and it took so long to work on that, during the recording of it, they had two changes to their lineup. Their drummer Odalv was replaced, along with guitarist Alzeth. Their replacements, Bairoth on drums and Astargh on guitar, join Varggoth, Saturious and Vrolok. Odalv and Alzeth can still be heard on one or two tracks, but the majority of the album was recorded with the new lineup. While this is usually no big news, since Eastern European pagan metal bands seem to change lineups every other week, and Nokturnal Mortum has been pretty much a revolving door of band members since the beginning (with only Varggoth and Saturious being the "core" of the band since back in the demo days), in this case it seems to have actually made a difference in the sound of the band.

This "new sound" is not apparent at first. Following the typical instrumental introduction (with the now-familiar battle horn and nature sounds leading into an interesting folky tune), the band immediately turns the intensity level up to 10 with the first proper song, "The Voice of Steel." Nice clean vocals, war-like drums, Varggoth's aggressive black metal shout... yep, this is nice, this is familiar. It's like all the good things about Mirovozzrenie, except refined even further. In fact, the clean vocals are really, really good. There were some clean vocals towards the end of the previous album, but these are more like Moonsorrow's wordless background chants, like a chorus of warriors. Already, with barely 10 minutes under our belt, The Voice of Steel sounds fantastic. However, the song isn't really a departure from the sound of Mirovozzrenie, so people who didn't really care for that album may already dismiss it.

The next track, "Valkyrie," starts off sounding like pretty typical Nokturnal Mortum. It's a little faster, and the synths are a little more modern and less "symphonic" (ie: not sounding like strings and choirs), but the only real difference, at first, is that Varggoth's vocals sound a little more distant, not as up-front. But then, in an instrumental break about four minutes in, the funky guitar and bass start. I don't really know how else to describe it. Not being used to the band using anything more than distortion on their guitars, it's initially jarring to hear different effects being used, as well as the bluesy-jazzy style that is played. But then I start to dig it. I start to really dig it. This long instrumental part lasts for four minutes, and it may be enough to single-handedly cause even non-fans of Nokturnal Mortum to prick up their ears and start listening. The song gets back into a more typical mode, but the impression has already been made. Nokturnal Mortum has tinkered with their established style and have come up with something amazing.

I'm getting ahead of myself, but the strange thing about this album is that it basically alternates between tracks that more closely resemble the previous two albums with tracks that utilize the funky guitar effects and more progressive, even psychedelic, elements. I don't know where these elements came from. Perhaps new guitarist Astargh?

At any rate, after "Valkyrie" the band continues with "Ukraine," a powerfully uplifting track with some nice violin and addicting clean vocal bridges and choruses. If ever a better track has ever been written about one's home country, I haven't heard it. Then again, I live in America, where those songs tend to be awful country-pop anthems. "Ukraine" doesn't have any of those new guitar effects, but it does have a nice solo. It seems like such a new experience to be paying so much attention to the instrumentation on a Nokturnal Mortum album. This has never been a band that has banked on their instrumental prowess. The guitars, drums, and bass have always just kind of been there. Sometimes, as in the case of the guitar on the classic Goat Horns album, they were so buried underneath the keyboards that they might as well have not even been there.

After the excellent "Ukraine," the band gets back into their mystical psychedelic mode with "My Dream Islands," with a long, beautiful intro. This song perhaps best blends the "old" with the "new," as there are some perfectly placed bagpipes to be heard on this track. It just has such a wonderful atmosphere that it manages to even top "Ukraine" in terms of pure musical splendor. It's at this point that I almost thought I was dreaming, because it seemed impossible to be listening to something this unexpected and awesome. But, indeed, repeated listens have confirmed that it really is that great, and its greatness has not diminished in the year and a half or so since I first heard it. Towards the end of this song, I can really detect how much fun the band is having on this album. The interplay of guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums seem so effortlessly playful and fun that I can hardly believe this is the same band that has stirred up so much controversy in the past.

The momentum of the album slows a bit with "Path of the Sun," which I believe may be the first song that was recorded for the album, since it features both the former guitarist and former drummer. It reminds me quite strongly of the material on Mirovozzrenie, especially the folky parts after the chorus and towards the end of the track. It's not a bad song, but it's a bit of a letdown after the last few songs.

Nokturnal Mortum throw it into folk rock mode with "Sky of Saddened Nights," which is as melancholy as its title would imply. It's a very nice track, though, with some beautiful flute and acoustic guitar. It also allows the listener to catch his or her breath before unleashing the final massive dose of awesome, "White Tower." Now, at this point it seems impossible for the band to top what they accomplished earlier, with tracks like "Valkyrie," "Ukraine," and "My Dream Islands," but they manage to do it with finesse and confidence with the album's final track.

On "White Tower," everyone gets a chance to shine. The drummer channels his inner funk early on, while the synths go sort of "ambient house" on us. It's amazing that this even works with Varggoth's aggressive vocals in the mix. As the song fades out, I tend to sit there with my jaw on the floor, trying to comprehend what I've just heard. This is Nokturnal Mortum? Where did this come from?

Wherever it comes from, I hope it continues. With the band's ever-changing lineup, I'm not sure it will (bassist Vrolok has apparently already left the band since the recording), but I suppose that even if the planets never align in the same way as to allow the band to recapture the creative spark that inspired The Voice of Steel, we will always have this, at least.

A perfect album? Maybe not quite, but it's about as close as I've heard. Absolutely essential. Worth checking out even if you don't generally like symphonic black metal or folk metal.

Live Album Review: Tumulus - Live Balkan Path

2011-07-11T22:39:00.003-04:00

Artist: Tumulus (Russia)
Album Title: Live Balkan Path
Record Label: Wroth Emitter (Russia)
Released: 2006
Purchased From: Red Stream (I think)

I'm not that big on live albums, generally. There are a few I've enjoyed (Kroda's Live In Lemberg and Negură Bunget's Focul viu, for example), but for the most part I can take them or leave them. Originally I wasn't very interested in Live Balkan Path by Russian progressive folk metal band Tumulus, but then I actually heard some samples from the album and was impressed with both the sound quality of the recording and how well the talented band's magic works in a live setting.

Live Balkan Path was recorded in a club in Bulgaria. There's some stage banter, none of which I can understand, but the band doesn't waste much time tearing through its impressive 12-song (and 1 intro) setlist. There are classic Tumulus originals like "Kolo Opletaya," "Yavir," and "Sredokresie," a previous-unreleased track called "Vnegda" (which would later appear in studio form on the band's 2010 full-length Vedai, which I also plan to review sometime soon), and a few covers. The band's cover of Bathory's "Gods of Thunder of Wind and of Rain" is okay --I can take it or leave it-- but of particular interest is their cover of Scald's "In the Open Sea." Scald is, of course, the excellent cult doom metal band that released their sole album, The Will of the Gods Is Great Power, in the mid-90's, before the tragic death of their vocalist ended the band. Tumulus is what Scald became, and two members of Scald remain in Tumulus to this day. Anyway, it is great to hear "In the Open Sea," and even though vocalist Kuchma has a different sound than Agyl did, he still does a great job with the song. The third cover is "Within the Soul of Autumn," originally by Bulgarian band Korozy, and I thought it was nice that the band paid tribute to their hosts with this cover. They ended up later recording a studio version for their next EP.

I gained more respect for Tumulus after hearing this album because their music tends to be pretty progressive and, I would imagine, not easy to duplicate live. Yet every member of the band does an impressive job here. Kuchma doesn't attempt all the high notes from the studio versions of these songs, or else doesn't hold them like he does on the albums, but he exhibits great voice control. His voice is interesting... it's not a power metal voice. It's not quite a folk-style voice. I'm not sure who I can compare his voice to, but he sounds great. Then there's the lead guitarist, Kurbat, who started out as the drummer of the band before filling the guitarist spot after their debut, Winter Wood. He's a heck of a guitarist, and he works well with bassist Velingor, drummer Ottar (both previously of Scald), and now-departed keyboard player Vigdis. The band sounds like they're having a lot of fun sharing the stage together, and the recording quality is great because nobody drowns anyone else out. In some ways, the instruments have a better tone than they did on the previous full-length, Sredokresie, particularly the drums.

Normally, I would never recommend a person start with a live album when exploring the work of a band they don't have any previous exposure to, but I wouldn't hold that same caveat for Live Balkan Path. Though I prefer the studio versions for most of these songs, Tumulus does an impressive job replicating them in a live setting. Their upbeat style of progressive folk metal may not have as wide an appeal as, say, Arkona, but fans of the genre who are looking for something unique should give this highly talented and underrated group from Yaroslavl a try.

Album Review: Aiumeen Basoa - Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik

2011-07-11T21:28:00.004-04:00

Artist: Aiumeen Basoa (Basque Country, Spain)
Album Title: Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik
Record Label: Erzsebet Records (Spain)
Released: 2010 (May)
Purchased From: The Omega Order

I had never heard of Aiumeen Basoa before the release of their debut full-length Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik in 2010, but they've actually been around since 1994. Their only previous release was a 2001 split with related bands Adhur and Ilbeltz. I'm not sure why it took so long for them to release a full-length, but Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik is evidence that they were not wasting their time.

Aiumeen Basoa is a seven-piece band that features multiple vocalists as well as an accordion player and violinist. There are additional instruments, such as flute and oboe, played by session musicians. It's a pretty big cast of players, reminiscent of such lineups as appeared on Lumsk's Åsmund Frægdegjevar and Ásmegin's Hin Vordende Sod & Sø. And, actually, those two albums aren't a bad jumping off point when attempting to describe the style of Aiumeen Basoa. Nor would be comparisons with ...In The Woods' Omnio or Odroerir's Götterlieder I & II. Think epic, sweeping folk metal with accomplished musicians and great, sometimes layered and harmonized vocals, and you've got an idea of what Aiumeen Basoa sounds like. Additionally, there are some black metal vocals, which sound quite a bit like those of fellow Basque band Numen.

Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik consists of six tracks that range from six to eleven minutes long. Each track is multifaceted and interesting, with many changes in mood and tempo. I also seem to detect some neoclassical and progressive elements. Despite the presence of black metal vocals, there are few sections of this album that appear to be influenced by black metal, which is something that, by itself, is pretty refreshing in the folk metal genre. The overall atmosphere is pretty calm and reverent, more like a folk album than a metal album. Yet the band excels in each facet of their sound. They don't sound angry or warlike, though there are certainly some aggressive moments scattered throughout.

It is certainly a beautiful album, and one that avoids the accusation of "shallow" that is often hurled at folk metal bands. I have listened to this many times over the last several months and I notice new details each time. The way the band fits so many great ideas into each song is staggering. Take, for example, "Akelarrearen Sua," the fourth track on the album. It begins as a very calm folk song with accordion, flute, and beautiful, layered female vocals. It then erupts into a brief black metal-influenced section, which then turns into mid-paced, folkish sections that feature more great, sung vocals. Then things get a bit proggy while maintaining that folkish atmosphere. Towards the end of the track, there's a jazzy section that was unexpected the first time I listened to it, but even in that jazzy section they're able to throw in these folky guitar and violin parts. My head spins trying to make sense of it all, but it somehow works.

My only real complaint about Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik is the quality of the production. When there are a lot of elements present at one time, the production seems a little "squashed," like everything melts together a bit too much to easily make out all the individual elements. It's not poor production by any means, but it falls short a bit considering how ambitious the band is. Then again, I listen to music almost exclusively on cheap equipment, so others may not have the same experience. A second, more minor complaint I have is that the black metal vocals are kind of weak. I guess they're not meant to be as imposing or "evil" as typical black metal vocals, but I think they would work better if they were delivered with a bit more force and perhaps a lower register. Deeper growls appear on "Ekaitzaren Begitik,"
but most of the harsh vocals are high-pitched and shrieky.

But, man, the sung vocals are so good. I'm a sucker for good vocal harmonies, and Aiumeen Basoa doesn't have any lack of those. There are both male and female vocals on this album, and they are all delivered with confidence and conviction.

I think Aiumeen Basoa has the kind of sound that would appeal to a wide spectrum of metal fans. There's such a variety of influences in their sound, and they accomplish everything in such a satisfying manner, that it makes Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik one of those albums I would really like to get the word out about. If I were a better music writer, I think I'd be better able to communicate just how awesome this album is. The band's logo may be incomprehensible, and their language impenetrable to an American such as I, but their music is deeply appealing to me and I have no doubt that this is an album that will always be a treasure among my CD collection.

Album Review: Янтарные Слезы - Ключ к Декабрю

2011-03-02T19:39:00.007-05:00

Artist: Янтарные Слезы (Amber Tears) [Russia]
Album Title: Ключ к Декабрю ("The Key To December")
Record Label: BadMoodMan Music (Russia)
Released: 2010 (December)
Purchased From: The Omega Order

If you're a fan of Slavic pagan metal, you should probably familiarize yourself with the Belarusian doom metal band Gods Tower if you haven't already. Some consider them to be the first metal band to use themes of Slavic mythology, which would make them one of the early pagan metal bands. Gods Tower, although not as well-known as they should be, are highly respected among Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian pagan metal fans and artists, and one of the bands that paid respect to them on a 2005 tribute CD is Amber Tears, a pagan doom metal band from Russia.

In 2006, the debut album of Amber Tears, entitled Revelations of Renounced, was released by the Stygian Crypt label, apparently before that label began cranking out endless CD's of Folkearth and their spin-offs. Revelations of Renounced is a great debut, and I discovered it at the perfect time, just as I was immersing myself in the music of Gods Tower. I could hear the influence of the late Alexander Urakoff's distinct style of lead guitar in this young Russian band; however, upon repeated listens, Amber Tears began to establish their own identity in my mind, and I became hooked on their gorgeously melodic doom metal. It was a bit of a wait before their sophomore album, The Key To December, arrived at the end of 2010, but happily they delivered a great follow-up, this time on BadMoodMan and Solitude Records.

First of all, let me thank The End Records/The Omega Order for stocking The Key To December. Sometime in January, I was surprised to find that the album had been released just a month or so earlier, but I had no idea how I was going to purchase it, since it can sometimes be difficult to track down specific Russian releases here in the U.S. Therefore, I'm grateful to them, because otherwise I'd probably still be trying to find it.

Anyway, on to the music. Amber Tears (they go by both Янтарные Слезы and Amber Tears, which is a bit unconventional, I think) plays a richly melodic brand of doom metal. The guitar leads are slow and drawn-out, like those of Gods Tower, and are, quite honestly, the biggest draw of this band for me. For the most part, the other instruments provide a lovely musical bed for the lead guitar to weave its way around. And it's not as if this is complicated, fast guitar work here. It's emotional and absolutely gorgeous. It's difficult for me, with my limited ability to describe music, to be able to express how much I enjoy Dmitry Tschukin's work on this album, but it's really the central appeal of the band for me. That is not to take all the attention from the rest of the band, as they are certainly a group of musicians whose talents complement each other quite nicely. The rhythm guitar maintains the melody while the lead guitar soars into the stratosphere, while the rhythm section of bass and drums provide the backbone. The lovely synths, which are almost always present, provide a ton of atmosphere and also complement the lead guitar very well.

The vocals, which consist of death metal-like growls and spoken words, don't really stand out much, but that seems to fit with the laid-back vibe of the band. I suppose they're appropriate for what I'm guessing are melancholic lyrics, though the lyrics are all in Russian so I'm not sure. English translations of the song titles indicate that the prevailing themes here are winter, cold, and sadness. Despite the sound of shuffling snow and wind in the intro, there's a warmth to the lush arrangements that makes me feel happy rather than sad when I listen to the album. I guess it could just be the effect of listening to such beautiful music that few others have heard.

The album consists of 8 tracks, of which three are mainly instrumental. The synth intro is okay but nothing really special, though it does set the tranquil, wintry mood. Things get moving with "Gray Days Eternity," though they don't get moving very quickly. The pace of this song, like the other songs to follow, is pretty slow. The band never exceeds mid-pace on any part of The Key To December, but that's just fine with me. "Gray Days Eternity" features a few softer sections where the lead guitar is accompanied by the gusli, a Russian stringed instrument that provides much of the "folkiness" found on the CD. Dmitry Tschukin plays this as well. The next few tracks continue much in the same way as "Gray Days Eternity." There's a consistency among the songs that some listeners may call "sameness." The debut album seemed to have more of a variety in pacing and mood, but I like the atmosphere that The Key To December creates. It's an album I can listen to from beginning to end without ever feeling tempted to skip ahead a track. It's nice to sit back and just take it all in.

Towards the end of the CD (track six to be exact) lies the album's only true surprise. This gentle song, mostly instrumental except for some softly spoken words towards the beginning, features acoustic guitar, synths, and then the gusli and some hand percussion. It sounds almost like an instrumental you'd hear on an Orphaned Land CD, and it's quite lovely. That song is followed by "Gray Hill's Sadness," which is a favorite of mine. Several months before the album's release, I found a great Youtube clip of Amber Tears performing this song in a live setting, and I watched the clip over and over again because I found the song so entrancing. I'm glad to finally have it on disc, even though there are some differences between the two versions. Finally, the album closes with another gentle instrumental, this time featuring acoustic guitar and gusli with some soft textures in the background.

If you can't tell, I really, really like The Key To December. Amber Tears has not messed with the formula that was so successful on Revelations of Renounced, which will come as a relief to some but possibly will disappoint those hoping for a progression. Because this is doom metal, the album moves at a pretty relaxed pace, so if you don't normally enjoy doom metal, it's very possible that the pace of this album will irritate you. I only listen to a limited amount of doom metal, but, in my opinion, this is an album to be savored. My only complaints would be that I wish there were more songs on the album, and perhaps some more variety in the vocals. There was a moment of clean vocals on the first album, but on here it's just growls and spoken words. They're not bad, and certainly not distracting, but I think it's an area where the band could improve for what I hope is an eventual third album.

Fans of Gods Tower, melodic doom metal, and Slavic folk metal are encouraged to open their minds and ears to a wonderful ensemble known as Amber Tears (or Янтарные Слезы/Yantarnie Slezy, if you prefer). If music this beautiful doesn't make your heart swell, I feel bad for you.

Video Clip: Dalriada - Hajdútánc

2011-03-02T17:26:00.003-05:00

Hmm, since I'm stuck in the old style of Blogger, I can't seem to post a decent embedded version of the Youtube clip.

But, anyway, here is the new video clip for Hajdútánc, from the brand new (I don't even have it yet, but hopefully will within the next few days!) CD, Ígéret, from Hungarian folk metal band, Dalriada.

Sounds awesome! And sometime between Arany-album and Ígéret, Laura learned how to do some wicked black metal shrieks! Nice job!

Album Review: Dråpsnatt - Hymner till undergången

2011-03-01T19:30:00.002-05:00

Artist: Dråpsnatt (Sweden)
Album Title: Hymner till undergången
Record Label: Frostscald Records (Russia)
Released: 2010 (July)
Purchased From: Red Stream

One might raise an eyebrow upon discovering that a band has released their sophomore album a mere nine months after the release of their debut, but in Dråpsnatt's case it has turned out surprisingly well. Many of us wanted to hear more from this band after the 2009 release of I Denna Skog, and our impatience was quickly placated with the very solid Hymner till undergången.

The style --the formula, if you will-- of Dråpsnatt has not changed since I Denna Skog. Take elements of old-school black metal, add some touches of atmospheric black metal and folk metal, and throw in some excellent harsh and clean vocals, and you start to have an idea of what's in store. That's not to say that nothing has changed here; Hymner till undergången sounds a little less melancholic than the debut, while the folk touches are more prevalent this time around. There are no folk instruments, but it can be heard in the piano and occasionally in the synths (like on the song "Dråpsnatt"), as well as in moments of clean guitar throughout the CD. The opening track, "En Ensam Sol Går Ner," is perhaps the folkiest-sounding track on the album (though we're not talking Korpiklaani or Finntroll here), so it starts things off in a different manner than the aggressive opening track of I Denna Skog did.

However, things get more aggressive with the opening minute or so of the second track, "Arvssynd," which starts off with some blastbeats and Vinterfader's unhinged screaming before settling into a more melodic vibe. The second half of this song contains one of the most epic and glorious moments of the CD, both fierce and life-affirming at the same time. In my review of I Denna Skog, I talked about the juxtaposition of beauty and aggression, and that holds true here as well. It's not always a matter of following a dark, aggressive section with a beautiful, melodic one. They're often happening at the same time, and you might get a different "feeling" depending on which you focus upon during a particular listen.

So basically Hymner till undergången is, not surprisingly, very similar to the band's debut, but it's not as if the band has cynically churned out a second album made up of leftovers and sound-alikes. Hymner till undergången is strong enough to stand on its own feet, and the songs are well-crafted, varied, and interesting, just as they were on I Denna Skog. If I were to compare the two albums side by side, I would say that I Denna Skog is the superior one, but I feel that both are well worth buying, and, if you enjoy one, you will certainly enjoy the other as well. I think that the songs on Hymner till undergången take a little more to grow on you, partly because, on this album, the songs tend to unfold differently. The best stuff (the most epic) tends to be on the second half of each song, rather than towards the beginning, as was often the case on I Denna Skog.

Highlights: the second halves of "Arvssynd," "Mannen I Min Spegel," and "Tonerna De Klinga," as well as all of closing track "Gasten." But it's all pretty great.

Album Review: Dråpsnatt - I Denna Skog

2011-03-01T18:33:00.003-05:00

Artist: Dråpsnatt (Sweden)
Album Title: I Denna Skog
Record Label: Frostscald Records (Russia)
Released: 2009 (September)
Purchased From: Morbid Winter / The Old Outpost

Frostscald Records has become imprinted in my mind as a pretty dependable label for quality metal. Towards the end of 2009 they released two very solid albums by somewhat similar Swedish bands, Skogen and Dråpsnatt. Although I didn't discover Skogen's debut album Vittra until late 2010, I was fortunate enough to find Dråpsnatt's debut, I Denna Skog, on sale towards the end of 2009, and it became one of my favorite metal surprises of the year.

Dråpsnatt has a style that owes a debt to various members of the early Norwegian black metal scene, but they manage to not sound too close to anything else I've heard. I can hear the fuzzy, thick guitars of atmospheric black metal, the beautiful, layered synths of ambient black metal, and the clean guitars and nature samples of folkish black metal. The vocals, performed by each of the two members of Dråpsnatt, range from throat-searing screams and creepy croaked/whispered harsh vocals (courtesy of Vinterfader, who also plays keyboards) to passionate, almost Ulver-like clean vocals (courtesy of Narstrand, who also plays guitars, bass, and drums). The vocals were the first element that caught my attention. I've heard the harsh vocals compared to those of Varg Vikernes, though I don't agree with that comparison. These sound less like the howls of an insane man than the shrieks of a very angry man. With every line screamed, Vinterfader sounds like he's not holding anything back. Narstrand's well-performed clean vocals provide a nice balance to the harsh shrieks, and overall the vocal performance is one of the great strengths of this band.

Another of Dråpsnatt's strengths is the fact that each song has enjoyable melodies. There are moments of stunning beauty to be found on I Denna Skog, despite the aggression of the vocals. Despite any pretenses otherwise, what my ears crave when I listen to music is a catchy melody or a moment of beauty, and I Denna Skog has these in every track. Highlights on the album for me include the melodic section just after the first ambient part of lead-off track "I Denna Skog," the layers of clean vocals (followed by a nice section of clean guitar) on "Orostider," and the entirety of album closer "Ett Sista Andetag." These moments, among others, are the type that give me goosebumps when I listen to the album, especially if it's been a while since I'd last heard it.

I enjoy the juxtaposition of beauty and aggression on this album, and I'm impressed with the fact that Dråpsnatt is able to turn these disparate influences and moods into a cohesive and immensely enjoyable whole. Wrap it all up in great production and you have a timeless nature- and folklore-themed black metal album that hopefully will not go unnoticed by fans. Actually, I'm rather surprised that Dråpsnatt has not made a bigger impact on the scene yet, as this is essentially everything I want in a black metal album. Hopefully word of mouth will spread and this band will find the dedicated following they deserve. Already since the album's late 2009 release, they have released another album (which I will also review), and there is a third on the way as I write this. Give this band a listen; you may find yourself hooked.

Album Review: Чур - Лихо

2011-02-28T19:51:00.005-05:00

Artist: Чур (Chur) [Ukraine]
Album Title: Лихо (Lykho) ["Evil"]
Record Label: Casus Belli Musica {Russia)
Released: 2009 (December)
Purchased From: Negative Existence

After some delays due to label problems, Chur's second album, Lykho, was finally released at the end of 2009. Originally it was supposed to released on German label Hammermark Art (to which Kroda and Ancestors Blood, among others, are signed), but, due to the presence of ancient symbolism in the artwork and the worries about a reaction from German listeners and authorities, the label didn't want to put out the album with the artwork intact. Therefore, the contract was dissolved and Lykho's fate was in limbo. Then the rising label Casus Belli Musica (which is amassing quite a strong stable of pagan/folk bands) came to the rescue and released this great and unique work to the world.

For those who have not heard Chur, it is difficult to draw any direct comparisons with other bands. It has a strong "Slavic" feel, which means you will not mistake it for a Scandinavian or German project. It does not sound like black metal with folk instruments added. In fact, on this album, the vocals are all sung, and there is a distinct folk style to them rather than a metal style. The male vocals are by band founder Evgen Kucherov, while the female vocals are sung by Viktoriya Kumanovskaya, a professional folk singer. There are a variety of flute and perhaps bagpipe sounds (it sounds like either bagpipes or zhaleika), but I think many of them are sampled or synthesized. Being as this is metal, there of course electric guitars and bass, while the drums in this case are programmed.

If you have heard the first Chur album, Брате вітре (Brother Wind), the overall sound of Lykho is similar, but strengthened in many ways. The vocals are much better on this release, and the songwriting is stronger. Despite the overall computerized sound of the production (along with the drum machine and sampled folk instruments), this sounds like authentic Ukrainian folk music that happens to feature electric guitars and modern percussion. In other words, the songs are not really constructed like metal songs, but like folk songs. Some listeners may be turned off by the style, or by the production, but Chur's sincerity is difficult to deny. Even the artwork itself is very much "folk art." The artwork seems to tell the story of a culture that is compromised by modern evils (narcotics, cigarettes, and alcohol are all represented, as well as industrial pollution and foreign religions). Yet, it goes on to show, the ancestral traditions live on, and will one day defeat the modern evils. This sense of hope and pride are reflected in the upbeat arrangements.

There are some oddities present on this CD. First of all, the tracklisting on the inside of the CD tray suggests that there is a cover version of Temnozor's "Did-Dub-Snop" beginning the album, but I did not find it anywhere on the CD. I thought that maybe it was in the gap before the first track (as some albums have done), but attempting to reverse the CD didn't do anything. The second oddity is that track 11 is supposed to be a radio version of "The Spring", but included at the end of this track is an alternate version of "Mother", which is unlisted. The third oddity is that the final track on the CD is some sort of multi-channel DTS version of the title track, but I guess I don't have the right setup to play it because all I get is digital static. I can't think of much in the way of negatives about this album, except for the weak drum machine and the overall sterile nature of the production. It is nice to be able to hear everything so clearly, as the recording is pitch-perfect, but it may be a little too perfect for this style of music. A little analogue warmth would have brought out the "folkiness" of the album, I think. But these are minor complaints for an otherwise excellent pagan metal album.

Lykho is a great follow-up to the already-solid Brother Wind, and is far, far superior to Chur's side of the split with Oprich, which was instrumental and did not appeal to me at all. The album clocks in at just under an hour, if you don't include the bonus stuff, which may be a little excessive for an album with such a consistent sound. Still, the presence of two different vocalists gives it some variety, and, taken in track-by-track, one can appreciate how well-written and catchy each of these songs are (though I tend to skip the ambient track "The Sky," which sits right in the middle of the CD). The highlights of the album for me are "Mother," "Zagovir," and "The Spring." It's no wonder that two of them ("Mother" and "The Spring," both of which feature Viktoriya Kumanovskaya handling the lead vocals) were chosen for the radio edits in the bonus audio track.

Fans of Slavic folk metal are encouraged to track down Lykho, though that may eventually get more difficult as it is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies. Chur is currently at work on new material, so the future is looking bright for this shining light in the Ukrainian pagan/folk scene.

EP Review: Graveland - Cold Winter Blades

2011-02-23T19:38:00.003-05:00

Artist: Graveland (Poland)
EP Title: Cold Winter Blades
Record Label: No Colours Records (Germany)
Released: 2010
Purchased From: Ebay

I'm a pretty big Graveland fan, a fact that I've made clear in the past. Although I was somewhat disappointed in the last full-length, Spears of Heaven, his 2010 EP Cold Winter Blades has given me renewed faith in Rob Darken.

The five-track EP starts off with the first of two brand-new songs, "In the Morning Mist." The choir sound is the same as what we heard on the last album, but then the (synthesized) voices are joined by a nice brass section, well-played (or perhaps programmed) drums, and a guitar that sounds a little meatier than what we heard on Spears of Heaven. Now more than ever, Graveland seems to draw inspiration from the soundtrack to the movie Conan the Barbarian. I don't know the last time I've heard something so warlike that didn't come from a movie soundtrack. Though, sound-wise, this is not really a departure from Spears of Heaven, the overall atmosphere is much more satisfying and powerful. And this is barely a minute into the first track.

The second track, "From the Beginning of Time," isn't quite as good as the first, but it's still pretty good. The most pleasant surprise on the album is the third track, "White Winged Hussary." The track starts off sounding a bit like "Return to the Northern Carpathian," the song that closed Spears of Heaven. It begins with a clean guitar, which changes to a distorted one as the synthesized female vocals join in. The melody that begins is pretty awesome, like nothing I've heard from Graveland before. Soon the song begins to sound like normal Graveland, but that melody continues to show its face in variations throughout the song. It's beautiful. "White Winged Hussary" is probably in my top 5 Graveland songs of all time. Even if I hadn't enjoyed the rest of the EP, I would have felt it to be worth it simply because of the inclusion of this track.

The next song, "Spear of Wotan," sounds a lot like something from Will Stronger Than Death, except with better recording quality. This song, like "White Winged Hussary," is a new version of a song that appeared on a previous compilation. I really like the way Darken uses brass instruments (even though they're synthesized/sampled) to create a majestic atmosphere. They're used to good effect on "Spear of Wotan," as are the synthesized female vocals. The final track on the EP, "Dance of Axes and Swords," is a remix of a song that appeared on my favorite Graveland album, Fire Chariot of Destruction. All that has really changed here is a better recording quality and better drum sound. Still, it's a good song, and I think he managed to improve on it.

Graveland is sort of a "love it or hate it" kind of artist, but if you're already a fan, Cold Winter Blades is a great EP and worth checking out. If, like me, you are a fan but were disappointed in Spears of Heaven, this EP may restore your faith in Graveland as it did for me. He's working on the next album at the time of this writing, and if it sounds anything like this, it will definitely be something special.

Album Review: Drudkh - Handful of Stars

2011-02-23T18:54:00.005-05:00

Artist: Drudkh (Ukraine)
Album Title: Handful of Stars
Record Label: Season of Mist (France / U.S.)
Released: 2010 (September)
Purchased From: Ebay

If you ever want to stir up conflict among metal fans, the subject of Drudkh is sure to do it. Whether the discussion is about their alleged politics, the overrated/underrated-ness of the band, which of their albums is the strongest, and at which point in their career the band began to drop in quality (or whether or not that point has happened), there are tons of different opinions out there. For a band that has shunned publicity throughout their career, Drudkh sure seems to stir up controversy, and their latest album, Handful of Stars, will do nothing to stop that trend.

Fans are sharply divided in their opinions of this album. Even before any album tracks "appeared" to fans, the album artwork was a source of contention. The cover is a departure from their previous albums, which tended to draw from nature scenes or old paintings. In the artwork department, this time the band employed the help of Fursy Teyssier, the frontman of French rock band Les Discrets, and a part of the circle that includes Alcest. Already some fans were declaring Drudkh to be "sell outs." And then when tracks from the album started to appear online, well, it really began to hit the fan.

You see, the artwork isn't the only departure for Drudkh on this album. The biggest change from previous albums, and the one that has, not surprisingly, stirred up the most controversy, is the use of a cleaner guitar tone on Handful of Stars. While previous Drudkh albums (not including the folk album) had a thick, very distorted guitar tone, on this album it's very clean and mellow, sounding somewhat like the tone used by Alcest or Agalloch. Normally, guitar tone isn't such a big issue, but Drudkh has always relied heavily on the thicker tone in order to facilitate the atmospheric, hypnotic atmosphere their previous albums have had. Since they don't give interviews, it's anyone's guess as to why they made the switch, but everyone seems to have an opinion on it.

I don't mind the clean tone so much. It does make it easier to hear the lovely guitar harmonies, which were previously somewhat buried beneath a blanket of distortion. However, accompanying this change is a shift in songwriting. It has grown more complex (by Drudkh standards), perhaps to accomodate for the loss of sheer atmosphere. While this isn't bad, in theory, it does redefine what we have always thought of as "the Drudkh sound." Maybe that's why they did it. Were they tired of being stereotyped and pigeonholed, and decided to do something that would shake people up?

Despite the changes, this is still distinctively Drudkh. Melodically, it still sounds like them. The gruff, unique vocals of Thurios haven't changed. There are still those nice and appropriate solos. The musicianship is as solid as always, and I think the drumming has further improved over Microcosmos. However, I don't feel that the songwriting on this album is as strong as we've seen on previous efforts. "Downfall of the Epoch" is, in my opinion, the strongest track on the album, and the one where all the elements seem to come together the best, and "Towards the Light" is also solid. But I feel like things drop off a bit with "Twilight Aureole" and "The Day Will Come." This is not to say that they're bad songs, but sometimes I find my interest flagging by this point in the album. I feel like sometimes the cleaner guitar tone may work against the band because it places a greater burden on the songwriting itself, and while they've proven themselves to be great songwriters, not every track is as strong as the last.

Also, I have a criticism to make about the bonus CD, "Slavonic Chronicles," that only appears with the very expensive limited edition box set of the album (ie: the Ebay Profiteer Edition). I don't mind the idea of having a limited edition of the album, but for those of us who want to get all the tracks but don't want an expensive limited edition, it seems like a kick in the teeth to demand that (in order to get this bonus EP) we shell out for this edition (before it sells out, which happens quickly) or pay huge Ebay prices to those scoundrels that bought multiple copies just to profit on the "limitedness" of it. I legally acquire all the music in my collection because I respect artists and labels. Why turn around and punish me by denying me exclusive Drudkh tracks simply because I don't feel like $100 or so is a reasonable price for a CD and a bunch of extras I don't have any use for (or, perhaps, can't afford it)? Well, at least the songs included on that CD are covers, and I can live without those. I suppose I'm still upset that I couldn't get the Anti-Urban EP on CD because I didn't jump at the chance to buy the previous overpriced box set.

Anyway, Drudkh continues to be one of my favorite pagan metal bands, and I admire the fact that they aren't afraid to confound their listeners now and then. Handful of Stars certainly isn't their strongest album, but, in the end, it's still a good CD and most fans will enjoy it, despite a very vocal group of people that continue to accuse the band of selling out to appease the Alcest crowd. I hope that either the band will find more solid footing in this new style or that they will dust off the old distortion pedals for the next full-length.

Album Review: Maras - Raskol

2011-02-23T18:18:00.004-05:00

Artist: Maras (Macedonia)
Album Title: Raskol
Record Label: Alatir Promotion / Terror Blast (Macedonia)
Released: 2008
Purchased From: Paragon Records / The Metal Underground

When it comes to the metal scene in the small Balkan nation of Macedonia (formerly a part of Yugoslavia, which was still a country when I learned geography in school), I can count all the bands I know on one finger. Fortunately, that band happens to be Maras, a great pagan-themed black metal band that has been around since 2003. I tend to be cautious when it comes to black metal these days, because a lot of "pagan black metal" bands I've heard lately have been of the "Norsecore" variety, with lots of blasting and tremolo picking (or underproduced, unlistenable noise). Some people like that kind of music, but I like something with a little more "groove" to it; something I can bang my head to. I hadn't heard of Maras until a few months ago, but I bought their album Raskol based pretty much entirely on the album artwork. It has a style that screams "Slavic pagan metal" and I decided to take a chance on it.

Maras doesn't belong to the "Norsecore" style of black metal. Instead, they strike me as being more of an "old school" black metal band. There's a strong (and welcome) influence of thrash in the riffing and drumming, so that rather than just endless blasting and tremolo picking, we get a variety of tempos and moods. There are some fast moments on the album, but also mid-paced and slow tempos. There's even a breakdown at one point. Similarly, there is variety in the vocals, which range from clean chants (think Ulver's Bergtatt) to strong black metal shrieks and mid-range death growls. Finally, there's a bit of Macedonian folk music that shows up towards the end of the album. I'm not an expert on Macedonian music, but the little that I've heard uses hand percussion and scales that sound Middle Eastern, and that's true here, too. There's not much of it, to reassure those who are scared away by the term "folk metal," but just enough to give it a little "exotic" flavor.

I really enjoy listening to this album. It's not too polished, but not too raw, either. The sound quality is very good. The album is rather short (just over 32 minutes long) but it leaves me wanting more, and there really aren't any low points or wasted time on the album. Musically, Maras is quite talented, and the vocals are particularly good for this kind of music. In short, this one is a winner! I certainly hope there's more to come from this accomplished band.

Album Review: Odroerir - Götterlieder II

2011-01-03T22:10:00.004-05:00

Artist: Odroerir (Germany)
Album Title: Götterlieder II
Record Label: Einheit Produktionen (Germany)
Released: 2010
Purchased From: The Omega Order

Götterlieder II was my most anticipated CD of 2010, in any genre. As it neared release I was excited but also a bit nervous. I couldn't imagine how Odroerir could top their 2005 masterpiece Götterlieder. I was worried that the band might drop the rich vocal harmonies that was my favorite element of their sound, or that they would make some other large change to their sound that would cause them to lose their identity in the sea of folk metal bands that had emerged since 2005. Fortunately, my nervousness was unwarranted. Odroerir has returned with an excellent follow-up to Götterlieder and has managed to improve and progress in many ways.

First of all, the harmonized, layered vocals are back, and they're even more prominent than before. The layers don't seem to be quite as thick as they were at certain points on Götterlieder, but they sound more confident and polished than before. Maybe all the touring they did between 2005 and 2010 helped in that area. The vocals tend to be the focal point of the songs, especially on tracks like "Idunas Äpfel."

That is not to say that the instruments have been given any less attention. Band leader Fix not only sings and plays electric and acoustic guitars, but this time he also plays various percussion instruments, mandolin, mandola, zister, flute, tin whistle, and Jews harp. Stickel returns on vocals and guitar, Manuel and Philipp return on bass and drums, respectively, and Veit plays violin and cello and also contributes vocals this time around. The new addition to the band is vocalist Natalie, who has a very nice voice and will likely be seen as superior to previous vocalist Yvonne (though I enjoyed Yvonne's vocals as well). The band uses mandolin and the other stringed instruments in the place of the acoustic guitar during many parts of the album, which gives them a somewhat less accessible sound than before, in my opinion.

The lyrics on Götterlieder II, again, are adapted from the Edda, and are all in German. As I said in my review of the previous album, I don't usually think of German as a beautiful-sounding language, but bands like Odroerir and Carved In Stone have been able to convince me otherwise, at least for a while. Anyone who doubts should give "Idunas Äpfel" a listen, because it's a staggeringly beautiful song and the highlight of the album for me.

The songs alternate between more metal-oriented and softer acoustic songs, with four "metal" tracks and three "acoustic" tracks, though even the metal songs have softer elements to them. The first track, "Heimdall," begins with the sound of someone walking, followed by a horn sound (played by Manuel, it appears) and a nice little instrumental folk section. At this point new listeners might think they picked up the wrong album, but after about two minutes the metal elements appear. Not that, even once that happens, anyone will mistake Odroerir for being any other band. The sound of mandolin (or mandola?) and flute continues even after the electric guitars appear, and then you hear the vocals, which are not quite like anything I've heard in folk metal. They are not "flashy" or modern-sounding (these are not power metal vocals). They are what I would describe as the vocals that could be found in traditional folk music, except perhaps for the harmonizing, and perfectly complement the atmosphere that Odroerir is creating. The listener will get a good idea of what this band is all about after listening to the first track, and will probably decide at this point whether or not Odroerir is for them. Some will not enjoy it, but I think many will if they give it a chance.

"Heimdall" is followed by the short but sweet acoustic track "Bifröst." As the next track, "Des Thors Hammer Heimholung," begins, I finally hear the familiar baritone vocals (Stickel?) that remind me of the lead male vocals on the first two albums. For whatever reason, they're not as prominent on Götterlieder II as a whole. Again, a mandolin plays throughout the song even when the electric guitars are present, which I think gives the album an all-encompassing "folk" sound that gives me the impression of Odroerir being a folk band that happens to incorporate metal into their music, rather than the other way around.

The long acoustic track "Idunas Äpfel" follows, and on this track Natalie is given a chance to shine. This is a very vocal-centric song, and a very powerful one, despite not being metal in any way. "Skadis Rache," for the first time since Odroerir's 2002 debut, has some shrieked black metal vocals, but only a little. The violin plays a prominent role in this track, and there's a nice guitar solo as well. The next all-acoustic track, "Der Riesenbaumeister" contains what I think is the mandola, and there's also some nice hand percussion. The final track, the nineteen-minute long hymn to Odin, "Allvater," reminds me quite a bit of "Skirnirs Fahrt" from the first Götterlieder, though not quite as satisfying, in my opinion. It is a very good song and an epic and reverent way to close the album, however. It contains probably the most technical lead guitar work on the album (though this of course is relatively speaking), as well as some great violin and cello work.

It's difficult for me to do justice to a band like Odroerir, and an album like Götterlieder II, by using words. There are some very talented writers that might be able to, but I'm not one of them. It's simply a beautiful album. I don't expect that it will get a lot of praise from metal critics, mainly because it's such a different album that is difficult to describe or categorize, and may not contain enough "metal" elements to satisfy some fans, even fans of pagan/folk metal. But that's part of the appeal of Odroerir. They're in a category of their own. They are Odroerir. And they're one of my favorite bands in the genre, for what it's worth.

Album Review: Odroerir - Götterlieder

2011-01-03T21:06:00.002-05:00

Artist: Odroerir (Germany)
Album Title: Götterlieder
Record Label: Einheit Produktionen (Germany)
Released: 2005
Purchased From: CM Distro

There's no way I can be unbiased in this review of Odroerir's second album, Götterlieder, because this is the CD that got me hooked on folk metal. Way back in the days of 2006, when I was expanding my "Viking metal" horizons, I came across the name of a band called Menhir, and, during my exhaustive research of this band (which mainly consisted of consulting the Metal Archives), I discovered that one of the members had a second band called Odroerir. CM Distro had an album by each band in stock and I ordered them at the same time. The one that made the biggest immediate impact on me was the CD by Odroerir, because I hadn't heard anything like it before.

The brief intro, "Ginungagap," which consists of the sound of waves and wind, fades into an acoustic piece called "Weltenanfang." I was already intrigued by the the lovely acoustic guitar and female soprano vocals (something I wasn't quite used to yet, having been listening to a lot of black metal up until this point), which are soon joined by a chorus of male vocals, but then the band ups the ante by richly layering several tracks of vocals in beautiful harmony. I've always been drawn to harmonized vocals, but I had never heard anything quite like this on a metal CD. Actually, to be honest, I still haven't heard another metal band with such immensely satisfying harmonized vocals. Sometimes, after dozens or perhaps hundreds of listens later, I can still get goosebumps when listening to "Weltenanfang," and that's only the second of seven mostly-long tracks. The only reference point I could ever find for the vocals is the Irish folk-turned-New Age band Clannad.

"Weltenanfang" seamlessly shifts into track three, "Wanenkrieg," which introduces metal elements into the album for the first time. The electric guitars are pretty high in the mix. There's some melody there, but they kind of just roughly chug along, except during the tasteful guitar solos. The guitar solos always exist for the greater good of the song. They never sound like someone showing off what they can do. The nicely sung and blended vocals introduced on "Weltenanfang" don't go away when the metal elements are introduced. That is actually what Odroerir's vocals sound like. Sometimes there's a solitary voice singing, but it's never too long before another voice or a chorus of voices joins in. Lyrics are all in German, which is not a language I've ever considered "beautiful" when sung, but they make it work. The lyrics on Götterlieder are all adapted from the Edda, specifically the parts that deal with the earlier days of the universe.

The band is led by Fix, who sings, plays acoustic and electric guitar, and plays flute. Stickel sings and plays acoustic and electric guitar. Philipp returns on drums, Yvonne returns as the soprano vocalist, and Manuel (of fellow Thuringians XIV Dark Centuries) joins the band on bass. Another fine addition to the band is Veit, who plays violin and cello. Violin already played a part on the first Odroerir album, but the band felt it was an important enough element in their sound that they added Veit as a full-time member. And, indeed, I think it adds a lot to the sound.

Even in its metal moments, Odroerir is not a particularly heavy band. Nor do they play very fast. The songs move on at a comfortable, leisurely pace, with the lovely ballad "Ask Und Embla" and much of fifteen-minute closer "Skirnirs Fahrt" giving the album some quieter moments. This is an album that I think even non-metal fans could enjoy, because it lacks so many of the elements that annoy many people about metal. However, these qualities could also limit the enjoyment that some metal fans would get from it. Odroerir has to be approached on their own terms, because there are no other bands, to my knowledge, that sound like them.

Despite my love for this album, I acknowledge that there are still some rough edges that could be smoothed out. The vocals, while mostly well done, are not always perfect. There's a vocal line or two on "Zwergenschmiede" that sounds completely flat to me, and the electric guitars are so loud in the mix that they give many parts on the album a "muddy" sound that I think obscures the softer and more beautiful elements at times. Still, depending on my mood, sometimes I think of the guitars as being "rough hewn" and that it adds to the rural charm of the CD. I don't know. I'm conflicted about them. Still, I absolutely adore Götterlieder, four and a half years after first hearing it. I can't get enough of the violin, the flute, and especially the vocals... man, the vocals!

If there is any downside to this album, it's that, with the exception of Odroerir's 2010 follow-up Götterlieder II, there's nothing quite like it. I spent a lot of time after its release trying to find something else that sounded like it, to no avail. Fortunately Götterlieder stands up to repeat listens, because otherwise it would have worn out its welcome many spins ago. I still enjoy it just as much now as I did when I first discovered it, and I would still recommend it to any fan of true pagan/folk metal who is looking for a serious and mature album that is also a lot of fun.

Album Review: Odroerir - Laßt Euch Sagen Aus Alten Tagen...

2011-01-03T20:03:00.003-05:00

Artist: Odroerir (Germany)
Album Title: Laßt Euch Sagen Aus Alten Tagen...
Record Label: Ars Metalli (Germany)
Released: 2002
Purchased From: Ebay (Red Stream)

In 1998, German pagan metal pioneers Menhir released the brief but beautiful Buchonia EP. A departure from their normal black metal style, Buchonia was basically a folk or folk rock EP, featuring mostly acoustic guitars, violin, Heiko's baritone vocals, and a female soprano vocalist. As of yet, Menhir has not revisited that style, with the exception of parts of Hildebrandslied. However, also in 1998, Menhir's drummer-turned-guitarist Fix formed a second band, Odroerir, who plays pagan/folk metal in a style similar to that heard on the Buchonia EP. Perhaps he was inspired to continue creating music in that vein after Menhir had gone back to their heavier style? Whatever the reason, I'm certainly glad Odroerir was formed, as they are a pretty remarkable and unique band.

Odroerir, circa 2002, consists of Fix on acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, and a reed instrument called a schalmei. Also on guitar, vocals, and schalmei is Stickel, whose baritone voice is so similar to that of Heiko (of Menhir) that, for a while, I assumed they were the same person. Yvonne handles soprano vocals, Philipp plays the drums, Ralph plays bass, and there's a guest violinist on a few tracks. The male and female vocals are often layered and harmonized, though not as often as on later albums. Acoustic guitar is quite prominent, and, though there are some lovely and melancholy guitar solos, the electric guitar just kind of chugs along much of the time, serving as a rhythmic backbone to the music. The melodies are often carried by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and occasional violin. Odroerir has a truly folk-like sensibility that gives them a unique, rural sound. They're not overly festive, and they're not the kind of band that a lot of people will shake plastic swords to. There are no epic keyboard sounds. Odroerir is a pretty serious band, an authentic band. Their blend of folk and metal is their own.

At this stage, the band still had some rough edges to work out (though it can be argued that the "rough edges" are a part of their charm), but tracks like "Salzschlacht" and "De exidio Thuringiae" hint at the greatness ahead. There is also at least one classic track on the album: "Iring," which is driven by the violin and a simple but catchy chorus. The band only flirts with black metal for a few brief moments on "Menosgada" and "De exidio Thuringiae." But if I were to be asked what specific style of metal Odroerir plays, I would be unable to give a satisfactory response. Is it power metal? Traditional metal? Doom metal? Not really... it's folk metal. It's Odroerir. You can't really pigeonhole them.

Of their three albums, Laßt Euch Sagen Aus Alten Tagen is by far the most difficult to find. I read somewhere (perhaps in an interview?) that the guy behind the label Ars Metalli disappeared with most of the copies of the CD, which means there could be several hundred of them sitting in an attic or basement somewhere in Germany. The band reissued the CD themselves several years later, but it was only available from the band and has also gone out of print. I obtained a near-mint copy of the original pressing thanks to Red Stream, but I've only seen it for sale that one time. Hopefully more copies will surface.

Compared to the later albums, I wouldn't say Laßt Euch Sagen Aus Alten Tagen is an essential pagan/folk metal album, but it's pretty solid and may be worth tracking down for those who can't get enough of the band after Götterlieder I and II.

Check it out

2010-12-28T22:27:00.002-05:00

I know that the words "No Downloads" appears at the top of this blog, but in this case, since it's the band itself encouraging the download of their new album, and because it's a band I happen to really enjoy, I felt that I should help get the word out.

Australian heathen folk/metal band Ironwood has just self-released their fantastic new album, "Storm Over Sea," and, to hopefully draw in some new listeners, they've put the entire album up on their website (in 128kb mp3 quality) for free download, with the request that, if you like what you hear, you consider ordering the album from them or one of their distributors (in the U.S., so far Paragon Records, Red Stream, and The End Records have stocked the album, but there are possibly others).

Hopefully I'll be reviewing their music in the near future, once I get back to writing reviews, but, as a quick summary, Ironwood takes beautiful acoustic neo-folk music, mixes it with progressive and occasional black metal elements, and then tops it off with often-beautiful layered clean vocals. I suppose I could draw comparisons between their music and that of Agalloch, early Ulver, Opeth, and October Falls, though that would only tell part of the story. I invite you to go to their website (Ironwoodsound.com.au), listen to the music, give it some time to sink in, and then, hopefully, purchase the CD and support a great band.

Kamaedzitca Дзецi Леса video clip

2010-11-06T19:37:00.003-04:00

The Final Age will return with reviews soon.

Enjoy this video clip I just discovered of Kamaedzitca's "Children of the Forest."

Youtube clip here

Album Review: Glittertind - Landkjenning

2010-02-16T21:26:00.010-05:00

Artist: Glittertind (Norway)
Album Title: Landkjenning
Record Label: Napalm Records (Austria, US)
Released: 2009 (May)
Purchased From: The Omega Order

One can be forgiven for overlooking Glittertind's second full-length album (or third, if you count the demo Mellom Bakkar Og Berg), especially if that person has reached his or her saturation point with the genre of folk metal. The cover of a longship, and the sticker from Napalm Records that reads "Norwegian Folk Metal!," on the U.S. version at least, doesn't really inspire confidence that Glittertind is a band that will stand out from the pack of folk metal bands that have emerged in the wake of the genre's explosive popularity in the metal underground. However, this two-man project (which was a one-man project for the first several years of its existence) is no "Johnny-come-lately" folk metal band, nor is it typical with regards to its sound. Glittertind contains just as much of a punk and rock sound as it does metal, though it is far closer to "folk metal" than the preceding full-length, 2003's Evige Asatro (fortunately re-issued by Napalm Records to coincide with the release of Landkjenning), which had a much stronger punk sound. I'm not a fan of punk music, but Evige Asatro is a pretty good listen, though it's not something I will likely find myself listening to a lot.

However, Landkjenning is a very good and unique album, which is relatively mellow and accessible while also being authentic and thoughtful with regards to history, Norse paganism, and folk music. Thematically, the jumping off point here seems to be the story of Olav Tryggvason, the Norwegian king who is credited with/blamed for bringing Christianity to his native land in the late 10th century. According to the liner notes, Glittertind's goal with Landkjenning is to present two different viewpoints as to the Christianization of Norway. To present the side that looks at the Christianization as good, Glittertind has taken some of their lyrics from the Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, while the other side comes mostly from Glittertind's own perspective of history. This is not really a concept album, as there are songs about other topics, like the relationship of man and nature, the brotherhood of warriors, and the importance of living each day to its fullest. However, the beginning of Landkjenning deals with the return of Olav Tryggvason to Norway after his conversion, while the album ends with Olav's death in a battle at sea, followed by a somber but beautiful Norwegian traditional song, played on organ and Harding fiddle.

The musical style of the album varies from song to song. The tracks that speak of Olav Tryggvason in a positive light ("Landkjenning" and "Brede seil over Nordsjø gårhave") have an almost "sacred" quality about them, with layers of vocals resembling religious choral music. A few of the songs ("Nordafjells," "Varder i brann," and "Longships and Mead") are more upbeat, folk metal songs. "Longships and Mead" is the only English-language song on the album, and it has a rollicking sound that is bound to be a crowd-pleaser amongst fans of happy-sounding folk metal. There are a few punk-inspired songs ("Glittertind" and "Jeg snører min sekk"), and then a couple of slower, ballad-like tracks ("Går min eigen veg" and "Mot myrke vetteren"). The former of these ballads is especially beautiful, with excellent background vocals and flute.

Along with the guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, Landkjenning contains Harding fiddle (a violin native to Norway), flute, accordion, and cello, as well as organ. Production is very high-quality, and everything from the instruments to the vocals are well-performed. Incidentally, it is worth mentioning that all the vocals on Landkjenning are sung, and sung rather well, in fact. Founding member Torbjørn Sandvik made a great decision to bring Geirmund Simonsen on board, as Geirmund's presence seems to have added much to the Glittertind sound.

From beginning to end, Landkjenning is an album that is worth your attention. It has a unique and engaging sound that I can't adequately compare to anything else out there. At times it reminds me of Týr, sometimes Lumsk, sometimes Vintersorg or early Ulver. It's pretty mellow, overall, for a metal album, and possibly strays too far to satisfy some fans. But I've enjoyed it quite a bit, and it's an album I continue to listen to on a regular basis several months after its release. Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised that this album hasn't gained more attention than it has, but I haven't seen it promoted as much as other pagan/folk metal bands on Napalm Records. Perhaps it is because Glittertind is primarily a studio band, though they are preparing to play some live shows. Regardless, if you're a fan of the genre and are looking for something unique, thoughtful, and oft-times beautiful, you should give Landkjenning a try.

Compilation Review: Slavs Part 1

2010-02-11T19:31:00.003-05:00

Artist(s): Various
Compilation Title: Slavs Part 1
Record Label: Scythian Horn (Russia)
Released: 2009
Received from: Cultural fund Scythian Horn

Torbjørn Sandvik, of Norwegian folk metal band Glittertind, wrote in the liner notes of their album Landkjenning: "folk music, and its contemporary expressions through musicians like ourselves, is first and foremost life-affirming, inspirited and uniting..." That is a quote to which I keep returning when I listen to Slavs Part 1, a terrific compilation CD of various Slavic folk bands and ensembles. 20 great songs are packed into a 76-minute runtime, and within those 20 songs are many different styles and from many different countries. Admittedly, I am not as well-versed in Slavic folk music as I wish I were, so this CD has served as a wonderful introduction to the rich variety of music that exists in the area covered by this compilation, though obviously it only scratches the surface of what one might find there.

There are 13 different bands and ensembles represented here, and attempting to review this CD thoroughly would require looking at each of these artists individually. I'll do my best. The CD begins with a rather modern-sounding piece by Afion, a five-piece Croatian band who seems to be influenced by folk rock (as they are one of the few bands on the CD that uses a modern drum kit). Then things take a turn with the more traditional-sounding Runo (of Serbia), which uses what strikes me as a more "folk-style" singing and traditional string, wind, and percussion instruments.

Next, Slovak children's folklore group Kornička performs a lovely medley of Christmas carols. The next two songs are by another Slovak group, Muzička, and the interesting thing about these two songs is that they don't sound like they came from the same group, as the first piece is entirely a capella, with female vocals, while the second song has a male vocalist and a full string section (in fact, it appears that the only instruments used by Muzička are violins, violas, and bass). I really enjoyed the voice of the male vocalist on this second song, "Pomali ovecki." Not knowing the Slovak language, I don't know what the vocalist is singing, but the beginning of the piece sounds rather thoughtful or somber, but after about three-and-a-half minutes the pace quickens, additional male voices are added, and the mood seems to change to something more celebratory. This is probably my favorite piece of music on the CD, though it's closely matched by the first piece of the next group, a Macedonian band called Monistra. The female vocalist on "Filizo mome," Gabriela Janusevska, has a voice that is absolutely enchanting. She has terrific range and control, and what struck me as a strong Middle Eastern sound in her voice. That strong Middle Eastern sound (for lack of a better description on my part) can be heard in all the contributions by the Macedonian bands on this compilation. The second song by Monistra is entirely instrumental, and there's some nice hand percussion and a very well-played stringed instrument that I can't identify. This second piece is nothing short of exhilarating.

Tracks 8 and 9 are two short pieces by Trio Tzane, which is made up of three female vocalists, one from Bulgaria, one from Greece, and one from Turkey. Their only instrumental accompaniment appears to be a sort of tambourine, but they have very unique and interesting voices. The next group, the only one with which I was familiar before I received this compilation, is the wonderful Vedan Kolod of Russia. Their contribution, "U nas nyne," was also featured on the first Scythian Horn compilation, Ritual, but it's such a good piece of music that I didn't mind hearing it again on this CD. Vedan Kolod is one of the groups on this compilation that don't seem to be at all influenced by modern forms of music. They use all ancient instruments, and one can certainly imagine their style of music existing in the same form hundreds of years ago or even older, somehow captured on modern recording equipment. The blending of the female vocals on this track is beautiful.

Russia is also represented by Skomoroshia sloboda, which is a young folklore ensemble from the city of Sergiev Posad. This is another a capella piece, which seems to be comprised entirely of female vocals, singing in a style that I have encountered often in my very limited exposure to traditional Russian music. Tracks 12 and 13 are by Collegium Fiddle Dolce, from the Czech Republic, and I must say that I love these two songs. I don't know if Collegium Fiddle Dolce has any full-length CD's of their own, but if so, I would like to find one. There's a very "happy" vibe to these two tracks that always brings a smile to my face. Some may describe their style as "quaint," and it may not appeal to all listeners, but I come back to their tracks often.

Tracks 14 and 15 are instrumental pieces (for the most part) by Makedonka, another Macedonian ensemble. Like Monistra, Makedonka gives my mind a strong Middle Eastern imagery when I listen to them. According to Scythian Horn's website, Makedonka consists of more than 250 members across their various groups (which include folk dance groups, folk singers, and orchestra). It's a shame that these types of groups don't make it over to the North America more often, because I would love to hear this type of music in a live setting.

The next band featured, Svjata Vatra, is quite unique to my ears. They are an Estonian-Ukrainian folk band that sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. Their first track on the CD, "Kalyna," has some great accordion and Estonian bagpipes, while the second song, "Verhovyna," has what sounds to me like a... trumpet or trombone? Playing a Ukrainian folk melody? Svjata Vatra is what I can only describe as "quirky," but I would imagine that they would be very fun to see in concert.

Svjata Vatra is followed by Slovak mixed-voice choir Tirnavia, performing what, to my ears, sounds like a Christmas carol, and things get interesting towards the middle of the track when the singing turns to chanting, handclaps, and the stomping of feet, before returning to singing and then, finally, back to clapping and the stomping of feet. Next is Tundri, a World Music Orchestra from Serbia. This mostly-instrumental piece (though a choir of voices singing what appears to be wordless vocals appears throughout) has a strong jazz and rock influence and mostly modern instruments.

The CD reaches its end with a second piece from Afion, the Croatian band that also contributed the first song of the compilation. This last song, "Dizala skuto," is quite lovely, with hand percussion, handclaps, well-played stringed instruments, and beautifully harmonized male and female vocals, and it brings more smiles to my face to close out a great musical journey. This final song is so good that my first impulse once I reach the end of the CD is to start again with track 1.

Slavs Part 1 is a wonderful CD that exposed me to a lot of great music from countries with which I'm not very familiar, and it caused me to want to learn and hear more of what these nations have to offer musically, which is probably the intention behind the compiling of this CD. I'm looking forward to the release of Slavs Part 2, hopefully this year, but, in the meantime, Part 1 is a CD I will listen to again and again. It is one I would definitely recommend for those who, like me, are new to Slavic folk music in its various forms and would like to hear from many talented artists and ensembles whose recordings are very difficult to find. Because this review blog is mainly about pagan and folk metal, I would like to add that many fans of Slavic folk metal who are interested in exploring beyond metal will find much to enjoy in this compilation, as I have.

Album Review: Ensiferum - From Afar

2010-01-29T19:19:00.006-05:00

Artist: Ensiferum (Finland)
Album Title: From Afar
Record Label: Spinefarm Records (Finland, USA)
Released: 2009 (September)
Purchased From: The Omega Order

Fans have certainly been divided about post-2004 Ensiferum. There are few bands in the folk metal genre that are so controversial without being at all political in nature. The elephant in the room when you talk about anything Ensiferum has released after 2004's Iron is the fact that, after that album, guitarist/vocalist Jari Mäenpää, whose work in both guitar and vocals was a huge (HUGE) part of Ensiferum's sound and wide appeal, was forced to leave due to conflicts between recording sessions for his project (and now full-time band) Wintersun and Ensiferum's touring schedule. In addition, they managed to lose their bassist and drummer not long afterwards, leaving the band with a largely new lineup. The addition of vocalist/guitarist Petri Lindroos has not been met with open arms by many fans of Jari-era Ensiferum. Therefore, he deserves some credit for sticking with the position despite some (unfair, in my opinion) negativity from fans, and the band as a whole deserves credit for rebuilding Ensiferum, even though they may not sound entirely like the band that wowed critics and fans all over with their self-titled debut and its well-received 2004 follow-up.

I'm not interested in getting into arguments as to which incarnation of Ensiferum is better, as I enjoy both, but I should mention that "Dragonheads" (from the 2006 EP of the same name) is one of my favorite Viking metal songs, and I really enjoyed much of 2007's full-length Victory Songs, especially the title track. I wasn't sure what to think of From Afar when samples began to appear of a few of its tracks shortly before its September release, but out of loyalty I pre-ordered it anyway, and was pleasantly surprised by how overall improved it is from the already-strong Victory Songs.

The only lineup change between their 2007 album and this one is that keyboard player Meiju Enho has been replaced with Emmi Silvennoinen. I'm not really sure how Emmi compares as a keyboard player because this album uses a lot of sampled orchestral instruments and choirs in place of synths, though there are still a number of folk-sounding moments that use keyboards, like the intro track, and they all sound great, though I don't know if they're played or programmed.

The heavy use of orchestral and choral elements is a dramatic change in Ensiferum's sound, as if everything has been turned up to an extra level of epic-ness, kind of like how big of an impact those elements made on Turisas' excellent The Varangian Way. But what else becomes evident as one listens to the new album is that the guitars and vocals have also improved over the previous few efforts. Petri seems to have become more comfortable in his role in the band, and his vocals seem to be fit better within the band's sound. He only handles the harsh vocals, however, and the clean vocals are mainly performed by founding member Markus Toivonen and bassist (and primary lyricist) Sami Hinkka. I like many of the lyrics on this album, but I still think "Twilight Tavern" is a cheesy title, though the song itself is quite good.

Ensiferum may be known as more of a widely-accessible, somewhat shallow band within the genre, but on From Afar they show some depth with "Heathen Throne" and "The Longest Journey: Heathen Throne Part II." These two songs are longer than the rest of the songs on the album (at 11 and almost 13 minutes, respectively), and have a generally slower and more epic pace. Great stuff! As they did in the first two tracks of Iron, Ensiferum pays tribute to composer Ennio Morricone (and perhaps "Spaghetti Westerns" in general) with "Stone Cold Metal," a song that oddly contains one of the few whistling solos I've heard in metal, not to mention the short banjo solo later in the track. This is an odd song that seems to perplex a lot of listeners, but I think it's kind of fun. Then again, I'm a pretty big fan of Spaghetti Westerns.

The clean vocals, which are sometimes done in unison or choir form, are also surprisingly strong on From Afar. In particular, I should mention "Smoking Ruins," which contains almost entirely clean vocals and is a pretty excellent song.

From Afar is a very strong album from a band that is becoming increasingly confident and who have tapped into something really good with the orchestral elements and the improved vocals and musicianship. It may not bring back all of the old-school Ensiferum fans to the fold, but, judging by what I've read from fans and reviewers, many attitudes towards the new lineup have been changed for the better since its release. It's a very, very good album that is well worth checking out, whether or not you have written this band off. Never say never, friends. Ensiferum is in strong form and the future looks very bright indeed!

Album Review: Arkona - Goi, Rode, Goi!

2010-01-29T17:42:00.003-05:00

Artist: Arkona (Аркона) [Russia]
Album Title: Goi, Rode, Goi!
Record Label: Napalm Records (Austria, USA)
Released: 2009 (October)
Purchased From: Napalm Records

When Arkona's frontwoman and fearless leader Masha "Scream" was interviewed shortly after the release of 2007's Ot Serdtsa K Nebu, she mentioned that she was at a deadlock because she didn't know how to make something better than that album. Amazingly, she managed to do just that with Arkona's fifth studio album, Goi, Rode, Goi!

Honestly, I don't know how Masha and company managed to find time to write and record such a masterwork of pagan/folk metal in the two years since Ot Serdtsa K Nebu, considering how busy things have been for Arkona since its original release in October 2007 on Russia's Sound Age Production. In 2008, the band signed to international metal label Napalm Records, who reissued Ot Serdtsa K Nebu worldwide later that year. Many concerts around Europe followed, and in the meantime Masha continued to raise her young family with husband Sergei "Lazar," who plays guitar for Arkona in addition to fronting his own band, Rossomahaar (whose other members also play in Arkona). Despite all this activity, the band went into the studio towards the end of 2008 and first several months of May 2009, emerging with an album that I believe will be hailed for years as one of the great Slavic pagan metal releases. If anyone was afraid that their signing to Napalm would somehow change Arkona, or that they would perhaps weaken under the pressure of a larger, worldwide audience, I believe that instead it has only made them stronger and more focused.

The album makes itself known strongly with the opening track, "Goi, Rode, Goi!" The traditional instruments, again played by multi-instrumentalist Vladimir Cherepovskiy (who might as well be considered the fifth member of Arkona), make their first appearance 35 seconds in, and Masha's layered, Russian-language vocals appear at less than a minute's time. The black metal influences and Masha's fiercely growled vocals show up merely twenty seconds or so later. The ingredients of Arkona's greatness make themselves known on this first track (of which a video has been released), and by this point the listener will have no question as to what this band is about.

The second track, the title of which translates into English as "On the Unknown Trail," turns up the speed and ferocity, though it contains some more mid-paced sections and great folk-infused moments as Masha alternates deftly between harsh and clean vocals and is joined by a choir of "Loi, loi, loi"'s. This tendency to change pace, mood, and level of aggression continues throughout the album, with many songs going through a lot of changes throughout. It never feels disjointed, at least for someone who is familiar with Arkona's back catalogue. I suppose it should strike me as strange that a song can quickly go from being a fast-paced, black metal song to a happy, folky tune, and then back again, but it's to the band's credit that they make this variety feel natural and not forced or labored. Some listeners will no doubt be flummoxed by the unique sound and overall mood of Arkona, but upon repeated listens it should begin to make sense. And, with an album this long and epic (with its 79 minute, 40 second runtime and incredible musical richness and depth), one will certainly not uncover all its charms on first listen, no matter how closely they pay attention to all that is going on.

Arkona has been utilizing a variety of guest musicians (usually vocalists) for a while now, but the list of guest musicians on Goi, Rode, Goi! is staggering. Ilya "Wolfenhirt" (Svarga) and Aleksandr "Shmel" (Rarog, Kalevala), who both have appeared with Arkona on albums and in concert in the past, lend their voices to the choir on the album, and a string quintet and female choir are also featured. Other guest musicians appear here and there, but the most notable appearance of guest musicians is on the 15-minute long "In My Land." How does this guest list sound: Erik and Jan of Månegarm (Sweden), Baalberith and Sadlave of Obtest (Lithuania), Peter and Edgar of Skyforger (Latvia), Heiko of Menhir (Germany), and Joris and Mark of Heidevolk (Netherlands)? Each set of vocalists and musicians represent a different country visited by the character in the tale, with a message of reverence of one's land, family, traditions, and Gods. This song, which, in less able hands, might have come off disjointed and bloated like Folkearth, turns out to be a great and inspiring song of unity.

After a brief spoken-word track, the momentum of the album continues with a string of great songs like the short but festive "Yarilo," the passionate "Faces of Immortal Gods" (where Masha shows even more depth and range of her singing voice than I'd previously heard), and other excellent tracks that, again, contain a variety of styles within them. Highlights towards the end of the album are "Kolo of Nav," "Arkona," and the album's breathtaking closer, "Sullen Sky, Lurid Clouds." This final song begins with Masha singing a capella, then harmonizing with herself, and soon she is joined by the bass, drums, and a mandolin and domra (the mandolin played by Vetrodar of Tverd, yet another great guest appearance), and then by the guitar. This beautiful song, with its folky melody (which sounds to me not entirely unlike the traditional Russian song "Black Raven") and another wonderful vocal performance by Masha, is certainly one of my musical highlights of 2009, and I can't imagine a better song to end such a masterwork. In fact, the only real "filler" of this almost 80-minute album takes place in the waning minutes of this track, which contains a few minutes of nature sounds and then the sound of flutes.

Goi, Rode, Goi! is one of the very greatest and most important pagan metal albums I've ever heard. While a variety of bands have emerged to capitalize on folk metal's trendiness with bouncy, enjoyable music that is devoid of any real depth or lasting value, Arkona holds the banner proudly for deep, meaningful music that is full of reverence and pride. One does not need to understand the Russian language in order to be moved by this album. It comes from the heart. The many who misunderstand this style of musical expression and feel its value to be trivial should acquaint themselves with albums like this. The sheer amount of content may initially put some listeners off or exhaust them, but Goi, Rode, Goi! is a journey well worth taking again and again, and it's an album I know I will cherish for years to come. It's a refinement of everything they've been building up to until this point. Wonderful.

Album Review: Folkvang - Atmospheric Black

2010-01-12T18:18:00.003-05:00

Artist: Folkvang (Belarus)
Album Title: Atmospheric Black
Record Label: Wintersunset Records (Finland?)
Released: 2009 (December)

Atmospheric Black is kind of a silly name for an album, but at least it's an apt description of the music you'll find. Folkvang is atmospheric black metal with a nature/heathen focus. If you want a lazy comparison, think Burzum except a little easier to stomach. This is the project's third full-length album and the first in which band founder Wind is not alone. On this album, he is joined by drummer Incarnatus (of Pagan Hellfire, a Canadian project with which Folkvang did a split release last year).

The music is mostly mid-paced black metal with decent, full production. The songs have a relatively simple construction, but it's pleasing to my ears. Honestly, this isn't much different than the previous two Folkvang albums, or the two splits that were released in the meantime (besides the one with Pagan Hellfire, there was a split with the UK's Wodensthrone which was also quite good), so if you're already familiar with the project, there won't be any big surprises here. For those of you who aren't already familiar with Folkvang, you might find this enjoyable if you like similarly atmospheric bands like Drudkh, Winterfylleth, or the aforementioned Burzum or Wodensthrone. I'm not well-versed in this style of black metal, so there are probably many other bands with which I could compare Folkvang, but this is the best I can come up with at the moment.

The vocals are treated with some distortion and reverb, like the vocals in Burzum's Filosofem. Some may not like the vocals because they're pretty monotonous, but I think they have a good sound. Unlike on the previous albums, which used Belarusian lyrics in a few songs, all the lyrics appear to be in English on Atmospheric Black. There are some pretty nice moments of acoustic guitar on the CD, like those that begin "Back to the Roots" and "Field of the Dead Fires," though I would have liked to have heard more. The latter track, which closes the album, is mostly instrumental, and it has a lot of nice moments that reminds me of Drudkh. The drums are well-recorded, maybe a little loud in the mix, and are unspectacular but solid. The riffs are melodic, with occasional solos. Nothing spectacular about the guitars, but they're solid and well-recorded.

I strongly doubt that this album is going to set the black metal or pagan metal genres on fire, but it's a pleasant and strangely relaxing experience that may appeal to many fans of atmospheric black metal. It's likely to be overshadowed by higher-profile albums, but there's a nice listening experience here for those who like this style of metal.

Album Review: Graveland - Spears of Heaven

2009-12-20T18:38:00.003-05:00

Artist: Graveland (Poland)
Album Title: Spears of Heaven
Record Label: No Colours (Germany)
Released: 2009

I have grown to love the music of Rob Darken's epic pagan metal project Graveland over the past few years, but I hate reading most reviews of his albums. Occasionally more "mainstream" metal writers will review a Graveland album, I suppose to show how open-minded they are to listen to something they find so detestable to their political beliefs, but they can't resist hurling cheap insults at Darken or spending half the review distancing themselves from his politics so as not to leave any doubt that their own politics are much more left-wing. Well, I'm not left-wing, for the most part, so if you're waiting for me to call Darken an "utter fool" or "forest-dwelling heathen LARPmaster" like one reviewer for a major metal website called him in his listless review of Spears of Heaven, you'll be waiting for a long time.

However, as much as I am a fan of Graveland, I cannot give Spears of Heaven a ringing endorsement as I am prone to doing on this little blog. Many of the things I enjoy about Graveland --the war-like atmosphere and imagery of epic battles for the survival of our race, the fire and passion that bleeds from every riff, lyrics that stir the pride of blood even though Darken's English is less than perfect-- are absent from this recording. This is a bit baffling, as the last few albums have had these qualities and more. The previous two albums, Fire Chariot of Destruction and Will Stronger Than Death, showed what seemed to be a re-energized Darken. They are both excellent releases, among the best in Graveland's discography. I'm not sure what went wrong with Spears of Heaven.

It's not all bad, despite what I said in the last paragraph, but I expected much more. The opening, title track begins in promising fashion with a war-like atmosphere and synthesized/sampled female choir voices like Valkyries announcing the new album. But then the first riff starts, and it's uninspiring. At least the drums sound good, though they seem to lack the driving force of the drums on the last few recordings, if I'm not imagining things. Darken's voice sounds pretty standard, a sort of croaking voice that doesn't do much but deliver the lyrics. Most of the basic building blocks seem to be there, so what's missing? I think it's all about the riffs, and the drums. I'm not expecting great riffs here, but normally the music adds up to some sort of atmosphere, created by the grim riffs, the war drums, and the epic feeling delivered by the choirs and synths, and I can't help but feel that it doesn't add up on this album. Spears of Heaven doesn't really give my mind any imagery, nor does it stir anything in my mind or my blood. It lacks inspiration or fire. Darken sounds as if he, when recording this album, was momentarily lacking the passion and pride that normally drives him to create the great, epic pagan metal that Graveland normally delivers. I'm hoping that that's the case, because I hate to think that this marks the beginning of a change in direction that will extend beyond this album.

Spears of Heaven is not without its positives, or its moments of greatness. There are a few good tracks to be found here, like "Flame of Doom" and "Sun Wind." If these songs weren't brought down a bit by the too-clean production, they would have been even better. "Sun Wind" even contains some energetic riffs that the album could have used more of. But then he finishes the album with "Return to the Northern Carpathian," which wouldn't be a bad track except for the almost four and a half minute intro, which is pretty bland and even contains some odd Hammond organ-sounding keys that gives it almost a 70's prog-rock vibe. Without the intro, this is a pretty solid track. It closes the album in good fashion, with some nice riffs and even some of that atmosphere I was looking for as the last few minutes wind down. It would also probably be among the shortest Graveland tracks of the last decade and a half, so maybe he felt the need to extend it with a pointless and long introduction.

Maybe I'm just missing something here. It wouldn't be the first time. It took me several months and several listens in various contexts before I could appreciate the greatness of Thousand Swords. Perhaps this is an album that will grow on me or even "click" with me as others have. I put off writing this review for a long time, hoping that my initial feelings were wrong. But now, several months after purchasing Spears of Heaven, and many, many listens later, I'm just not feeling anything towards it. It's not painful to listen to (unless being somewhat bored brings pain to you), but when I listen to it, I often think about what I would rather be listening to, like Thousand Swords, Memory and Destiny, or Fire Chariot of Destruction.

It's not difficult for me to recommend Graveland, but it is difficult for me to recommend Spears of Heaven, except to hardcore Graveland fans and completists. But, then again, maybe it was unfair for me to expect another album with an atmosphere of war? The prevalent theme of Spears of Heaven seems to be Valkyries, so perhaps that could explain the change. Whatever the reason, I hope that the next Graveland album proves that this is only a small speed-bump, and that Darken will be back on track to inspire us again.

Album Review: Dalriada - Arany-Album

2009-12-14T22:16:00.012-05:00

Artist: Dalriada (Hungary)
Album Title: Arany-Album
Record Label: Nail Records (Hungary)
Released: 2009

One of my favorite folk metal bands, Dalriada, is back with an awesome new album, this time with all lyrics taken from the great Hungarian poet János Arany. Once again, this album seems to have gotten little promotion or distribution outside of Hungary, so I ordered it from the Hungarian Music Store on Ebay. This is an annoyance I've brought up on the past two Dalriada reviews I did, and the problem continues so I'm mentioning it again.

Anyway, despite the obscurity of the band and the difficulty in legally obtaining their releases, all of Dalriada's albums thus far have been worth the trouble to find, in my opinion, and Arany-Album is no exception. This album contains 13 tracks (with no throw-away or filler tracks to be found), the first seven being brand new songs and the other six being re-recordings of songs from past Dalriada/Echo of Dalriada releases. The six re-recorded songs include the three songs that made up the original Echo of Dalriada demo, A Walesi Bárdok, plus three songs whose original versions appeared on Fergeteg, Jégbontó, and Kikelet, respectively. The seven new songs make up a little more than 40 minutes of the album, while the remainder of the 75 total minutes of Arany-Album are the re-recordings.

It hasn't been very long since the 2008 release of Szelek, and the band still sounds much the same (a unique form of folk-infused power/gothic metal with female and male vocals, and a few elements of extreme metal thrown into the mix), with some changes and additions to the personnel. Bassist György Varga and keyboard player András Kurz (the latter of whom was relied on very heavily for the folk parts on the previous album) are gone. In their place are István Molnár and Barnabás Ungár, respectively. I'm not sure if it's the result of having a new keyboard player, but the synths are not as prominent on this album as they were on Szelek, where they mimicked instruments such as the accordion. On the seven new tracks the band is joined by some guest musicians, including a flute player and a few strings players. Violin, viola, double bass, some form of lute, and perhaps other instruments for which I could not find English translations are used on the album. These instruments appear prominently in the new tracks, and greatly enhance the songs on which they appear. However, the band apparently made the decision not to use these instruments on the six re-recorded tracks (except for a short part on the last track), so those are mostly unchanged from the earlier versions, other than improved recording quality, some changes in vocals, and some different keyboard arrangements. Speaking of vocals, drummer Tadeusz Rieckmann contributed low, death metal-like growls at various parts, while guitarist/vocalist András Ficzek handles the higher-pitched shrieks along with his normal sung vocals. Oh, and vocalist Laura Binder plays flute again on this album, something she used to do but hasn't done (at least in a recording) since Jégbontó.

All right, now that that's out of the way, how are the new tracks? Quite excellent! The album begins in strong form with "Zách Klára," a song that will likely be considered a Dalriada classic. This song is pretty epic, with a lot of mood and tempo changes. It's mostly a pretty upbeat song, with great vocals from András, Laura, and Tadeusz, some fast folky parts, and even a wicked keyboard solo. The band doesn't really capitalize on that momentum, however, and slow things down after that. Most of the album is kept at a medium pace, and the band confidently strides through the new material, showing their strong instrumental and songwriting abilities while keeping things tasteful. The album is strongly melodic, and the melodies are unlike what you'll normally hear in any sort of metal. They seem to be strongly influenced by Hungarian folk music. If you're getting tired of hearing the same types of melodies from folk metal bands, you might find Dalriada to be refreshing. Another standout track on the album is "Szent László (2. rész)," which has irresistible vocal harmonizing and some nice violin parts.

I must mention that the vocals are an area where this band has notably improved over the years. András has learned to lean on the strengths of his range rather than strain his voice to reach a lot of high notes, and his vocal lines weave wonderfully within the vocal lines of Laura Binder, whose voice only grows more enchanting with every Dalriada release. Sometimes they harmonize, sometimes they'll sing back and forth (like a conversation), while other times they'll be singing entirely different things at the same time, yet it all goes together well.

There's a noticeable shift that takes place between the new tracks and the re-recorded tracks. The band has made a lot of progressions in their songwriting over the years, but they don't bother to change the older songs much, so even if you're not familiar with the original recordings you may notice the change in the middle of Arany-Album. The biggest improvements, particularly in the songs from A Walesi Bárdok and Fergeteg, are in the production and the performances themselves. The band has come a long way since their demo days, and I must admit that it's very nice to hear these songs re-recorded. It makes me wonder what the rest of Fergeteg would sound like re-recorded. The changes are less noticeable on the two chapters that make up "Szondi Két Apródja," as the originals still stand up quite well. The second chapter's prominent (and strangely futuristic sounding) synth part has been done away with on the re-recording, which was impossible for me to not notice.

Dalriada has paid a worthy metal tribute to a great poet with Arany-Album. One can hardly imagine that Arany would not be pleased with and honored by what the band has done here, metal fan or not. Hungary may not have much in the way of bands in this genre, but they have a reason to be proud with Dalriada carrying the banner for Hungarian folk metal. With the Arany-Album, they've added to their impressive discography and have crafted an album that can stand alongside the very best the genre has to offer. Authentic, sincere, musically adept and with great songwriting skills; what more can one ask for?

Not surprisingly, I highly recommend this one.

Album Review: Velvet Cacoon - P aa opal Poere Pr. 33

2009-11-01T19:18:00.006-05:00

Artist: Velvet Cacoon (United States)
Album Title: P aa opal Poere Pr. 33
Record Label: Starlight Temple Society (United States)
Released: 2009

Velvet Cacoon doesn't fall under pagan metal by any means, but this is one of the few non-pagan black metal projects in which I still have any interest at all (the others would probably be Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice, and Blut Aus Nord). I'm admittedly drawn to the mysteries and scandals of music artists, and Velvet Cacoon has been a constant source of both over the years. If you haven't familiarized yourself with the VC saga, pop yourself some popcorn and spend a few hours online trying to make sense of it all. It's ridiculous. Velvet Cacoon is a sea of misinformation, pretension, nonexistent releases, and stolen releases. My conclusion after the four years or so that I've been listening to this project is that it started as a typical "bedroom" one-man black metal project, but the guy behind it ("Josh") decided that he wanted some notoriety while also exploiting the gullible nature of music fans and their hunger for mystery, so he surrounded the project with outlandish claims. Reading interviews with the guy makes me roll my eyes so much they actually start to hurt. If it weren't for the fact that Velvet Cacoon occasionally makes music that I find very interesting and enjoyable, I would have jumped ship a long time ago.

P aa opal Poere Pr. 33 was announced, I believe, in 2007, and artwork and a tracklisting were released for the album before anything had even been recorded. When the music-stealing scandal took place, it appeared as if the album would never see the light of day, and long-suffering label Full Moon Productions scrambled to pacify VC fans and released a CD version of old demo Dextronaut, along with a bonus CD of bland "dark ambient" music. This year FMP released a double-CD of similarly bland ambient music of Velvet Cacoon titled Atropine, and I just assumed that P aa opal Poere Pr. 33 had been swept under the carpet.

Velvet Cacoon's 2004 album Genevieve and 2005 follow-up/predecessor (depending on what you believe) Northsuite are two albums I really enjoy. They feature obscure, atmospheric black metal with vocals that take the form of sickly hisses, simple but effective melodies, and hints of piano and ambient music. Supposedly, the lyrics are inspired by both nature and drugs. I don't know if that's true at all, but it provides VC with an interesting backdrop that sets them apart from most black metal bands. When I saw P aa opal Poere Pr. 33 listed among the VC discography on Encyclopedia Metallum, I assumed it was a hoax. I was surprised to find out later that not only did it exist, but that it was a metal album. I was further surprised to see that it was released on artsy D.I.Y. label Starlight Temple Society rather than Full Moon Productions, but the positive to all this was that the album was very inexpensive to purchase and it is uniquely packaged. The disc is in a black paper sleeve similar to how some software discs come packaged. The paper sleeve slips inside what appears to be an oversized CD insert (I believe it's the size of what would come with a 7" vinyl release), so the great artwork is larger than what you'd usually get. This is then inserted into a black envelope with two lines of poetry embossed in silver on the front, and finally the whole package is put inside a resealable cellophane packet. Artsy, yes. Pretentious, perhaps. But pretty nice, though I can't fit it among my CD's, which is a bit of a pain.

The biggest surprise, however, is the music itself. It doesn't sound much at all like Genevieve or Northsuite, except that it's still atmospheric and somewhat mysterious. The music on P aa opal Poere Pr. 33 is what I would describe as very slow, doom-ish black metal. The pace is generally kept to a crawl, and the melody is largely driven by the bass and what sounds to my ears like a person humming along with the bass. Yeah, it's a little weird. It reminds me a bit of one of the Forest (the Blazebirth Hall band) CD's in that respect. The vocals, for the most part, are done by someone called "Cain" from a Canadian black metal band called Snowfall. I've never heard Snowfall, but they seem like they're about as pretentious as Velvet Cacoon, except with an emphasis on drinking heavy amounts of alcohol along with their drugs. Eh, whatever. They could have gotten just about anyone to do vocals and it couldn't have been much less interesting than Cain's performance on this CD, which is inoffensive but utterly unremarkable. Fortunately, "Josh" himself contributes vocals towards the end of the album, on "Oviamoire" and "Sovarine." That these two tracks are probably the strongest on the album may or may not be coincidental. The drums appear to be provided by a drum machine, but it sounds pretty solid and contains more complex patterns than the largely-blasting nature of the drum machine on Genevieve. According to the insert, the music is by SGL ("Josh") and LVG ("Angela"). "Angela" supposedly plays guitar. "She" also does some of the interviews. I don't believe that "Angela" actually exists at all, and nor do the other six or eight or however many other women who were allegedly members of Velvet Cacoon during the period when it was self-described as a collective of musicians.

Six of the eight tracks on the album are metal, while one is an instrumental, somewhat ambient piece, and the other consists of a man and a woman whispering to each other in French. They appear to be in a tent next to a crackling fire, but I don't know what's supposed to be going on. Like much of the mystery around Velvet Cacoon, it probably means nothing at all. Overall the album has a nautical theme. The poetry embossed on the envelope describe a crab crawling along the bottom of the sea, and Chesapeake Bay (in the Virginia and Maryland area of the United States' East coast) is mentioned by name in the insert.

This is a strange album. I would expect nothing less than a project as weird as Velvet Cacoon. However, it's also a unique and enjoyable album. There are some very nice, but dark, melodies, and an enveloping, cavernous atmosphere that would be especially interesting to listen to in the proper context (or, less likely, in the proper drug-altered state, according to the claims of "Josh").

The only thing I don't like about this album is the fact that it wasn't released by Full Moon Productions. With all that VC has put that label through over the years (FMP has had to act as a spokesperson for "Josh" and went into damage control mode after the music-stealing scandal of 2007), the least "Josh" could have done is allowed them to release what is actually a pretty fine follow-up to Genevieve and Northsuite. Instead, FMP gets stuck with Atropine, an ambient album that even they don't seem enthusiastic about putting forth the effort to release, and unknown artsy label Starlight Temple Society gets the privilege to present P aa opal Poere Pr. 33. I'm sure that the folks at STS are fine people, but it doesn't seem fair to deny FMP the chance to release this album on their label, being as how they've stuck with VC through years of lies.

Ah, whatever. A good album for black metal fans looking for something unique but highly listenable.

Album Review: Hellveto - Od Południa na Północ...

2009-11-01T18:54:00.004-05:00

Artist: Hellveto (Poland)
Album Title: Od Południa na Północ...
Record Label: Ritual Execution Productions (Poland)
Released: 2009

Before Hellveto's Neoheresy was released in late 2008, there was a build-up of anticipation due to the promotion given the album by Pulverised Records. They have been the primary label of Hellveto since 2006's In the Glory of Heroes, while at the same time band mastermind L.O.N. has used his own Ritual Execution label to release reissues of demos and compilations of new and old Hellveto material. However, in the case of Hellveto's first 2009 release Od Południa na Północ... --and I say first because there is a second full-length, Kry, scheduled to be released at the end of 2009-- the Ritual Execution label was used to release a full-length album of brand-new material, and it arrived with no hype or promotion. It's also limited to 1,000 copies, I believe. I was excited when I found out about this album, as I am always in the mood for new Hellveto, so I picked it up as soon as I could, thanks to Red Stream's distro.

If you're familiar with 2008's Neoheresy, or at least the artwork, you may notice that the artwork of Od Południa na Północ... is very similar. This, plus the fact that there is a song called "World of Neoheresy" on the new album, leads me to conclude that this new album is meant to be a companion of sorts to Neoheresy. Hellveto albums are sometimes criticized because they sound so similar, but to fans, each album gains its own identity with repeated listens. However, in this case, it really does sound like a companion piece to Neoheresy. The title track, which opens the album, even sounds very similar to Neoheresy's opening track, "Taran," except a few minutes shorter.

If you're already familiar with Hellveto, you already know what to expect: high quality orchestral pagan black metal, which basically means it sounds like black metal performed with an orchestra along with the traditional guitars, bass, and drums. There have been a number of bands utilizing orchestral music programs in recent years, like Turisas and now Ensiferum, but L.O.N. has been doing this with his Hellveto and Blakagir projects for a decade now, and he continues to improve his craft while releasing a steady stream of full-lengths.

Od Południa na Północ... is another high-quality release in the Hellveto catalogue, and by now you may already know whether or not you want this CD. If you're among those who haven't heard the work of this great, underrated artist, I recommend you check out one of the many full-length albums released over the years. Almost all of them are a great place to start, including this latest CD. It doesn't really tread any new ground, though it does seem to bring back the distorted, Filosofem-era Burzum vocals on a few tracks, and it does seem to emphasize the orchestra more than Neoheresy did. However, for the most part, this is good, familiar Hellveto, and for me and many other fans, that's quite good enough.

New Arkona and Menhir videos

2009-10-07T23:02:00.004-04:00

I would embed these if I could, but it messes up the formatting (on my computer, at least), so just follow the links:

Arkona - "Goi, Rode, Goi!"

Menhir - "Das Hildebrandslied (Teil I)"

Album Review: Drudkh - Microcosmos

2009-09-29T21:32:00.007-04:00

Artist: Drudkh (Ukraine)
Album Title: Microcosmos
Record Label: Season of Mist (France/U.S.)
Released: 2009

The mysterious Drudkh may have faltered a bit since 2006's fantastic Blood In Our Wells, but their new album Microcosmos shows the band back on top of their game. That's not to say that their folk album Songs of Grief & Solitude and their 2007 full-length Estrangement aren't worthy releases (I can't say anything for the Anti-Urban EP, as I haven't heard it), but they seemed to have halted in their tracks, unable to progress or to top classics like Autumn Aurora or Blood In Our Wells.

In the meantime, allegedly a business deal gone bad resulted in the band falling into debt, and as a result they moved from longtime UK label Supernal Music to the larger and better-distributed label Season of Mist. It may not have been Drudkh's intent to garner more attention, but that seems to be what happened. There was a lot of anticipation and debate leading up to the release of Microcosmos, so it was a bit of a relief to find that Drudkh is still one of the more important bands in the genre and deserve the growing attention they've been receiving, whether or not they welcome it.

The four lengthy metal tracks on Microcosmos are bookended by two traditional instrumental pieces, which should not be a surprise to anyone by now. And when track #2, Далекий Крик Журавлів ("Distant Cries of Cranes"), begins in rather familiar fashion, one might be tempted to think that Drudkh had taken a "by the numbers" approach to their new album. However, after a few minutes it became apparent to me that this was not the case. The sound may not be new, but the band has progressed in subtle ways, while also smoothing out the rough edges that marred Estrangement. There is a warm, poetic atmosphere to "Distant Cries of Cranes," an atmosphere that would continue throughout the remaining tracks. Microcosmos has a reflective, majestic sound, but not particularly brutal or angry despite Thurios' shouted black metal vocals.

Also notable is the brilliant bass-playing, presumably by Roman Saenko or possibly Krechet, and the much-improved drumming of Vlad. The drumming and the drum recording was a definite weak spot on Estrangement, but that's completely washed away with the varied and highly competent performance on this album. And I can't say enough about the solos, which are present on each of the metal tracks and are always appropriate and tasteful. They never overstay their welcome and are used to add another layer to the expertly-woven fabric that is each excellent track, rather than to show off skills or to pad out a song.

Декаданс ("Decadence") begins with a pleasant riff that possibly goes on a little too long, but a nice build-up occurs during the repetition of this riff (kind of like the beginning of Darkestrah's "The Silk Road") and after a few minutes it switches to one of the more melancholic-sounding sections of the album. The mood seems to shift often on this track, which may correspond with the mood of the lyrics but I'm not sure.

"Ars Poetica" begins with a rather bright and sunny riff that initially sounds out of place, but it melts so nicely into the rest of the song that it no longer seems so incongruous. The song turns melancholy for a while and then becomes nothing short of incredible. The track ends in a most satisfying manner, and by this point the album should have silenced all but the most stubborn critics.

But there's still more. Все, Що Не Сказано Раніше ("Everything Unsaid Before") picks up the pace and throws in what is probably the most technical set of guitar solos on the Microcosmos. Some acoustic guitars, accompanied by the bass, bridge the gap between the long intro of the song and the point where the vocals begin, at around the 3:30 mark. This is probably the closest the band gets to sounding angry on this album, as this song is a little darker and less "sunny" than the song before it. The track ends with a particularly dark riff that fades into the folk outro, ending the album on a mysterious note.

While the sound of Microcosmos (lush riffs, lengthy songs, melancholic atmosphere) is familiar Drudkh, it would be erroneous to say that the band is treading water or taking the same road they've traveled many times before. I find that the song structures are more complex than can be found on their earlier albums, with more in the way of mood and time changes. Autumn Aurora is a classic, but enjoying it requires a longer attention span than is needed to enjoy this album. Will some say that Drudkh is going "commercial" or "mainstream" with Microcosmos? Possibly, but I think it is more likely that Microcosmos is the product of a band that is maturing and becoming more comfortable with its sound but, at the same time, refuses to be boxed in. They seem to exist in a world apart from the critics, the fans, the expectations, and the endless forum debates (most of which end up turning into a political argument anyway), yet the most important part of all, crafting great songs, is obviously still high on Drudkh's priority list.

Microcosmos is the album to beat in 2009, in my opinion. If you're new to Drudkh, this is as good a place to start as any, and if you're already a fan, there's no reason you shouldn't own this. And if anyone tells you that extreme metal is morbid, thoughtless, and has little value for intelligent people, Microcosmos would be a good album to play in order to silence their ignorance.

Album Review: Крада - Аз Есьм Огонь!

2009-09-28T18:14:00.006-04:00

Artist: Крада (Krada) [Russia]
Album Title: Аз Есьм Огонь! (I Am Fire!)
Record Label: Volh Records (Russia)
Released: 2009

Volh Records has managed to track down another obscure Russian gem in the band Krada. They are a mysterious band, with no member credits, no website or Myspace, and no information about where and when they formed. Judging from the band pictures I've seen, Krada looks to be a young band, and rather "normal" looking for metal musicians (no long hair, face paint, costumes, etc.). The unassuming exterior hides a fierce, raging pagan fire of a metal band, one that can compete with just about any other in the genre when it comes to musical ferocity and anger.

Their first album, Steps, which was released in 2008, showed promise yet was not anything spectacular. Krada practically sounded like two different bands on that CD: the one being a rather typical symphonic black metal band, blasting along at a thousand miles per hour; the other being nice-sounding folk band. Only on one track, the title track of that album, did it all manage to more or less mesh together. On their sophomore release, the appropriately titled I Am Fire!, it appears that the split personalities of Krada have blended into one great metal band with a healthy dose of folk to give it some nice pagan atmosphere.

A lot of the aforementioned ferocity of the band comes from the vocalist, whose venom-filled voice is given a lot of room to snarl its way through the songs. His voice has that really angry sound that reminds me of the vocals of Rodosvet and Dub Buk. In fact, the overall style of Krada would fit pretty well between those two bands. It's black metal but with varied pacing and some thrash metal in the mix. The drummer does far more than just blastbeats on the album, though those are still easy to find. Some competent flute playing, audible bass, mild but atmospheric keyboards, and occasional female vocals and what sounds like a zhaleika add some flavor to the album.

The production sounds good but not over-polished. The instruments are all clearly audible, and the guitar sound is kept just raw enough to give it some grit but not so raw that you can't hear the melodic riffs. In other words, the album sounds great and I wouldn't change anything about the production.

Unlike the too-brief debut album, this one clocks in at a solid 40 minutes and doesn't waste much of its playing time. There are two brief instrumentals among the eleven tracks, one being an arrangement of a Rimsky-Korsakov piece, apparently. The strange thing about the CD is that it is divided into two chapters. The first chapter ends with a nice Russian-language cover of Burzum's "War," which is track 7 on this disc, and then track 8 begins the second chapter of the album with an instrumental, followed by two metal tracks and another instrumental. Was this second chapter originally meant to be a separate recording? I have no idea. At least it all seems to go together and doesn't create a distraction when I listen to it.

Krada is a good fit for the solid Volh Records lineup and I hope to hear more from this young band. They're not a well-known name in Eastern European pagan metal yet, but this album is good enough that they should gain some well-deserved attention. If you're a fan of the other bands on that label, like Piarevaracien or Znich, or bands like Kamaedzitca, Rodosvet, and Dub Buk, you'll probably find Krada's I Am Fire! to be a welcome addition to your collection.

Album Review: Natural Spirit - Сита Роса

2009-07-27T21:58:00.003-04:00

Artist: Natural Spirit (Ukraine)
Album Title: Сита Роса ("Rain" in ancient Slavonic)
Record Label: Sound Age (Russia) / Stormspell Records (USA)
Released: 2008 (Sound Age) / 2009 (Stormspell)

The debut CD of Natural Spirit, Русколунь, was a pretty solid pagan metal CD that went mostly unnoticed. The band disappeared for a while after its release and actually relocated to Kiev... or, rather, vocalist/guitarist Oleg Kirienko relocated to Kiev, and had to reassemble the band from scratch afterwards. Four years later, with an entirely new band backing him (some of whom have since left the fold), Natural Spirit re-emerged with their second album, Сита Роса, and, quite surprisingly, it's nothing short of excellent.

Let me preface this by saying that the most appealing element of Сита Роса, for me, is female vocalist Katerina Prischepa, and unfortunately she has since left the band. However, I've seen some live clips on Youtube of their new female vocalist performing with the band, and she appears to have a great voice as well. At least they were able to document Katerina's time with the band with her performance on this album, which is frequently breathtaking. Her voice appears trained and confident, and I seem to detect a bit of folk style as well.

It's hard for me to adequately describe the "sound" of Natural Spirit. There are elements of what some have dubbed "Beauty and the Beast" metal, with the contrast between Oleg's harsh, black metal vocals, and Katerina's heavenly, somewhat operatic vocals. I guess you could even compare them to Alkonost due to the vocals and the guitar leads. A few songs are dominated by Oleg's vocals, but even then Natural Spirit doesn't really sound like black metal. I guess I can only call it folk metal, though there are no traditional instruments used. The "folk" sound is produced by the guitar leads and keyboards, as well as the sound of the female vocals, and underneath it is a solid foundation of heavy metal with a strong production job. By the way, all lyrics are in Ukrainian, which is a beautiful language to hear, whether sung or shrieked, and it was a good choice for the band to continue writing their lyrics in their own tongue.

Natural Spirit's Сита Роса is a great mix of accessibility and depth, which makes it a good choice for Stormspell Records to have licensed for the North American market. The songs are catchy and interesting throughout the album, and there's a nice variety in the songs, from faster, more aggressive tunes like Дива ("Diva") to the ballad-like Сон ("Dream"). Overall there's just a really pleasant, inviting sound to this album. If you're new to Slavonic pagan/folk metal, this is a great place to start, and if you already have a sizeable collection of it, you also should add this one if you haven't already.

Natural Spirit may not be a household name in this style of music, but, after a great release like Сита Роса, they deserve to gain a lot of attention.

Album Review: Crimfall - As the Path Unfolds...

2009-07-27T21:20:00.003-04:00

Artist: Crimfall (Finland)
Album Title: As the Path Unfolds...
Record Label: Napalm Records (Germany/USA)
Released: 2009

Immediately appealing and accessible, but lacking depth... that's pretty much my review in a nutshell. I still enjoy this album, and I even lent it to a friend that I've been trying to slowly introduce to pagan/folk metal, but if you're looking for a folk metal album with a lot of substance, you're not going to find it here. Read on if you'd like.

I don't know much about Crimfall. Apparently it started out as a solo project of Jakke Viitala, who plays the guitars and programs the convincing synthetic orchestral arrangements, which, by the way, are very well-done. Eventually Jakke added the vocal talents of Mikko Häkkinen, who handles the harsh vocals, and Helena Haaparanta, whose soaring and beautiful voice is perhaps the glue that holds this album together. Crimfall's debut CD seemed to come out of nowhere, and after reading a very positive review of it elsewhere, I pre-ordered the album.

What immediately struck me is the high production values in the orchestral arrangements. Sure, they're sampled, but they sound great, like the arrangements of Turisas. The next thing that grabbed me is the catchy songwriting in songs such as "Where Waning Winds Lead." Sure, I would approximate the overall sound to Nightwish or Tristania rather than Moonsorrow or Arkona, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a good deal of enjoyment from this album in the first several spins.

Another positive element of their sound is the surprising use of Middle Eastern sounds. The second instrumental, "Sun Orphaned," sounds like something out of the Gladiator film soundtrack. And then the following track, "Ascension Pyre," sounds like it could have come from the great Israeli metal band Orphaned Land, at least for the first 35 seconds or so.

However, the album isn't perfect. Moments such as the chorus of "Shadow Hearth" and the ballad "Aubade" venture a little too far into Nightwish territory for me. And the lyrics are more vague than I'd like, though they're not badly written. But the album ends strongly with "Hundred Shores Distant" --which sounds at the beginning as if it could be an old Moonsorrow track, at least until the female vocals begin-- and the final instrumental, "Novembré," which closes the album on a sombre and calm note.

I don't listen to As the Path Unfolds... nearly as much as I did in the first week or so, as it lacks the kind of depth to keep me firmly in its claws, but I still feel that it's a good album that should appeal to a wide range of fans within the folk metal genre and elsewhere. And I think that's where it has its place: as a gateway drug of sorts to the fascinating world of pagan/folk metal. Perhaps it will sink its hooks into new listeners and encourage them to delve deeper into the genre.

Album Review: Crom - Vengeance

2009-07-27T20:46:00.002-04:00

Artist: Crom (Germany)
Album Title: Vengeance
Record Label: Pure Steel Records (Germany)
Released: 2008

Now here is a pretty interesting project. The one-man band of a former Dark Fortress guitarist, Crom is kind of a mix of traditional and power metal filtered through the lens of Bathory's "Viking period." If that sounds appealing to you, it's because it should. The band has a great aesthetic, driven by some solid songwriting and the appealing vocals of Crom himself. His vocals are strong and melodic, perhaps not unlike Quorthon in the moments when he actually sang pretty well (as in "The Ravens" or "Ring of Gold"), but much more confident. They sound much better and natural to me than "power metal" vocals, and I'm sure others will appreciate the lack of "black metal" style vocals.

There's a nice variety among the 10 tracks that make up Crom's debut full-length, Vengeance. There are shorter and more direct songs (like opener "Wings of Fire" and, ahem "The Fire"); some longer, epic tunes (like "The Restless King" and "Hammer of the Gods"); and even a couple ballads ("Crom" and "A Life Unbearable"). Some lyrics seem to be inspired by Norse folklore, perhaps through Bathory, but they're too vague for me to call this "Viking metal." I feel more comfortable calling it something like "heroic metal," instead. The lyrics, I feel, are the only somewhat weak link on the album, but I may feel this way because I was expecting a stronger influence of paganism rather than what sounds like more modern fantasy-style themes. This probably won't bother most people, though. One song that really seems out of place, however, is "A Life Unbearable," which isn't a bad song, musically, but the lyrics are more personal and despairing, as if Crom wrote them in a tear-filled evening after his girlfriend broke up with him. It ends in true emo style with the repeated line, "I'll end my life!"

That hiccup aside, what remains is quite a good album. At times Crom really does sound like Bathory, with his use of layered "Viking choir" vocals and (appropriate) epic guitar leads. And I think the more traditional structure of the songs will appeal to a larger variety of metal fans.

There's not really much else I have to say about the album. It's easy enough to find samples online, so I encourage you to judge for yourself. The great vocals, solid musicianship, and strong songwriting come together to form an album that any fan of heroic-themed metal should check out.

Album Review: Finsterforst - ...zum Tode hin

2009-04-15T20:06:00.008-04:00

Artist: Finsterforst (Germany)
Album Title: ...zum Tode hin
Record Label: Einheit Produktionen (Germany)
Released: 2009 (February)

I don't often pre-order albums, but I felt that the follow-up to 2007's promising Weltenkraft certainly warranted it. For this release, Finsterforst moved up to the solid German metal label Einheit Produktionen, home of some great bands like Odroerir, Nomans Land, and Andras. I'm guessing that either the move to this label gave the band a lot of exposure, or simply that ...zum Tode hin got a lot of people's attention for other reasons, because if you go to a place like rateyourmusic.com you'll find a surprisingly high number of reviews, both positive and negative, for a pagan metal album that hasn't even been out for two months as of this writing.

Chances are, you probably already know who Finsterforst is, and may already have a strong opinion one way or another about them. Their first album was a solid but exhausting 77-minute long collection of epic, accordion-filled metal. If you just winced at the term "accordion-filled metal," please walk away now, because that's what it is. On second thought, don't walk away. Give them a chance. If any metal band has a chance of convincing you that the accordion is an instrument that belongs in metal, it's probably Finsterforst. Yeah, okay, you've also got Korpiklaani and Kalevala, which also have great accordion players (and don't forget the band Svarga from Russia), but none of these bands are as epic and heavy as Finsterforst.

Apart from the accordion, what does this band sound like? They sound to me like a mix of Moonsorrow circa 2001-2003 and Moonsorrow 2005-present, but with some Finntroll and Equilibrium thrown in as well. The songs are long and have a wonderful, organic flow to them. There's an almost ever-present synth choir (thus part of the Moonsorrow comparison), some lovely acoustic guitar moments, mostly-harsh vocals, occasional soaring lead guitar lines, great and varied drumming, and of course that accordion. The songs are quite folk-infused, often incorporating the humppa-influenced rhythms of Finntroll. There are also moments of "Viking choir" and solo clean vocals, though most of the vocals are delivered in a somewhat-monotonous shriek. Former Eluveitie member Sevan Kirder plays tin whistle at a few points on the album, as he did on Weltenkraft.

The main difference, I think, between the first album and this one, is in the construction of the songs. Weltenkraft consisted of 10 songs that were between 5 and 13 1/2 minutes long. ...zum Tode hin consists of 5 tracks which are between 11 and 21 1/2 minutes long. The songs on ...zum Tode hin take more time to develop, and many of the melodies unfold more slowly, which I think helps them leave a more lasting impression, on me at least. The band seemed to really fly through the material on the first album (maybe because they realized that a CD can only hold 80 minutes of music total), but they take their time making their way through this album. Sure, there are still a lot of fast moments, and even some blasting, but the songs have more room to breathe. Maybe that's a terrible description and I'm completely off, I'm not sure.

As far as drawbacks of this album go, well, I guess it can still be a exhausting listen if you're not prepared for a 70-minute long album with only 5 songs. Also, if you're not paying attention, it can pretty easily turn into background noise, because even though the songs are very good, they're also kind of similar to each other. This may be an album you have to listen to in different settings before it clicks, like maybe a long car ride through the country. I found it to be way too much to properly absorb in a few listens, but it has definitely grown on me the more I listen to it.

I think that ...zum Tode hin may prove to be one of the better metal albums of 2009, at least in the pagan metal genre. There's not a huge amount of originality here, but fans of Moonsorrow (particularly the second and third albums) or Equilibrium will likely find a lot to enjoy with Finsterforst. I would love to be able to see this band live, so if Paganfest ever comes around to the States again, somebody please sign these guys up. And don't give them one of those 30-minute sets, because they'll probably only get to play a song and a half in that amount of time.

Finsterforst is definitely, in my opinion, one of the best newer bands in pagan/folk metal, and they're worthy of even more attention. ...zum Tode hin is a great sophomore release that builds on the promise of Weltenkraft and managed to blow away my expectations. Highly recommended.

Album Review: Ancestral Volkhves - Perun Do Vas!!!

2009-04-15T19:11:00.003-04:00

Artist: Ancestral Volkhves (Slovakia)
Album Title: Perun Do Vas!!!
Label: Sound Age (Russia)
Released: 2008

You haven't heard of Ancestral Volkhves, or have simply never checked them out? Well, you're not alone, but if you lean towards the more riff-based, black metal side of pagan metal, you should certainly take notice of their latest album, Perun Do Vas!!! Oh, did I mention that the frontwoman of Russian folk metal legends Arkona makes a few appearances on the album? Maybe that got someone's attention.

This is not a folk metal album. This is mostly no-nonsense, pagan-themed black metal. To my ears, it sounds a lot like the first Hromovlad CD, if I may compare an unknown album to an equally unknown album. Once you hit the "play" button, Perun Do Vas!!! takes less than 30 seconds to get up to full, blasting speed, though the riffs are melodic and there's a good amount of variety, so this is no tuneless, "norsecore" blastfest. I have the first Ancestral Volkhves CD, Son O Iriyi, but it can't really keep my interest. On Perun Do Vas!!!, however, the Slovaks have really hit on something.

It doesn't hurt, of course, that they employed the help of Arkona mastermind Masha "Scream" as guest vocalist on three songs. Her presence pretty much makes any song awesome, and she does a really great job here as well. She appears on "Perun Do Vas!!!," "Slavorozhdenie," and "My Slavjane!!!," which are all great performances, but "Slavorozhdenie" is the highlight of the album, for me at least. It's a mid-paced song with a pretty folky rhythm, something that would not sound very out of place on an Arkona album (except for its lack of keyboards or traditional instruments), and Masha's layered vocals are really given room to shine. There are also some great clean male vocals on this track. The clean vocals appear elsewhere, but not much. Most of the vocals are done in a cold but powerful black metal rasp, and are certainly an improvement over the vocals on the first album, which I thought were rather weak.

Don't think that Masha is the only reason you should check out Perun Do Vas!!! If you're a fan of solid, melodic riffs, you'll find them in abundance here. The band doesn't use keyboards at all, but the music is still very epic because of the riffs. There are flutes on the final track, but that's it for folk instruments. Most of this album is straightforward black metal, but the songwriting, performances, and variety in tempo should keep the interest of those who, like me, only have a passing interest in this kind of black metal. Unlike on Son O Iriyi, all of the lyrics here are in the Slovak language (though Masha's vocal parts may be in Russian... I'm not sure, as the lyrics in the book are all printed in Roman font) rather than being mostly English. For whatever reason, Slavic languages sound great when shrieked or growled. The production is also quite good and clean, but not too clean. This is still mostly a black metal album, after all.

Perun Do Vas!!! is a pretty solid album throughout, and if you like black metal but aren't afraid of occasional clean vocals and some minor folk influence, or if you like pagan metal but aren't afraid of some fierce black metal, you may want to add this one to your collection. There was never a time where I felt the band was out of ideas or just padding out the album. Each song sounds like it belongs. This is very good stuff. Check out the samples on their Myspace and judge for yourself.

Album Review: Darkestrah - The Great Silk Road

2009-03-25T18:55:00.009-04:00

Artist: Darkestrah (Kyrgyzstan / Germany)
Album Title: The Great Silk Road
Label: Paragon Records (USA)
Released: 2008

My first exposure to Darkestrah was in the fall of 2005 when I ordered their first album, Sary Oy. This promising and unique debut mixed obscure black metal with a lot of traditional Kyrgyz instruments and throat singing, which is not a combination you hear on a regular basis. Unfortunately as vocalist Kriegtalith and drummer Asbath moved the band to Germany, they parted ways with the guy responsible for playing all those traditional instruments (Oldhan). As a result, their next album, Embrace of Memory, had a sound that was much closer to traditional black metal, though it was very epic and had some scattered influences of Kyrgyz culture in the mix. Because a lot of their uniqueness was gone, and I was losing interest in traditional black metal, I ignored their next album, Epos, for a while.

After Epos, Darkestrah left German label No Colours and arranged for their next album, 2008's The Great Silk Road, to be released on small New York State label Paragon Records. This should be good news for U.S. fans, who won't have to track down another Darkestrah release on No Colours and pay the higher prices that are usually charged for releases on that label. Not that a higher price wouldn't be worth it for this album, which would turn out to be one of my favorite 2008 releases, but the easy availability and very positive reviews the album was getting inspired me to give the band another listen.

While Epos was thematically centered around the Kyrgyz lake of Issyk Kul, The Great Silk Road, obviously, is concerned with the ancient trade routes that pass through Asia. Epos was a good album, but I found it a little repetitive and very short (if you get rid of the several minutes of sound effects, the album clocks in at around 27 minutes). The Great Silk Road builds on the many positive aspects of Epos, but is overall a much more satisfying package, in my opinion. For one thing, it's significantly longer, with four long tracks (ranging from 8 1/2 to almost 19 minutes in length) and a short outro. I also found it to be more musically interesting. There are certainly those who prefer Epos, however, and I would certainly recommend that release if you find it for a good price and are prepared for what is basically a long EP consisting of one song.

On this album, Darkestrah reminds me quite a bit of Drudkh or Negură Bunget but with a bit of Orphaned Land mixed in. There are many atmospheric, slow-burning sections with thick chords and catchy riffs, sometimes enhanced by keyboards, cello, or a few traditional instruments (like the temir-komuz, the Kyrgyz jaw harp). The music, especially in some of the intros, has a very distinct Middle Eastern quality to it, and one may have no problem picturing the desert and traders from various cultures converging on the Silk Road. Then there are Kriegtalith's vocals, which are evil and icy cold. Hers are some of my favorite black metal-style vocals, because they are in such a high register and often sound inhuman. I don't know if she enhances her vocals with a little distortion, but I suspect that she has simply perfected this style over the past few albums. Some might not like the style, because it at times seems at odds with the atmosphere otherwise created by the music, but I didn't find this to be a distraction.

Because of the long track times and the patient approach the band takes at developing the songs, what results is a satisfying, winding journey. It's one of those albums you can love on the first listen, yet continue to discover new things about it with each subsequent listen. Those who enjoyed the first Darkestrah album but felt that they ventured too far from their roots after that should give them another chance, because, even if the use of traditional instruments and melodies isn't quite as prominent as it was on Sary Oy, I think everything blends together better on this album. Folk metal fans who don't tend to listen to pagan-themed black metal (like Fimbultyr, Enslaved, Hate Forest, etc.) might find this to be too strongly black metal-oriented for their tastes, but then again they might find it easier to listen to because of how well Darkestrah establishes the atmosphere and keeps it throughout the album. It's kind of like how Nile's use of "ancient Egyptian" musical themes made it possible for me to listen to them even though I don't normally like ultra-pummelling death metal.

Perhaps the centerpiece of the album is "Kara-Oy," which is by far the longest track. This track begins with what I think is the cello, along with some throat singing, before launching into some furious black metal. At just before the twelve minute mark, and again shortly thereafter, the band references the main musical theme to their debut album, Sary Oy, which I thought was a pretty cool touch. Anyone familiar with Sary Oy can't possibly miss it. The way this song builds, dismantles, and re-builds, with an organic ebb and flow, reminds me very much of Epos, except about ten minutes shorter. It winds down with the sound of the temir-komuz over a thick backdrop of Drudkh-like musical atmosphere before fading into the 2-minute long, cinematic-sounding outro.

Darkestrah is certainly a unique band, and with each album they have gained a lot of attention, and rightfully so. Fans of black metal, pagan metal, and bands like Orphaned Land should at least check out some samples of The Great Silk Road and see if it doesn't grab you. An excellent metal album indeed.

Album Review: ВеданЪ КолодЪ - Танец леших

2009-03-11T21:10:00.004-04:00

Artist: ВеданЪ КолодЪ (Vedan Kolod) [Russia]
Album Title: Танец леших (The Dance of the Wood Spirits)
Record Label: Sketis Music (Russia)
Released: 2007

Russian folk band Vedan Kolod's second CD, The Dance of the Wood Spirits, is an improvement over their very good debut, Tribes. Their overall sound has not changed much, except for the addition of bagpipes and other instruments. The album progresses largely the same as Tribes, with a variety of styles among the songs to keep the listener from becoming too accustomed to one particular style. But everything just feels more mature on this album: the songwriting is tighter, the players more confident, the production is more consistent, etc. This is everything that was so good about the first Vedan Kolod album, only better.

I had ordered the first and second CD's at the same time, and this one actually arrived a day earlier than the other, so this album was my first real exposure to Vedan Kolod other than a few Myspace samples and Youtube videos. To be honest, I didn't really know what to make of it at first. This is a band that is unlike any other that I have heard, and I had to grow accustomed to their style of music and grow to appreciate it over the next few days of listening at work and at home. Like the other CD, there are songs that I immediately liked, while there were some that took time to appreciate. Since then, however, I have grown to really like this album from beginning to end, and I am excited to hear their third CD, which seems to be even more difficult to find than this one.

The album begins with Веснянка, an original song by the band which features the drum, zhaleika (I believe), and solo female vocal. This is a fast-paced, energetic song, and a wise song with which to begin the album. The second track, Да на море утушка купалася, which translates to "Duck is swimming in the sea," is a traditional Russian wedding song, and it actually sounds rather solemn for a wedding song, or a song about a duck, for that matter. It contains some very interesting female vocal harmonies. Quite lovely and amazing. The instrumentation on this track is drum and I think a Scythian horn, also an odd choice for a wedding song, I think. However, I would be happy to have this song played at my wedding, if I were to have a second one.

The third track features vocals by Valerii Naryshkin, the one male in the band, as well as gusli, flute, and gudok (the three-stringed, violin-like instrument I mentioned in the last review). The fourth track is mostly instrumental, but with some spoken text in the foreground. I won't go track-by-track through the whole album, but maybe you'll get an idea of the kind of variety Vedan Kolod employs. There are 13 tracks, just like the first album, but this album is 10 minutes shorter, at about 38 and a half minutes. That may sound like a detriment, but actually I think the shorter songs help move the album along at a nice pace.

I don't know what else to say about The Dance of the Wood Spirits, except that it's a great second album for Vedan Kolod and should definitely please fans of their first album. The addition of bagpipes and zhaleika are certainly welcome as well, as they add even more color and richness to the music. There's a lot of detail just waiting to be discovered among these songs, and I enjoy the fact that I keep finding things that I missed in previous listens.

This is a highly-recommended CD for those who are looking for authentic Russian folk with a reverence for Russia's history and a desire to revive and preserve its ancient musical traditions. I encourage Tatyana, Daryana, Polina, and Valerii to continue their musical journey wherever it may lead them. It has been an exciting one so far.

Album Review: ВеданЪ КолодЪ - Племена

2009-03-11T19:17:00.009-04:00

Artist: ВеданЪ КолодЪ (Vedan Kolod) [Russia]
Album Title: Племена (Tribes)
Record Label: Panfiloff Music (Russia)
Released: 2007

[April 15, 2009 edit: I made at least one error in writing the review below. The band is still located in Central Siberia, not Moscow. Also, as you can see by Daryana's comment, Polina was only 11 years old (!) when Tribes was released, which is much younger than the "early 20's" guess I made. I should never get a job in a carnival "Guess My Age?" booth, because I'm usually way off. Thank you to Daryana for clearing up my errors! :-) ]

Tribes, the debut CD of the young Russian folk band Vedan Kolod, begins with the deep drone of the Scythan horn, a digeridoo-like instrument. The Scythian horn is joined by some hand percussion and a male voice that, a minute and a half into the title track, changes to a form of throat singing as it is joined by a female voice. This is not how I expected a Russian folk album to start, though I have not heard very many (unfortunately) so I really didn't know what to expect. The atmosphere of this first track is one of a primal feeling, somewhat shamanic, perhaps not dissimilar from Native American music.

Vedan Kolod makes it immediately clear that they are not an ordinary folk band. There are no electronic sounds or effects used, no modern instruments that are now associated with Russian folk such as the bayan or balalaika, no guitar, no violin, no modern rhythms. Their music is described as "authentic Russian folk," and though I am no ethnomusicologist, this does sound like what I would imagine ancient pagan music to be.

Vedan Kolod is a family band, made up of three women (Tatyana Naryshkina, Daryana Antipova, and Polina Lisitsa) who come from the same family, and a man, Valerii Naryshkin, who is married to Tatyana. The band is located in Moscow, but are originally from Siberia. The band seems to wear two cloaks; not only are they artists, but they are musical archaeologists. Their intent is to revive and recreate the music of ancient pagan Russia, especially of Central Siberia and Altai. They play traditional songs and also original works, though their original works contain themes of folklore and old tales and use ancient Russian language (I believe). The band has revived and recreated many ancient Russian folk instruments, some of them almost forgotten. Similarly, they use old vocal styles including the aforementioned throat singing.

Their debut CD, Tribes, is by far the easiest of their three albums to find in the United States. I bought my copy from Amazon, but there are several music websites that stock this album. Technically, it is not a replicated CD but a professionally-printed CD-R. I wouldn't have known this if it did not say so right on the disc label. Anyway, this is not important information, though it may be to some.

The music of Vedan Kolod is difficult for me to describe, as I have very few musical reference points to use. Many of the songs use sparse instrumentation and put a lot of focus on vocals. The vocals are sometimes harmonized, and sometimes they are singing entirely different things. Both the male and female vocals are very good, and the moments that focus on the interplay of vocals are some of my favorite moments on the album. All members of the band are young (perhaps in their early 20's?), which makes their dedication to their craft and the spirit of ancient Russia even more inspiring.

The band shows much variety on each of their albums (at least the two I have heard so far), so with each new track comes a style and sound that is different from the previous. The elements that are most often present are the vocals and the drums. Many of the songs have drums (ancient drums, not modern), and the rhythm is somewhat tribal, for lack of a better term. All four members of the band are credited with playing some sort of drum, usually multiple types (Slavonic drums [big and small], sharkuncy, etc.), so the presence of drums is understandably important to Vedan Kolod. Some tracks feature the unmistakable sound of the gusli, vargan (mouth harp), and ocarina, as well as at least a few instruments that I didn't know existed at all (a three-stringed, violin-like instrument called a gudok, the fuyara [a huge flute], the aforementioned Scythian horn, various smaller flutes, among others). Also mentioned in the booklet are Slavonic bagpipe and zhaleika, though I don't recall hearing either on this album. They appear on the second CD, though.

A few of the songs appealed to me immediately upon my first listen, including Голубиная Книга (a traditional song arranged by the band, which features gusli and beautiful vocal parts), Перун и Скипер Зверь (which has a great female vocal solo, gusli, and some nice percussion), and Сера Птица (which has an excellent vocal performance by Valerii Naryshkin, another appearance by the gusli, and some beautiful supporting female vocals). The production on this latter track is not as good as the rest of the album, which is a bit of a shame because it's a wonderful piece of music. Being a neophyte to the sound Vedan Kolod have created, many of the rest of the tracks took a bit more effort on my part for me to appreciate, but after several listens, more and more of the album sunk in. I began to notice, with each listen, the little beautiful moments throughout the album: the gentle rhythms, the beauty of the Russian language in the recitations, the details of the vocal performances, the interplay of the various instruments, and more.

Tribes is a great and unique album that is worth experiencing for those who are interested in hearing what the music of pre-Christian Russia may very well have sounded like. For me, it is easy to imagine these voices resonating through the ancient forests, and, like most great pagan art, it stirs my spirit even though I don't understand the words. For fans of pagan/folk metal who have expanded their musical interests into various types of folk music (or who have thought about it), especially those who are drawn to the Russian scene, Vedan Kolod is well worth your attention. Fans of the folk moments on Arkona's От Сердца к Небу CD should also take notice of this band.

Album Review Supplement: Elffor - From the Throne of Hate (2008 reissue)

2009-02-19T22:35:00.005-05:00

Artist: Elffor (Spain)
Album Title: From the Throne of Hate
Label: Northern Silence Productions (Germany)
Released: 2004, 2008 (reissue year)

I already reviewed the 2004 self-released version of this album back in October 2007, which you can read here: http://thefinalage.blogspot.com/2007/10/album-elffor-from-throne-of-hate.html

Most of what I wanted to say I already did in that review, so this is meant only to supplement it as it concerns the Northern Silence reissue of the album.

The first three Elffor CD's have been given the reissue treatment so far. Supposedly, they are also re-recorded, but From the Throne of Hate is definitely not re-recorded, and I have my doubts that the first two albums are, either. In my opinion, re-recording From the Throne of Hate would have probably diminished its greatness, so I'm glad that it was left alone, and that the only changes (other than perhaps some remastering) are two bonus tracks added to the end.

Because this is one of my favorite metal albums, I decided to pick up the Northern Silence reissue. I bought the digipack, which according to the back is an "Exclusive Fan Edition" limited to 999 copies. According to the information at Encyclopedia Metallum, however, the digipack is actually limited to 500 copies, while the jewel case version is limited to 1,000. I don't really care either way, because all I care about is that, when I recommend this CD to someone, they'll actually be able to find it, at least until this version is sold out.

The artwork has all been redone, and now the lyrics are printed in the booklet. This confirms my suspicion that the lyrics are pretty bad, but this album isn't about the lyrics. It's about that incredible, dark, medieval atmosphere. The album remains great, and I still listen to it very often. Man, do I love this album.

But what about the bonus tracks, for the other 499 of you who bought it the first time around? Are they worth the cost of buying the CD all over again? Well, the bonus tracks clock in at a total of 14 1/2 minutes, and my guess is that they were at least recorded sometime after From the Throne of Hate (and probably after The Unblessed Woods, which they resemble more closely). So there's definitely a noticeable difference; they don't sound like songs that belong on the album and were somehow left out. I like The Unblessed Woods, but it's no From the Throne of Hate. And these new songs are good (some may even like them more than the actual album), but they don't really add anything except, well, a pair of new Elffor songs (one being instrumental), which is good enough for me but might not be for you. Actually, "Misterious (sic) Dawn" is really good. When is Elffor going to record a new full-length? Hopefully soon.

Elffor is great medieval ambient black metal, and Northern Silence is awesome for reissuing his albums. Definitely check this project out if you haven't yet.

Album Review: Znich - Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca (2007 reissue)

2009-02-19T21:41:00.002-05:00

Artist: Znich (Belarus)
Album Title: Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca (Precepts of Last Ancient) + Bonus tracks
Record Label: Volh Records (Russia)
Released: 2003, 2007 (reissue year)

Wow, this was a really awesome surprise. I bought this album to complete my Znich collection, but I really wasn't expecting something this good. But, from the first time I heard the second track (and first actual song following the intro), Выпраўляла Мацi Сына, which, incidentally, is now one of my favorite pagan metal songs, I felt like I had stumbled upon a gem. And the rest of the album confirmed it. Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca may not be a very well-known or popular album, but, in my opinion, this is one of the essential Slavic pagan metal albums, especially of the Belarusian scene. It's quirky enough that a lot of people are going to dislike it right from the start, but I think it's one that could grow on you.

By this point, Znich had gone through various lineup changes since its inception, and vocalist Ales Tabolitch was the only remaining band member from the days of Язычнік я... The new lineup influenced the folk-infused sound this album took on, most notably the addition of female vocalist Natalia Volynec, whose wonderfully authentic folk-style vocals add so much to the Znich sound that one wishes she had remained a permanent fixture in the lineup. Unfortunately, this lineup would also completely dissolve, leaving Ales the only remaining member for their 2007 album Крыжы-абярэгi (please correct me if I'm wrong on this). For one painfully brief, shining moment, Znich had really happened upon something special, and fortunately it was recorded and became their second album, Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca.

For this reissue, Volh only had a few songs left to add as bonus tracks, as Znich has never been a terribly prolific band. So the nine tracks that make up the album are supplemented with two bonus tracks, one of a re-recorded Чорны Зніч, and what appears to be an early version of Купала На Йвана!, a song that appears in more polished form on the album proper. I don't know if there was any remastering done, but, regardless, the sound quality is great. The album is doomy and crunchy, with powerful guitar and drums. Most of the vocals on the album are sung, but Ales does occasionally growl, which sounds very good. His clean vocals are also good, often harmonizing with Natalia. True, the vocals are not always on-key, but this gives the album a bit of a rough-hewn quality that I think really fits the mood of the album.

In addition to the folk-style vocals, there are some bagpipes, flutes, and mouth harp to enhance the overall sound and atmosphere. Sometimes the mood seems festive, while other times it seems melancholic (a quality that I've noticed in just about every Belarusian metal CD I have... is it a cultural thing?). But overall I get a feeling of reverence and pride, and I feel good every time I listen to this CD. It's not a perfect album; I think it tends to drag a bit towards the end, when the female vocals disappear for a few tracks, but things pick up again on the final song of the album proper, the mournful-sounding Сiрацiнка.

As for the bonus tracks, I could take them or leave them. I didn't really need another version of Чорны Зніч (though this version isn't bad), but the early version of Купала На Йвана! is pretty good, if only to have another chance to hear the beautiful, layered female vocals at the end. Necessary? Certainly not.

I highly recommend Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca. It's probably not a good album to pick up if you're just getting into this style of music, since, as I mentioned earlier, it's pretty quirky, but I feel like it can stand proudly among the best of the genre. Those who like the folk choir-style vocals on Arkona's Ot Serdtsa K Nebu may enjoy the female vocals on Zapaviety Aposzniaha Starca.

Fans of Slavic pagan metal who are willing to overlook a few rough edges and quirks and discover the treasure beneath should definitely check out this one.

Album Review: Znich - Язычнік я... (2007 reissue)

2009-02-19T20:27:00.006-05:00

Artist: Znich (Belarus)
Album Title: Язычнік я... (I Am the Pagan) + Bonus Tracks
Record Label: Volh Records (Russia)
Released: 1997, 2007 (reissue year)

They may not be as well-known as some of their Russian or Ukrainian counterparts, but Znich is one of the earlier Slavic pagan metal bands. The original incarnation of the band formed in 1996. I say original incarnation because there have been a bunch of lineup changes in Znich over the years, each one seemingly bringing a completely new sound to the band. I was first exposed to their music with their 2007 album Крыжы-абярэгi (Pagan Crosses), and although I thought that album was pretty decent, it didn't inspire me to go to great lengths to obtain their earlier albums. Then, during a Belarusian pagan metal mini-binge, I came across the Volh Records reissues of the first two Znich albums and decided to give them a chance.

First of all, let me tell you about the Volh reissue of the first album, Язычнік я... In addition to the 10 tracks that make up that album, Volh included their entire 1999 demo Дух зямлi. Not only that, but they include two of the tracks from their 2000 single (I don't have the Cyrillic title, but the English translation is Sensation of Spring). With these 9 bonus tracks, the total length of the CD is brought to 79 1/2 minutes, so you definitely get plenty of music crammed into this disc. But quantity does not guarantee quality, so what do we have?

If you think about it, 1997 was an eternity ago in the pagan metal scene. Butterfly Temple's Veles was still two years off, Nokturnal Mortum was only just releasing Goat Horns (or perhaps hadn't even released it yet), and many of the bands that make up the scene today didn't even exist yet. So how does Язычнік я... stand up after almost twelve years and hundreds of pagan metal albums released in the interim? Well, as you might expect, this album captures a less mature Znich than they one we see later, but it's still very listenable. The musicianship isn't the best, and Ales Tabolitch's growl is not yet balanced out by his unique, folkish clean vocals, but there's still a pretty solid collection of songs here. There is little or no folk to be found on these ten tracks. Instead, we have pagan doom metal with a lot of keyboards. It's somewhat generic, especially when compared to the unique sound they would later capture on what I consider their masterpiece (so far), Zapaviety Aposniaha Starca, but it's not bad. The sound quality is surprisingly good, considering it was apparently only available on cassette until 2004. All in all, it's definitely a respectable debut.

Next we dig into the bonus tracks, the bulk of which are made up of 1999 demo Дух зямлi. The sound quality certainly takes a turn for the worse during this section of the disc. I don't know if this was remastered like the first album was, but I would imagine that the demo wasn't recorded in a studio (or at least a decent one). Still, I think Дух зямлi is important because by this point we are seeing many of the elements that Znich would carry into the next decade. At this point, Ales begins using clean vocals in addition to the growls, though at times he sounds way off-key. The overall sound is still doom metal, but there are many folk elements being added to the mix, mostly in the vocals. On a few tracks, there's a female vocalist present, and she does a very nice job. Obviously, because of the recording quality, the overall effect lacks the kind of power it would otherwise have, which is a shame, since there are some good songs here as well. At least one (Ой, дымна за дваром) would later be re-recorded, and it appears on Крыжы-абярэгi. I don't know how the lineup on this demo differs from the first album (the digipack only lists a single lineup), so it's possible that lineup changes helped lead to this progression in sound. The demo's bonus track, "Propaganda," is a Sepultura cover. I have the original version of this song, but since I haven't listened to Sepultura in years, I can't remember what it sounds like, and I'm not about to dig through boxes in order to hear it. I like Znich's version, though. I would like to add that although the recording quality on Дух зямлi is not as good as Язычнік я..., you can still hear everything clearly, which is more than you can say for many demos.

The disc closes with two songs from Sensation of Spring. By this point, the band was continuing to progress into the sound they would carry to fruition on Zapaviety Aposniaha Starca, and actually these two songs are early versions of songs that would appear on that album. The female vocalist appears to be the same one as on Zapaviety Aposniaha Starca. The only track from the Sensation of Spring single that didn't make it on this disc, a newer version of Чорны Зніч (the original version of which appeared on Язычнік я..., and of which a later version would appear on Крыжы-абярэгi), would be included as a bonus track on the reissue of Zapaviety Aposniaha Starca.

There's a lot of music on this disc, but, unless you're a pretty big Znich fan or a completist, it may not be worth your while. It's good music, but I wouldn't call it essential. I am glad for Volh Records giving people another chance to hear this stuff, though, because, rough edges and all, there are certainly fans who will be interested in this.

Album Review: Калевала - Кудель белоснежного льна

2009-01-25T18:40:00.005-05:00

Artist: Калевала (Kalevala) [Russia]
Album Title: Кудель белоснежного льна (Tow of Snow-white Flax)
Record Label: Sound Age (Russia)
Released: 2008 (April)

Ah, now THIS is folk metal. Kalevala may have only formed in 2007, following the departure of vocalist Kseniya and guitarist Nikita from the band Невидь (Nevid), but the band quickly gained attention after posting rather good demo tracks to their Myspace page. At some point, they were offered a contract with Sound Age (one of the best Russian labels), and without much delay released their debut CD, Tow of Snow-white Flax, which is easily one of the top albums in the folk metal genre in 2008 (and perhaps ever).

The lineage of Kalevala can be traced back to Butterfly Temple, one of the earliest Russian pagan/folk metal bands. Kseniya was a guest vocalist for that band, but following what was arguably Butterfly Temple's greatest work, 2003's Тропою крови по воле рода, she and Lesyar had left to form Nevid. Kseniya was a part of Nevid for their first two (and so far only) albums. Then, according to the biography on Kalevala's site, she and Lesyar had some sort of falling out and she and Nikita started this new band with a new focus. Because of Kseniya's apparent Finnish background, the style of Kalevala is heavily influenced by the music of that country, which possibly explains why they kind of sound like Korpiklaani.

Kseniya and Nikita were joined by the great Alexandr "Shmel" of Rarog on bass, Nikita's old school friend Aleksandr Oleynikov on accordion, and Vasiliy on drums, and then wasted no time putting together a demo and then writing songs for their debut full-length. Despite how quickly everything came together, Kalevala sounds rather confident and accomplished. Perhaps it is due to the experience of Kseniya, Nikita, and Schmel, who are no strangers to the folk metal scene, but this CD shows the creative and adventurous energy of a young band but the maturity and professionalism of a band that has played together for a much greater amount of time. It's the best of both worlds.

I liked Kseniya's voice in Butterfly Temple and Nevid, but I absolutely love it in Kalevala. Her voice is unique, and it sounds like a mix of modern and traditional vocal styles. She sounds confident, and leads the band with an infectious energy that is well-supported by the rest of the players. The accordion player is easily one of the best in the genre. He and Johannes Joseph of Finsterforst should have an accordion-solo contest, as they both manage to make their instruments an integral and inseparable part of their respective bands' sounds. Guitarist Nikita is no slouch either. Not simply content to let the accordion steal his thunder, he plays excellent lead guitar (and frequent solos) on this album. In many bands of this style (including Korpiklaani), there's a distinct lack of lead guitar, but nobody is relegated to background duty in Kalevala. Even bassist Shmel and drummer Vasiliy manage to shine on this album. Listen to this album on a stereo system with decent bass and you'll gain a greater appreciation for Shmel's contributions to the bouncy, energetic sound. The production is clear, full, and perfect for the style of music.

The lyrics, from what I could roughly translate online, seem to be old tales (perhaps folk tales) and love songs, and I think they're mostly or all written by Kseniya. I don't think there's much if any pagan lyrical content on the album. It's hard to tell, though, because most of the words aren't recognized by Google Translate. Perhaps they're archaic words, or Karelian. I don't know. The artwork and packaging are quite nice, and the booklet is a ridiculously thick 24 pages that barely fits behind the tabs that hold the insert in the CD case. All lyrics are printed, along with pictures of what appears to be drawings of old earrings and maybe brooches or pins. Not surprisingly, all information is in Russian. The credits include a few guest musicians, including two flute players and a guest vocalist on the final track (Valery Naumov of the band Ivan-Tsarevich).

Although many of the songs are fast-paced, with humppa-influenced rhythms, there's a pretty nice variety of styles on the album. Four tracks in, they slow things down with a ballad, Кудель белоснежного льна, but then pick things up again with the fantastic and popular Пастушок and Милый, the latter being probably the fastest song on the album (with the possible exception of the last few minutes of the final track). That is followed by Снега белые крыла, which shifts the style to a more traditional rock style, and sounds more like something from Nevid. Then they move to a faster song and then a mid-paced song. The final song is a metal rendition of the traditional Ukrainian song Ти ж мене пiдманула, and it's a fun and satisfying ending to a fantastic folk metal album.

Sound Age releases (like Pagan Reign, Arkona, or Izmoroz) normally aren't difficult to find among American metal distros, but I haven't seen this CD over here yet. I had to order it from Russia. That's a shame, but hopefully it's only temporary. I think an international metal label (like Napalm) would do well to license this CD for worldwide distribution, because Kalevala is just as good as, if not better than, the folk metal bands on larger metal labels. But, in the meantime, try to track down Tow of Snow-white Flax if you're a fan of lighter, energetic folk metal. It's a great album that is hopefully just the beginning of a long string of releases from an immensely talented band. They've recently posted a demo version of a song from their next album on their Myspace page, a ballad. So they're already working on a second album, and it sounds promising so far. Time will tell if it will be as good as their debut, but in the meantime I will be enjoying this one.

Album Review: Žrec - Žertva

2009-01-07T19:59:00.007-05:00

Artist: Žrec (Czech Republic)
Album Title: Žertva
Record Label: Murderous Music Production (Czech Republic)
Released: 2008 (June)

Most of the well-known Slavonic pagan metal bands come from Russia, Ukraine, or Poland, but fortunately there seems to be a growing presence of bands from other Slavic nations. In this case we have Žrec (a word for a pagan priest), a relatively new band that hails from the Czech Republic. I came across their debut album, Žertva, by chance, and fortunately I did not pass up the opportunity to purchase it, because I have not seen it for sale anywhere since. Hopefully their label will get more copies distributed for sale, because Žrec is a good band that is worth checking out for fans of this kind of music.

Žrec plays pagan metal with a strong folk presence. Much of the folk sound comes from the violin, which is played by guest musician Petra Sélesová. The violin is practically ever-present on the album, sometimes playing folk-ish melodies and other times acting kind of like a lead guitar, since there is only one guitarist in the band. At any rate, it fleshes out the sound and is quite welcome to my ears. There are also flutes on the album, played by band member Ingvarr, who also supplies the clean vocals and keyboards. The other three members, guitarist Torham, bassist/harsh vocalist Soulburner, and drummer Sarapis, also play in a black metal band called Moravská Zima. Žrec sometimes sounds like black metal, due to the harsh vocals, but the metal itself sounds, to me at least, like it is also influenced by traditional heavy metal and possibly even thrash. At any rate, it's pretty unique. It almost sounds Russian at times (at least it does if you can't tell the difference between two Slavic languages by hearing them growled), but Žrec retains their own identity.

The production of Žertva is somewhat raw and imperfect, but the production actually gives it a somewhat earthy sound that fits quite well with the spirit of folk metal, in my opinion. Everything sounds natural; a bit unpolished, but not in a bad way. You can hear everything pretty clearly, even the bass. The songs don't always follow strict metal structures. For instance, mid-way through the title track, the music stops, is followed by a shout of "Sláva Mokoši!," and then changes gears for a more folkish section for more than a minute before returning to its normal self again. And track four, "Lystoczku Czerwenyj," is actually a Ukrainian folk song, and its rhythm may remind one of Korpiklaani.

An interesting choice for this album was the inclusion of a poeticized Czech-language cover of Nokturnal Mortum classic "Perun's Celestial Silver." It was a risky choice of tracks to cover, since "Perun's Celestial Silver" is one of the most beloved tracks among Nokturnal Mortum fans. As I've stated in at least one earlier review, I'm no great fan of covers, but, in my opinion, Žrec did an admirable job with this one. Rather than compare it to the original (and which would I compare it to, anyway? The Lunar Poetry version or the NeChrist version?), I'd like to remark that its inclusion as the penultimate song on Žertva does nothing to disrupt the flow of the album, nor does it clash stylistically with the rest of the songs. By doing the vocals in their own language and by adding their own distinct flavor to the song, Žrec has made the song their own. It's still recognizable as "Perun's Celestial Silver" from the very first seconds of the song, and it retains the black metal sound of the original, but it fits nicely on this album and is a welcome addition.

Another positive aspect of Žertva that is worth mentioning is the vocal performance by Ingvarr. His unique vocals fall somewhere between folk style and a more operatic style. His vocals aren't used as often as Soulburner's harsh vocals are, but they're used when appropriate and sound great on the aforementioned "Lystoczku Czerwenyj" and on the final track, "Raráš Rakáša," which is my favorite track on the album. Ingvarr also influenced the band to evolve into their present folk metal style, so his being added to the band was a great move, in my opinion.

Due to many factors, including distribution and location, Žrec may not gain nearly as much attention as they deserve from the pagan/folk metal community, but, if you have the opportunity, I recommend you check them out and try to get your hands on Žertva.

Album Review: Твердь - Вслед за Солнцеворотом

2008-12-31T17:13:00.004-05:00

Artist: Твердь (Tverd) [Russia]
Album Title: Вслед за Солнцеворотом (Follow the Sun's Way)
Record Label: CD-Maximum (Russia)
Released: 2008 (October)

2008 saw many well-regarded pagan metal releases from bands on international metal labels, such as Arkona's Ot Serdtsa K Nebu (re-release), Equilibrium's Sagas, Týr's Land, and Eluveitie's Slania. An album that easily ranks among these, but is probably destined to be overlooked, is the excellent debut album by Russia's Tverd (or, more properly romanized, Tverd'). Unfortunately, like Alkonost or Butterfly Temple, Tverd doesn't have international distribution, but they deserve to.

Tverd is the band that Pagan Reign guitarist/traditional instrument-player Vetrodar began after that band broke up in mid-2007. Pagan Reign was a great band that seemed to be heading in an awesome direction with their final album, 2006's Tverd' (aka Ancient Fortress), with its inclusion of many traditional folk instruments, and many of us were grief-stricken when we found out they were no longer together. A planned acoustic album, apparently only featuring founding member Orey, never appeared. But then, suddenly, this new band Tverd appeared, and, due to the amount of Pagan Reign songwriting that had been done by Vetrodar, Tverd sounds rather similar to the final Pagan Reign album, except with different vocals. In fact, according to the insert notes (thankfully included in English), Tverd is meant to be a natural progression of Pagan Reign. Excellent!

Now, how about the actual album? Well, as I mentioned, the major departure from Pagan Reign is in the vocal department. Tverd has three vocalists. The harsh vocals are handled by Vetrodar, but they are not featured very prominently. Instead, many of the vocals are done in an operatic style (by Alexandr Ivanov) and folk style (by Svetlana Lebedeva). Some don't like the operatic vocals of Alexandr Ivanov, but I think they have a tendency to grow on a person. He has a great voice and range, and I think his vocal style fits the style of music. Svetlana Lebedeva is stated in the insert to do folk and academic opera style vocals, but I don't really hear the opera style. She does great folk-style vocals, though, and handles the lead vocals on Масленица Широкая ("Wide Maslenitsa") and the traditional На Чужую Сторонушку ("To the Foreign Land"). In other songs, she harmonizes beautifully with Alexandr.

Vetrodar plays guitar and a wide array of traditional instruments, including various flute and reed instruments, bagpipes, zhaleyka, balalaika, domra, and mandolin. There are several sections where you'll only hear the traditional instruments (along with acoustic guitar), including on the two instrumental pieces, but for the most part the traditional instruments are omnipresent, and they mix well with the metal elements. The songwriting on Follow the Sun's Way is top-notch all-around, and everything is well-played. The rest of the band is guitarist and gusli-player Ratibor, bassist Sigurd, and drummer Demosthen (another former Pagan Reign member). The lyrics are fairly typical of Russian pagan metal bands (battles, traditions, pro-Russian themes, nature, Slavic gods, etc.).

Follow the Sun's Way is a pretty heavy album, with crunchy guitar riffs, the occasional guitar solo, and some great and varied drumming, but it's made more accessible by the clean vocals and the presence of traditional instruments. Some people avoided Pagan Reign because of Orey's vocals (which I greatly enjoyed), but Tverd should give them no such excuses. Follow the Sun's Way is a pretty unique album and will probably not appeal to everyone, but in my opinion it's definitely one of the best you'll hear this year, if you can find it.

There are many highlights on this album, but the centerpiece is Богатырская Застава ("The Bogatyr’s Gates"), which is described as an "epic metal cantata." While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cantata, this eight-and-a-half minute song is certainly epic. Alexandr Ivanov gives his best performance on this song, which tests the high end of his range (which, thankfully, never approaches Rob Halford territory; Ivanov is an operatic tenor). The songwriting on this piece is complex, and has a quality of Russian classical music. There's a beautiful acoustic part near the end, with some great vocal harmonizing, which continues as the song turns to metal again for a brief time until its abrupt ending.

The final song on the album, the instrumental (with the exception of Svetlana's wordless vocals) Печаль Земли Русской (Калинов Мост) ["Russian Land’s Sorrow (Kalinov’s Bridge)"], is the only one that breaks the pleasant folk metal mold that the rest of the album falls into. It does this rather harshly towards the end with the addition (or, in my opinion, intrusion) of heavy electronic elements. The first five minutes are beautiful, reminding me of the final, instrumental, song on Pagan Reign's Tverd', but then it unexpectedly turns into something akin to a track from Aphex Twin's Drukqs, and not one of the beautiful piano or ambient pieces. This jarring and annoying ending is the only negative I can find on Follow the Sun's Way, and I'm sure there was a reason for its inclusion, but I would have rather they not bothered with it.

Overall, this debut album from Tverd is an awesome release, and, at a little over an hour, it's a good length. It's ambitious to combine the operatic elements with folk and metal, but Tverd does a great job, and in the process have created one of the essential pagan metal albums of 2008. Highly recommended.

Album Review: Hellveto - Neoheresy

2008-12-31T15:51:00.004-05:00

Artist: Hellveto (Poland)
Album Title: Neoheresy
Record Label: Pulverised Records (Singapore)
Released: 2008 (October)

One-man orchestral pagan metal project Hellveto is known for being prolific, having released several albums (and compilations, EP's, and demo reissues) since his proper debut album, Autumnal Night, in 2002. It's difficult to make any sense of the Hellveto discography, since there have been so many reissues and out-of-order album releases that one practically needs to become a Hellveto scholar in order to sort through them. Between 2005 and the end of 2007, there were ten full-length Hellveto releases, though most of the material had been recorded prior to 2005 and is made up of reissued demos, EP's, and albums that had not yet been given proper releases. Although this had the unfortunate effect of devaluing his music somewhat, these were years of feasting for Hellveto fans such as myself. Each song on each album is epic and dense, with (sampled or synthesized) orchestral and occasional choral elements weaving within the guitar, bass, drums, and harsh vocals. It's gorgeous and breathtaking music, though it often takes several listens for each piece of music to stand out from the others due to the often-singular sound that Hellveto employs.

There have been occasional wrinkles to the so-called "Hellveto formula," as well as a subtle progression over the years. Beginning with 2004's In Arms of Kurpian Phantom, L.O.N. (the moniker of the man behind Hellveto) began using live drums instead of the weak drum machine sounds used on earlier material. On 2005's Klatwa, the rather-flat sound of earlier releases was greatly improved, and material recorded beginning with that release use more panning and depth. On 2006's In the Glory of Heroes, Hellveto briefly experimented with distorted vocals similar to the ones Burzum employed on Filosofem.

On Neoheresy there is yet another large improvement to the production. The overall sound is "punchier" and more powerful than ever before. Though on most releases the guitars and drums are given generally the same levels as the synth and orchestral elements (resulting in a more classical sound than metal), on Neoheresy the metal elements are emphasized. The vocals are still somewhat buried, but the drums, bass, and guitar are clearly audible, while the orchestral and choral elements take a more supporting role than before. They're certainly there, and there's still an incredible amount of detail in the compositions, but you have to listen a little harder to be able to hear those details. Because of this, Neoheresy works on at least two different levels: it's immediately gratifying compared to most Hellveto works, but there's still that depth to be discovered upon repeat listens. Nice bits of choral vocal lines appear where you didn't notice them earlier, you begin to notice the classical-sounding guitar behind the bombastic drums and power chords, etc. There's a seemingly unlimited musical treasure to be unearthed within the dense framework of each of the six songs on Neoheresy, which has been the case with Hellveto for the last several years and over a dozen releases.

Neoheresy is also the only Hellveto release to appear in 2008, which practically feels like a drought when compared to the past few years. Upon listening to the final result, which is a wonderful (if brief) album, it's obvious that L.O.N. spent a great amount of time working on this album. A few tracks from these sessions appeared on last year's Crusade EP (packaged together with the reissue of Autumnal Night), but those songs, production-wise, sound nowhere near as good as the six that appear on Neoheresy do. L.O.N. is a master of his craft, an isolated genius of a composer and musician that continues to work on his own terms. I feel that, even if there weren't an audience to receive this music (which there is, and it has been growing), Hellveto would still be recording and releasing this stuff on CD-R or something, just as he was back in 2003. Which is not to say that L.O.N. doesn't care about his audience. The fact that he has generously reissued or unearthed so much older material via his own Ritual Execution label or others proves that he's aware of the demand for his music. And he released a video for "Taran," the track that begins this album, through the official Hellveto website.

It seems useless to do a track-by-track analysis of Neoheresy, but I will mention that the songs that begin and end the album, "Taran" and "Sredniowieczna Egzekucja," are brilliant bookends. "Taran" is a driving, addicting, and even catchy piece of music, beginning the album with the sound of guitar and the powerful sound of horses' hooves. Then it evolves and builds gradually throughout its almost-seven minute running time. "Sredniowieczna Egzekucja" includes some beautiful choral moments, piano, blastbeats, and some great melodies to bring the album to a satisfying conclusion. It's the best Hellveto album-ending song since "....Ktos Ty?" from Zmierzch.

Overall, the compositions are simpler and more straightforward than on past releases, but I think Hellveto fans will be happy with this one. Other than the production, it's certainly no great leap forward, but it's a very solid album that, in my opinion at least, stands proudly among the best Hellveto has released. It also creates an excellent starting point for people who want to give Hellveto a try but are intimidated by the size of the discography. It appears, at least by the evidence presented within Neoheresy, that L.O.N. is still full of creative energy and shows no sign of becoming weary of creating this rich and epic music. And now that releases have slowed down to a normal pace, fans like myself can finally give each new album the attention it deserves. Those who dislike the unique "orchestral pagan black metal" sound of Hellveto probably won't be won over by Neoheresy, but, then again, maybe they will. It's arguably the most accessible of his releases, and, given the distribution Pulverised has, it should gain this gem of a project some greatly-deserved recognition from the larger metal underground community.

Album Review: Kroda - Fimbulvinter

2008-12-18T20:17:00.004-05:00

Artist: Крода (Kroda) [Ukraine]
Album Title: Похорон Сонця (Fimbulvinter)
Record Label: Hammermark Art (Germany)
Released: 2007

Kroda has become such a widely hailed pagan/folk metal band that it's kind of hard to believe they've only been a part of the scene since 2004's Cry To Me, River... While some bands build up a following before releasing their first album (through touring, festivals, etc.), Kroda never did a live show until 2007. Therefore, they quite literally appeared out of nowhere. It didn't take them too long to gain notice from pagan metal fans, because Cry To Me, River..., though a debut release (I don't think there was even a Kroda demo), was an incredibly mature album and one that holds up well even after repeated listens over the last few years. Not ones to stand still, the band followed it up with an awesome second album, Towards the Firmaments Verge of Life, in 2005. Then, amazingly, they produced their third, and most recent studio album, Fimbulvinter, at the beginning of 2007. While it's not amazing that a band would produce three albums in that amount of time, it's the quality and near-perfection of each album that is so difficult to believe. Oh, and they released two split CD's during the periods between album releases, and both split releases are great EP's in their own right.

I resisted "reviewing" this album for a long time, for one thing because I don't feel that I have anything valuable to say about it that hasn't already been said by several other, more talented, writers. But I managed to write about my other favorite albums of 2007 already, and Kroda just released a great live disc, Live In Lemberg, so it felt like the right time.

Fimbulvinter begins with the sound of cold wind, appropriately enough considering the concept of the album. The word Fimbulvinter, which means "the great winter," refers to the long winter that will take place before Ragnarök. Therefore Fimbulvinter, the album, is also long and cold. The sunny folk melodies of the previous two albums are replaced by darker folk melodies on Fimbulvinter, though there's certainly still a significant amount of flute and mouth harp to be heard. Some fans have complained about the somewhat-diminished folk presence on Fimbulvinter, but I find it appropriate to the subject matter. I don't even think it's diminished all that much; it just doesn't stand out from the rest of the music as much as on other Kroda albums.

So where was I? Oh, yes, the sound of cold wind beginning the album. After about 25 seconds, the music itself begins, with a theme played on guitar that will become the central theme for the opening track, "The Beginning of Winter Night of Oskorei," which clocks in at almost 12 minutes. Incidentally, there are only five tracks on this album, but the shortest is just under 9 minutes long, and the album itself is a healthy 55 minutes in length. The album opens on an epic note, and at first it may seem that there is no way that the album can sustain such momentum, but it does. Man oh man, does it ever. Each song on this album is excellent, like an epic in itself. The music is densely woven yet blistering, and Eisenslav's voice is in fine form. He growls, shrieks, and howls through his well-written lyrics (which are translated into English in the booklet), his voice full of fire and venom. Eisenslav has one of my favorite black metal voices, and Fimbulvinter may be his best performance.

But each song doesn't just blast along at full-speed at all times. There are breaks within each song where the listener can catch his or her breath while being treated to some lovely (though not so lovely that they ruin the desolate and cold atmosphere of the songs) flute parts, which are backed by atmospheric synths, strummed guitar, and sound effects. Sometimes you can hear sampled (or synthesized?) choirs and folk vocals during these parts. But Kroda doesn't let you get too comfortable for too long, and will launch back into a full-scale metal assault, sometimes with blastbeats and fast tremolo-picked riffs. But obviously their goal isn't to simply pummel the listener. Any metal band can do that. They are more methodical than that. Every part has its purpose, and its the contrasts that makes this album, like any Kroda album, something that transcends metal. If I were forced to make a case that extreme metal has just as much right to be considered fine musical art as any other style of music, I would play this album in its entirety before even bothering to make any arguments.

Kroda has also included, as usual, some lovely packaging to accompany the music. If you have any other Kroda albums, you'll sort of know what to expect, except this time everything is covered in snow. In fact, the landscape on the cover is the same location as the landscape on the cover of Cry To Me, River..., except in a different season.

Following my personal favorite Kroda track, "Funeral of the Sun," is a cover of Branikald's "A Stormride." I don't usually like the idea of bands including cover songs on their albums, much less closing the album with one, but Kroda has made this song their own. I'm not familiar with the original, but I am familiar with Branikald of the mid-90's (pre-dating Blazebirth Hall's more controversial era), and it doesn't sound at all like this. The lyrics and the overall sound fit well with the rest of the album, and if the insert didn't tell me it was a cover song, there's no way I would have guessed. It's just another great Kroda track.

I don't need to tell most pagan metal fans to buy this album. Most will already be familiar with Kroda, and out of that group, there are many who are already fans. But if, by some chance, you haven't heard these guys, they're definitely one of the essential bands in pagan metal, so check them out. Fimbulvinter is one of the great metal albums of 2007, and it shouldn't be missed.

Album Review: Внуки Святослава - Плести венками песни

2008-11-21T20:45:00.011-05:00

Artist: Внуки Святослава (Vnuki Svyatoslava) [Russia]
Album Title: Плести венками песни
Record Label: Slav Sunrise (Russia)
Released: 2008

As I think I stated in a review of a Krynitza CD, I haven't had much exposure to pagan folk music, and most of it that I have heard has been due to the artists' connection to metal. In the case of Vnuki Svyatoslava (translated as "Grandchildren of Svyatoslav"), I discovered them when I came across a Youtube video of them performing the lovely song Укатилось Красно Солнышко with Rodoslav of Krynitza at a concert. Because their label, Slav Sunrise, has no distribution in the United States, it took me a while to track down any of their work. Eventually I happened across a copy of their 2007 release Искать себя from an Amazon related seller. I was fairly impressed with that album, with its blend of Slavic, Celtic, and other folk styles, but the album I really wanted to find was their 2008 release Плести венками песни, which I'd heard was a big improvement. Thanks to a favorite Russian Ebay seller, I finally obtained this album in October. It was well worth the effort it took to get it, too. This is one of the most beautiful albums I have heard in a very long time.

Vnuki Svyatoslava is an eight-piece band from the Yaroslavl oblast of Russia (I believe), currently consisting of four males and four females. Their official website details their tumultuous history since 2002, full of line-up changes and changes in direction. Quite frankly, I find it amazing that they persisted through that turmoil, and it's even more amazing that they have produced a piece of art as stunning as Плести венками песни.

The band is fronted by Oksana Knyazeva (I apologize in advance if I improperly romanize any names, as there is virtually no English-language information I can discover about this band at the moment), an academically-trained vocalist who also plays tambourine and frog rattle. She is joined by two violinists, Kseniya Lukyanenko and Alina Petrova, flautist Irina Nadeinskaya, guitarist Michael Gryzyhin, guitar- and balalaika- player Dmitry Konov, bass guitarist Sergei Bushuyev, and a percussionist Sergei Glebov. Most members play multiple instruments, so there's a nice variety in the sound. Hopefully this lineup is a stable one, because each member of the band is very talented and they create wonderful music together. Most of the music is written by Oksana and Dmitry.

The first album was fairly straightforward folk, but Плести венками песни has a strong classical feel to it. Part of this is due to Oksana's breathtaking vocals, but the prevalence of violins and flutes and the arrangements themselves also helps the band transcend easy categorization. I would say don't even bother trying to figure it out, but rather enjoy the sound. The songwriting is very strong, with each song featuring beautiful, rich, and often catchy melodies. There are many high points, but the very classical-sounding Ярославль and the folky День-день are my definite favorites. There is not a single weak song on this album. Everything is simply perfect and beautiful, down to the production itself. The production on the first album was pretty good, but it had its flaws. The production on this album is absolutely flawless; each instrument is given enough room to breathe, and the full range of sound is treated with the utmost care.

As a bonus for fans of Russian pagan metal like myself, the great Rodoslav (Krynitza, Oprich, Vo Skorbyah) appears on two tracks. First, he provides background vocals to enhance the already-excellent Ярославль, and then performs a duet with Oksana on a re-recorded version of Укатилось Красно Солнышко (the original of which appeared on the first Vnuki Svyatoslava album, minus Rodoslav). As another apparent nod to pagan metal, Sergei Bushuyev employs a sort of growling vocal on the third track, Заговор. This is a little strange to hear in music such as this, but I thought it was kind of cool.

This is a rather short album, as seems to be the norm for folk albums. The ten tracks that make up the album proper total about 28 minutes of music, though, because I never tire of listening to it, I don't feel the least bit short-changed. Also, they included two bonus tracks, which boosts the total length of the CD to 33 1/2 minutes. I'm not sure why the two tracks at the end are not considered to be part of the album, as they appear to have been taken from the same recording sessions and are just as good as the rest of the songs, but I'm sure the band had a reason for it.

I'm prone to "bubbling" about CD's I'm really excited about, but I think this is another case where it is warranted. In the five weeks or so that I've owned this CD, I've probably listened to it, on average, two or three times per day, and that's a conservative estimate. I don't normally listen to an album that often, no matter how much I enjoy it. I've listened to Плести венками песни a few times just in the length of time it has taken me to write this review, and when it's over I always want to listen to it again. Those looking for metal or even rock definitely won't find it on this album, but fans of folk, Russian classical music, or simply beautiful music in general would probably enjoy this album. If I were to construct a list of a handful of CD's I would take with me to a desert island, provided of course that I had some way of listening to them, Плести венками песни would be on it. If eventually I make a list of my favorite albums of 2008, I'm certain this one will be at the top.

The major problem facing anyone (on the American side of the ocean, at least) interested in tracking down this CD will be the fact that it's almost impossible to find, anywhere. I was fortunate enough to find it on Ebay, but it seems that, currently, the only other way to legally obtain it is to learn enough Russian to allow yourself to order it from one of the online stores that Slav Sunrise distributes to. You may be able to contact the label at slavsunrise *at* yandex *dot* ru and inquire about ordering a copy, but I haven't contacted them yet, myself. Your best bet, at least until Slav Sunrise can get some distributors over here, would be to google "Vnuki Svyatoslava," or, even better, "Внуки Святослава," and hope for the best. It's a shame that such a great album can be so difficult to obtain, but maybe if enough of us express an interest, the label will realize that they have a potential market outside of Russia and will get in contact with some distributors.

In conclusion, Плести венками песни is an incredible, absolutely breathtaking CD that is a headache to find but would be a worthy addition to any fan of Slavic pagan music.

Album Review: Hate Forest - "Scythia"

2008-11-20T22:35:00.006-05:00

Artist: Hate Forest (Ukraine)
Album Title: Scythia
Record Label: Supernal Music (United Kingdom)
Released: 1999 (original) / 2004 (Supernal reissue)

Buying demos reissued on CD can be a risky proposition if you haven't heard the actual music before purchasing. This is why I initially steered clear of Hate Forest's first demo, Scythia. Would it contain little more than half-baked ideas, terrible production, and sloppy musicianship? In this case, the answer is certainly "no." This may be Hate Forest from 1998-1999, a few years before they arguably hit their creative peak (in this band) with Purity and Battlefields, but even at this relatively early state they put many well-established bands to shame with their aggressive and raw brand of Slavonic black metal.

Those who are familiar with their more popular works but haven't heard Scythia may barely recognize the band. In fact, the overall cold atmosphere and hyperactive drum machine are the only major similarities I can find between Scythia and an album like Purity. Roman Saenko and Thurios had not yet adopted the drone-y, hypnotic sound that would become the most recognizable element of their aesthetic. Instead, what we have here is fairly standard raw black metal --though that's not to say it's not well-done, just that they were still at an early stage of their evolution-- along with a couple of short dark ambient pieces. Roman Saenko appears to handle all the vocals on the Scythia demo, and his deep growls are electronically distorted to sound pretty demonic or beastly. This is the only Hate Forest release I'm aware of that uses this distortion, and it gives it a more menacing sound as a result. The higher-pitched growls of Thurios are nowhere to be heard, except on the bonus track.

Scythia is a well-produced and surprisingly focused and accomplished demo, but it's also kind of short, at 25 minutes long. Thankfully, they threw in a great bonus, the 11-minute "To Those Who Came Before Us." This song, recorded in 2002, is much more easily recognizable as a Hate Forest track, as it sounds as if it could have been taken right off of Purity. It is quite possibly my favorite Hate Forest song ever; a long, droning epic of a track with some great guitar lines and vocals from both Roman Saenko and Thurios. The last four minutes of the song are pure melancholic beauty.

I'm sure many Hate Forest fans have probably already heard this release, but any who haven't should hunt down this CD. Drudkh fans who want to hear how it all began may find this to be the best starting place. Just about any Hate Forest release is worth your time (the awful EP The Gates and the bland full-length Sorrow may be the only exceptions) and may help you better appreciate the creative progression that led to the creation of Drudkh.

Drudkh is great, but Hate Forest shouldn't be overlooked.

Album Review: Kamaedzitca - Пяруне

2008-11-06T19:51:00.008-05:00

Artist: Kamaedzitca (Belarus)
Album Title: Пяруне (Pyarune)
Record Label: Strong Music (Belarus)
Released: 2008 (March)

Belarus is another one of those beautiful Eastern European countries that I will probably never get to see with my own eyes, yet I can appreciate some of its beauty through the influence it has on the pagan metal bands it inspires. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be a lot of metal bands in Belarus. While Ukraine, Poland, and especially Russia seem to be bursting at the seams with pagan/folk metal bands, their neighbor has only managed to produce a handful, at least that are known to me. The first of these with which I became familiar is Kamaedzitca, from the capital city of Minsk. Their 2004 debut CD, Дзецi лесу, was a very decent pagan metal album that mixes folk with a style of metal that is close to death metal, though it contains clean vocals in addition to the deep growls. Kamaedzitca seemed to disappear for the next few years, leaving many of us to wonder if they'd gone the way of so many pagan metal bands that release a promising, obscure debut and then fade away completely.

Then, almost out of nowhere, their sophmore full-length Пяруне appeared, though it has only managed to trickle into U.S. distros within the last few months. Fortunately, the band has not only managed to not disappear, they have returned stronger than before, with an album that might not reach the lofty heights of the latest Arkona or Moonsorrow releases but is worth looking into for fans of this genre.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. The intro and outro to this album are both very boring. There may be some purpose to beginning the album with the world's most minimalistic 3-minute flute solo and ending with an equally uninspired drum solo (mercifully only 1 1/2 minutes), but to these ears it just makes the first and last moments of the album crawl by. In all, 6 tracks out of the 14 are either instrumentals or atmospheric pieces rather than songs, so we're left with 8 actual songs, and they range from between 2:41 to just under 6 minutes each. Not a whole lot of music here, but certainly enough to chew on.

After the unfortunate opening flute solo, the first actual song on the CD, Колазварот (which I'm 99% sure is the Belarusian word for "sunwheel"), kicks off promisingly, sounding like classic Kamaedzitca but with a hefty dose of Estonian greats Metsatöll in the mix. Clean vocals and folk instruments abound on this album, making it sound much more varied and colorful than the debut album. But fans of the crunchy guitars and growls of Дзецi лесу should not fret, as they have not done away with that part of their sound. Variety is the name of the game here; from one song to the next, the atmosphere and dynamics change. There are very folky and celebratory-sounding tracks like Як на горцы ля ракі…, and then very aggressive songs like Волi герояў подых бязмежнасцi, which immediately follows it. The former track contains mostly clean vocals, while the latter track contains death metal growls. You've also got У вякi вякоў!, with its RAC-ish shouts of "Slava!" and its fast rhythm, and the acoustic track Блуканне ведагоны. The most beautiful song on the album is the mostly-instrumental Водар забыцця, which features a beautiful flute solo and an even more beautiful, mournful guitar solo, along with some nice clean vocals towards the end.

Production can be hit-or-miss with obscure pagan metal bands from former Soviet republics, but fortunately this is not the case with Пяруне. The sound is full and has plenty of punch, and the instruments are all well-recorded. This is as good a production job as I have heard on a pagan metal album, I think. The players are all great, especially considering the variety in playing and singing styles needed. I'm very impressed with the drumming of Viedyaslav Liha; it's a shame that he has since parted ways with the band. Folk musical instruments like flute and bagpipes are well-played and recorded.

I think that some listeners will feel that Пяруне is lacking in content and contains too much filler, but I think most of the interludes are appropriate and set a deliberate pace for the album. I do wish that there were more songs, or that some of the songs were longer, but what is here is very, very good. Because the album is so eclectic, you don't ever really have time to get tired of a certain style before they've moved onto another one.

Fans of folky but serious pagan metal bands such as the great Arkona or Temnozor will probably enjoy Пяруне. Kamaedzitca has a unique enough sound that it would be difficult to confuse them with any other band in the scene. Those who are familiar with the band's debut but didn't enjoy it enough to check out Пяруне should give this new album a chance, as the band has definitely matured and improved since their already promising first album. I remember thinking after I bought Дзецi лесу that the band had potential to become one of the better bands in the scene, given a little more experience, and, indeed, Пяруне confirms my suspicion. It's definitely worth checking out for fans of Slavic pagan metal, and it stands comfortably among the better pagan metal releases of 2008.

Album Review: Panychida - "Paganized"

2008-09-21T21:31:00.010-04:00

Artist: Panychida (Czech Republic)
Album Title: Paganized
Record Label: Folter Records (Germany)
Released: 2007

The problem with putting together a "Best Albums of the Year" list is that I'm always finding great releases from previous years that make me want to modify my list on a constant basis. After publishing my 2007 list on the Myspace for my solo music project, I kept discovering great albums that I had not even known existed at the time. One of those is the debut album by Czech band Panychida, signed to Folter Records. Folter is the label that releases Skyforger's music (except when licensed by other labels), so I mainly bought this album because of that fact. I wasn't sure what to think based on the few samples I heard, but fortunately this would turn out to be a very good purchase.

This West Bohemian band calls their music "paganized" metal. I don't know exactly what "paganized" metal is, whether it's black metal with pagan elements, or what, but, lyrically, Panychida seems to be influenced by both fantasy and Slavonic Paganism. Most of the lyrics, except for the final track, are in English, and they're very creative, though I have no idea what most of them are talking about. Musically, Panychida sounds like a mix of black metal, thrash, and maybe a little traditional heavy metal mixed in. A guest musician plays bagpipes, which sounds great, but I wouldn't say that the addition of bagpipes moves the band quite into "folk metal" territory. The cold, croaking vocals remind me quite a bit of Abbath from Immortal, which means they sound vaguely like Popeye the Sailor. I dig vocalist GHM's accent, though, and he seems to have a good grasp of the English language, which is never a guarantee when you're dealing with music from non-English-speaking countries [Edit: ...or even English-speaking countries, as our language has been butchered in modern times].

The rest of the band sounds good as well. You can even hear the bass sometimes! In their live shows, Panychida seems to rely on a drum machine, but on this album the drums were played by guest musician Honza Kapák, who also helped with the recording. I wish they could recruit this guy full-time, because he does a great job on the drums, and even plays a little hand percussion in "Final Donation to the Oath." Guest Helca Petrakova, who plays the bagpipes and flute, also does a great job. The bagpipes sound to me like Scottish Highland bagpipes without the drones, rather than the thinner-sounding bagpipes I normally hear in this kind of music. I suspect that the bagpipes played here are the traditional Bohemian bagpipes, the "Dudy," but the credits do not specify so I don't know for sure. It gives the music a bit of a Scottish-sounding flavor to these untrained ears, like the bagpipes used on Suidakra's Caledonia. The traditional instruments are not over-used on the album, and they don't detract from the thrashy black metal nature of the music.

I can't really think of any negatives about this album. I'm not sure how much depth Paganized has, but it has a fun atmosphere and makes for a very enjoyable listening experience. This is an album I like to play in the car, as it sounds great in my stereo system and is nice to drive to. I don't really know what that is supposed to mean, but I felt I should mention it anyway. Fans of pagan metal should certainly listen to some samples from the album, as Paganized is a really solid and enjoyable album from beginning to end, and perhaps is one of the great overlooked gems from 2007. Don't let the dull artwork deter you from checking it out.

Maxi-Single Review: Tumulus - "Кочевонов Пляс"

2008-09-21T20:26:00.008-04:00

Artist: Tumulus (Russia)
Album Title: Кочевонов Пляс
Label: Wroth Emitter (Russia)
Released: 2008

Progressive folk metal band Tumulus was formed out of the ashes of Scald, the cult, Viking-themed epic doom metal band that sadly ended with the death of vocalist Agyl in 1997. Rather than continue the band without him, the band was re-formed as Tumulus and began a change in musical and lyrical direction. Since then, the band has released a few demos, two great full-length albums, and a live album that is actually worth listening to (I'm not generally a fan of live albums). After the release of the live album, the band was quiet for a while, working on the much-delayed maxi-single "Kochevonov Plyas," which was finally released earlier this year.

To be honest, this isn't much new material considering how long we've been waiting. The centerpiece of this EP is the new single "Kochevonov Plyas," which is preceded by an instrumental introduction. Then, following the single, they include a lovely traditional song --the title of which translates into "As There Was A Morning Early"--, a cover of black metal band Korozy (which appeared in live form on their Live Balkan Path release) called "Within the Soul of Autumn," and a new version of "Tam, gde zhili sviristeli" from their 2004 album Winter Wood. That's five tracks at about 23 minutes. It also includes a video of "Yavir," one of my favorite songs from Winter Wood. However, the new material here is of high quality and Tumulus fans should definitely check it out.

The first thing I noticed is that Yulia "Vigdis" Korolyova is no longer playing keyboards for the band. She has been replaced by keyboard- and balalaika player Al'virius. The rest of the band --vocalist and flute- and tambourine player Kuchma, guitarist Kurbat, bass player Velingor, and drummer Ottar-- remains the same as on the last few releases, and their experience playing together has resulted in a tight sound. The band sounds so good that I really wish this were a full-length album. The title track is absolutely brilliant, one of the very best Tumulus songs yet. The sound of balalaika, vargan (Jew's harp), and violin can be heard on this song, as well as multiple sets of vocals at one point in the track. Does Kuchma need any help with vocals? Of course not. He sounds awesome as usual on this release. However, the extra vocals sound great. I'm not sure who does them, as the credits are not clear.

The third track, "As There Was A Morning Early," is, as I said before, a lovely traditional song arranged by the band. I don't think Kuchma does the male vocals on this. It may be Eugeny Vorobyov from fellow Russian folk metal band Smuta. The female vocals are by former keyboard player Vigdis, who does a fine job, though her voice is much quieter. It would be nice if there were six or seven more new tracks like this, but in this case Tumulus chose quality over quantity, I suppose. Hopefully they won't make us wait too long for a new album.

The last two tracks, "Within the Soul of Autumn" and "Tam, gde zhili sviristeli" should be familiar to Tumulus fans as they have both been recorded by the band before. I believe Velingor does the harsh vocals on "Within the Soul of Autumn," and Kuchma does a fine performance with the clean vocals, as he did in the live recording. The violin sounds very nice as well. "Tam, gde zhili sviristeli" is a classic Tumulus song, and while I'm not sure this version really adds anything to the song, it's still welcome to my ears.

Tumulus continues to be a great band, though they will not appeal to all pagan metal fans. Their progressive sound and "happy"-sounding folk melodies may cause some listeners to dismiss them, but they are really a fine band that should be given more attention. This is a short but sweet EP, and it makes me excited about what is yet to come from this folk metal band from Yaroslavl.

[Note: As a thoughtful bonus, my copy of the CD came with three 2008-2009 mini-calendars (the size of credit cards) with a full-color band photo on one side of each. I can't guarantee that your copy will have arrived with those intact, due to the common practice of CD's being distributed without cases to underground metal stores in order to save money on shipping, but I thought it was nice and worth mentioning.]

Album Review: Equilibrium - "Sagas"

2008-08-27T20:16:00.005-04:00

Artist: Equilibrium (Germany)
Album Title: Sagas
Label: Nuclear Blast (Germany, USA)
Released: 2008 (June)

Hailing from the German state of Bavaria, Equilibrium has been around since 2001, when the band formed with the original intention to play a single show. Fortunately for us, they were encouraged by the positive reception to continue on, and so far have graced us with two great albums. Their debut, Turis Fratyr, was released in early 2005 on the German label Black Attakk, and gained them a pretty large fanbase considering the album became very difficult to find. I myself had to obtain it from Germany earlier this year, as an addition to my Menhir Hildebrandslied order. Appearances at festivals and such also helped spread the word about Equilibrium, and eventually that word reached the ears of large metal label Nuclear Blast, who signed the band to a contract and have exposed them to a much larger audience with the release of their sophmore album, Sagas.

Sagas is a huge album. In pretty much every possible way. Not only does it hover around the 80-minute mark (without any filler or unusual stretches of silence), but almost every one of those 80 minutes is very high on the intensity scale (somewhere between "epic" and "ridiculously epic," to be exact). They fly through the material, barely giving the listener time to catch his or her breath, and causing the 80 minutes to pass by quickly. Sagas consists of 13 tracks, including a brief instrumental somewhere in the middle, and a long (16 minute) instrumental closing out the album. Equilibrium's music can be described as extremely epic folk metal with lots of synths, German lyrics about Bavarian tales and such, and vocals that range from "black metal style" to "sort of death metal style." Despite the heavy use of synthesizers, the band's talent should not be overlooked, as these guys are quite good at what they do. You sometimes have to pay special attention in order to hear it past the soaring keyboard melodies and choir sounds, but there's a strong metal backbone behind the bombast.

Despite the fact that they are an extreme metal band with shrieking and growling vocals, Equilibrium doesn't try to sound menacing. Indeed, they're about as frightening as Gargamel from The Smurfs. The atmosphere of the album, instead, is one of adventure and fun. It's kind of difficult to be frowning while listening to Sagas. Grimacing, on the other hand, may be possible at times, depending on how you react to the some of the stranger moments on the album. Take, for example, the track "Unbesiegt," which sounds like it could have been a collaboration with "The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You"-era Gloria Estefan. I'm not sure what Latin percussion and jungle animal sounds have to do with European folk metal, but the song is actually pretty good once you get past that. Then there's the song "Snüffel," an ode to snuff (of course), which features ZZ Top riffs and, even weirder, the sound of an automobile engine roaring at one point in the track. These moments are signs that Equilibrium does not care about being taken completely seriously, and the lyrics and the overall playful atmosphere of Sagas supports this. Sure, because of this Equilibrium can't really be appreciated on the same level as more "serious" pagan metal bands such as Menhir, Moonsorrow, or Falkenbach, but, when you're in the mood for it, it's refreshing and very enjoyable.

Even if you can't get into "Unbesiegt" or "Snüffel" (you're not alone), there's still another 65-70 minutes of music on Sagas, and most of the tracks here are winners. There's a lot of very strong material on the album, and it's spread throughout the entire length of the CD. This isn't one of those albums that drops off in quality after the first few tracks. Even the long instrumental that closes the album, "Mana," is great. There are choirs, a violin, and even a panpipe on this final track, so even if (like me) you don't generally care for instrumentals, don't write this one off until you give it a chance.

Although Sagas is generally getting very positive reviews so far, it has its detractors. Many of its critics cite the saccharine-sweetness of many of the album's melodies and overall "uplifting" sound of the album (as well as its inherent folk-metalness) as critical failings of Sagas. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Sagas to those who feel that metal should always be menacing and dark. I would also imagine some pagan metal purists might dismiss it as major-label dilution and exploitation of the genre. Maybe that's true; I don't know. But I really enjoy Sagas; maybe not on the same level as I enjoy the latest Arkona or Moonsorrow albums, but, at least on a musical level, this is one of the strongest (and most fun) releases I've heard all year. Definitely give it a try.

Split CD Review: Чур / Опричь

2008-08-13T19:04:00.006-04:00

Artists: Чур (Chur) [Ukraine] / Опричь (Oprich) [Russia]
Album Title: ...From the Ghostly Fog... / The Fireflower (Split)
Label: Stellar Winter Records (Russia)
Released: 2008

Ordinarily, I don't pay much attention to split albums, and I'm not really sure why that is. You're basically getting a couple of EP's on a single disc, so why do I so often avoid them? Part of the problem is that rarely have I heard a split where the two (or more) bands actually complement each others' music or sound like they have much in common thematically. A lot of times I'll enjoy one band and dislike the other, so when I do buy a split, it's often because I just want to obtain material from a band that I can't get on any of their other releases.

In this case, I am a pretty big fan of both bands involved, so purchasing this split CD was an easy decision to make. Chur impressed me quite a bit with his debut album, Brother Wind, which I discovered in early 2007 and bought basically because I thought the cover looked "folkish." It turned out to be one of my more pleasant surprises that year, a rather mature and focused debut CD, with great vocals and folk instrumentation.

However, I found his half of this split to be very disappointing. The two elements I enjoyed most about Brother Wind, the vocals and folk instruments, are nowhere to be found on these four tracks. Instead, we are given instrumental songs. Not that instrumental is necessarily bad (see early October Falls, Drudkh's Songs of Grief & Solitude, and most of Ulver's Kveldssanger for examples of this), but these aren't atmospheric acoustic songs or anything. They're mostly constructed of electric guitar and drum machine, and the overall feeling I got was that this was some guitarist's demo that he hands out to bands he's trying to join. There are words (lyrics?) printed in the booklet, which almost gives me the impression that either Chur ran out of time before he could record vocals, or that someone at Stellar Winter accidentally included unfinished demo versions of the songs on the CD. In all likelihood, however, this was intentional. And I'm sure Chur knows what he's doing, but after repeated listens I'm still not really digging it. It just sounds like instrumental metal, which is something I'm not interested in.

In the case of Oprich, I didn't really know what to expect. Their only previous release is a split with Kroda. That split is mostly notable because of Kroda's side, featuring the awesome two-part "Poppyfields Are Blossoming," but I feel that Oprich's contribution, the five-track mini-album Wolfen Loyalty, is an underrated and interesting bit of folk metal. It's certainly strange, especially the first two tracks, which is probably where many listeners gave up on it. The production is rough and inelegant, and certainly the overall sound is an acquired taste, but it grew on me after a while.

Oprich is perhaps better known (and respected, if by proxy) because of the band Vo Skorbyah, a project that mostly consists of Oprich members. Vo Skorbyah garnered strong reviews and a fair bit of attention from fans of underground metal after its self-titled debut CD was released last year, and it seems its success convinced the folks involved to keep the project going, despite their original intention for it to be a one-off.

I'm happy to report that Oprich's side of this split fares quite well. The band is still "quirky," and some listeners will probably still dislike them, but their four tracks are a definite improvement over Wolfen Loyalty, in my opinion. The production is much cleaner and the band sounds much more confident and mature this time around. The harsh vocals from Wolfen Loyalty have disappeared, yet there are still multiple sets of vocals to be heard. Vocalist Zhdana and violinist Vasilisa seem to be nowhere to be found, and the former is replaced on this release by two (session?) female vocalists, Nina and Maria. Yaromir, Rodoslav, and the now-departed Bersen tackle the rest of the vocals. Having five different vocalists on a four-song mini-album lends their half a lot of variety, perhaps at the expense of cohesiveness. It would be difficult to tell that each track is by the same band, because they sound so much different than one another.

The first Oprich track, "As in the Distance," is the least interesting to me, but the remaining three are all great. I don't think Rodoslav (founder of pagan neofolk band Krynitza and a member of Vo Skorbyah) was on the previous Oprich release, but he handles lead vocals on the final track, "Don't You Murmer, Mother Green Oaken Grove," and I'm a big fan of his unique vocals so this is was a treat for me.

I feel that Oprich has redeemed themselves (if indeed they needed redemption in the first place) with The Fireflower, and I certainly hope their next project is to create a full-length album. They've been around since 1998, so I think it's due. As for Chur, he's been signed to Hammermark Art Records (home of Kroda) and is currently working on his next full-length, and judging from the few samples on his website, it sounds like it's coming along quite well. It would seem that ...From the Ghostly Fog... is just an unfortunate misstep.

It's difficult for me to recommend this CD because of how disappointed I was in Chur's contribution to the split, but Oprich's half makes me glad I made the purchase. I'm not sure if that's a recommendation or not, but take it or leave it.

Album Review: Dalriada - "Szelek"

2008-08-12T20:30:00.003-04:00

Artist: Dalriada (Hungary)
Album Title: Szelek
Label: Nail Records (Hungary)
Released: 2008 (April)

Dalriada is a band I just can't get enough of, so it was a very pleasant surprise when I found out they had quietly released their fourth album (the first two being under their former name, Echo of Dalriada) on the day of their appearance at Paganfest when the tour arrived at Budapest. While I waited for the CD to arrive, I watched the heck out of the video for "A Nap és Szél háza" on Youtube. While that single isn't necessarily on the level of "Táltosének" from their previous album Kikelet, it's still a catchy and enjoyable piece of music, and it gave me hope that their new album, Szelek, would be another worthy release in their already-strong discography. And, boy, were those hopes met when I heard the final product.

As a bit of background for those unfamiliar with the band (or who didn't read my previous review of Kikelet), Dalriada is a six-piece folk metal band from Sopron, Hungary, built mostly around the stunning and unique vocals of Laura Binder (or Binder Laura, following the Hungarian practice of putting one's family name first) and Hungarian folk melodies. If there is another band out there that sounds anything like Dalriada, I haven't heard them. They're quite a unique entity within the realm of metal.

Despite the fact that Szelek arrives only thirteen months after Kikelet (which, incidentally, arrived only thirteen months after their third album, Jégbontó), it doesn't sound half-baked or rushed at all. The band sounds very focused and tight on this release, and the songwriting is as strong as it as ever been. The vocals of Laura Binder and Andras Ficzek sound perhaps better than ever. While Szelek doesn't depart from the overall Dalriada sound, it does sound different than its predecessor in some pretty significant ways. First of all, they got rid of the violin that was featured on Kikelet. Second, the songs are less complex and are, overall, much more catchy and accessible than on Kikelet. They sound a lot closer, to my ears at least, to the Jégbontó sound, which is welcome. The songs are also not as heavy as they were on Kikelet, and seem to be more folk-based. Indeed, there are many "folk breakdowns" on the album, for lack of a better term.

As I said before, the songwriting is very strong on this album, and there are many memorable and enjoyable moments. There are rare occasions where a song may start to fall a little flat, melodically, but even in these infrequent incidents the song will redeem itself with a great instrumental section or chorus (see "Égnek Ostora" for an example of this). There's never a time when I think, "haven't I heard this melody from another band before?"

Fortunately, Dalriada seems to have fans in their own country, because Szelek was #2 on the Hungarian album sales charts on the week of its release; quite an accomplishment for a folk metal band, I'm sure. Now if Nail Records can only get their albums out of Hungary and into the hands of metal fans worldwide, they could really be onto something. All the ingredients are there, but unfortunately the distribution is lacking. A band this good deserves to get their music out there, so please, somebody, make it happen.

In the end, even though I had to import the CD from Hungary, it was well worth it and I would do it again if I had to. Do whatever you can to (legally) obtain the works of this great metal band.

Album Review: Moonsorrow - "Viides luku - Hävitetty"

2008-07-31T18:25:00.003-04:00

Artist: Moonsorrow (Finland)
Album Title: Viides luku - Hävitetty
Label: Spikefarm Records (Finland) / Unruly Sounds (U.S.)
Released: 2007

This "review" is one that I have been putting off for a long time. As much as I want to talk about this album to anyone who cares enough to listen (which is very few people in my social circles), words fail me when it comes to writing a review of it. But because this is my favorite metal CD, I feel that I really should at least attempt to discuss it here.

For those who need an introduction, Moonsorrow is one of the more prominent and acclaimed pagan metal bands in the world. They have gained a relatively large fanbase due to the unflagging high quality of their output. With five albums, a re-issued full-length demo, and a very long EP released since 2001, Moonsorrow has given us plenty to listen to, and all of it, especially from their sophomore album Voimasta Ja Kunniasta forward, is well worth checking out. That album and its three subsequent follow-ups are all worthy of finding their way on lists of "best metal albums," yet, in my opinion, it is their fifth album, Viides Luku - Hävitetty (aka V: Hävitetty or Chapter Five: Ravaged), that manages to top not only their previous offerings but possibly every pagan metal album ever recorded. It is certainly my easy number one album pick of 2007.

Despite their (nonsensical) English band name, Moonsorrow has written all of their songs in their native Finnish since at least their 1999 demo Tämä Ikuinen Talvi. This is no exception on V: Hävitetty, but, fortunately for non-Finnish speakers like myself, the booklet includes excellent English translations of the lyrics. In this case, Moonsorrow has departed from the usual warrior themes and instead spins a tale of isolation and apocalyptic ruin at the end of things, an appropriate theme for these dark days. Also appropriate is the fact that the band has shed much of its folk metal sound, which I think would have been distracting on an album with this kind of concept. Instead, V: Hävitetty is crushingly epic black metal, though they have not lost their sense of melody, and there are still a few folk moments, with accordion, mouth harp, and mandolin. It is not very technical or progressive, despite the very long track lengths, but instead flows very organically and tastefully throughout its 56 minute length.

The album takes a few minutes to gather steam, as the sound of a storm and a crumbling glacier, accompanied by acoustic guitar and some dark synth tones, eases the listener into the proper mood. The bass and drums enter after a couple minutes, followed by some clean choir singing, which makes up the initial piece, "Jäästä Syntynyt (Born of Ice)." There are only two tracks on the album, the first one being 30 minutes long and the second being about 26 minutes long. However, the first track actually consists of two pieces of music, the first five minutes or so being "Jäästä Syntynyt" and the rest being "Varjojen Virta (Stream of Shadows)." The intensity really builds over the first few minutes of "Varjojen Virta," but once Ville Sorvali begins with his trademark snarling vocals, any worries about Moonsorrow losing their edge are put to rest. If anything, the band is sharper and tighter than ever before. And while the previous album, Verisäkeet, allowed itself to lose momentum by having extended lulls between songs (really, was having a few minutes of nature sounds between every song really necessary?), V: Hävitetty manages to stay interesting throughout. There are softer moments on the album, such as at about 16 minutes into the first track and at the beginning of the second track, but most of the time V: Hävitetty is just huge in sound and in atmosphere. I know I overuse the word "epic," but that is the most appropriate word I can think of for the album.

By the time the first track ends, and one is able to catch his or her breath after the incredible and bombastic final several minutes of "Varjojen Virta,"one might feel that there is no way the second track, "Tuleen Ajettu Maa (A Land Driven Into the Fire)," can possibly top it. However, "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" is, in my opinion, one of the greatest epic metal songs ever. It begins, innocuously enough, with the sound of a crackling fire, followed by what sounds like a shaman drum and some chanting. After a few minutes, the song itself begins, and from then on there's really nothing stopping the momentum until the final few minutes, when the song fades into the sound of snowfall and a distant rumble of thunder. "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" has a really great hook that is used quite often, holding the song together and causing it to sound much shorter than its 26-minute length. Like the first track, "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" unfolds quite organically and satisfyingly.

Despite the length of the tracks, V: Hävitetty is an easy album for me to recommend to any fan of extreme metal. The songwriting is top-notch, and the musicianship, while not being technical or flashy, is tight and tastefully executed. Those who dislike black metal because of the blastbeats should find drummer Marko Tarvonen's work refreshing, as he only occasionally employs them. The keyboards add a lot of atmosphere to the album (you'll hear those female choir sounds throughout), yet they are not overbearing, unless you're one of those people who doesn't like any use of keyboards whatsoever. If you don't like harsh vocals, well, then you might have a serious problem with the album, because most of the vocals are in that fashion, though there are many clean choir-style vocals and a brief moment of clean lead vocals provided by guitarist Henri Sorvali.

V: Hävitetty is an album that has managed to divide Moonsorrow fans, though it seems most have warmed up to it after repeated listens. It didn't make a big impact on me the first time I listened to it, but it was definitely one that grew on me. Though some have lamented the increase in black metal elements and the disappearance of most of the folk sound, I really think that the heavier musical style is perfect for the theme Moonsorrow was tackling with this album, and it doesn't necessarily mean that they have abandoned their earlier sound (though, based on their EP, Tulimyrsky, released a few months ago, those fears may not be altogether unfounded). However, it seems to me that Moonsorrow is carving their own unique path and are distancing themselves musically from the many bands that have taken inspiration from their earlier works. If V: Hävitetty represents the progression of Moonsorrow, then I welcome progress. They haven't disappointed me yet.

Album Review: Svartby - "Kom I Min Kittel"

2008-06-25T21:33:00.005-04:00

Artist: Svartby (Russia)
Album Title: Kom I Min Kittel
Label: Phono (Russia) / Trollzorn (Germany)
Released: 2007 (Phono) / 2008 (Trollzorn)

I am encountering some difficulty with the opening of this review, because no matter which angle I attempt to use, it all comes back to the same phrase: Svartby sounds a lot like Finntroll. Yes, they've got the Swedish lyrics, just like Finntroll. This is all the more remarkable because Svartby is a Russian band from Saint Petersburg, and I strongly doubt that Swedish is the native language of any member of the band. Svartby also uses a lot of polka rhythms, also like Finntroll. Both bands write songs about creatures from folklore. Both bands' musical aesthetic pits extreme metal (complete with growling vocals) against a backdrop of "evil fairy tale" melodies. It's very obvious where Svartby's primary influences lie.

A post made by a representative of their label, Trollzorn, at the Viking Blood forum, describes Svartby's lyrical themes like this: "The band sings about wild magical creatures living in Svartby (the Black Village) - witches, dwarfs, tree spirits - definitely unkind to human folk, but at the same time merry, nature-loving and nice living beings with a good sense of humor." The music certainly lives up to this description, as I frequently got the feeling that I was listening to what the soundtrack to a fairy tale, albeit a twisted one. Yes, this is not far removed from the aesthetic that Finntroll already established, especially with their first three albums, but Svartby, to my ears at least, has an overall "lighter" and more playful atmosphere than their Finnish inspiration. This is particulary true now that Finntroll has decided to travel in a darker and more serious direction (though we're speaking in relative terms here) with their latest album, 2007's Ur Jordens Djup. I think that those who are looking for something more like Jaktens Tid or Nattfödd might find Svartby's sound quite agreeable to them.

Kom I Min Kittel begins with some sound effects (including a kettle boiling) and a brief (but pretty) instrumental before launching into the title track, which establishes the fact that, yes, you are listening to some polka-infused folk metal here. The fairy tale-like melodies are handled by a very capable keyboard player, whose work is undoubtedly the focal point of the overall sound. There is a variety of sound effects throughout the CD as well, including wolves growing and howling, goats bleating (is that the correct word?), a witch cackling, and a frog croaking. These add to the overall light and fun feeling that this album has, and help give the impression (to this listener at least) that Svartby is a band that is enjoying themselves. The only moment on the album that may cause some concern for sensitive listeners (at least those who, like me, don't understand Swedish... I have no idea what the lyrics are saying) is the beginning of "Julen Av Vedergällning," a song that begins with a rendition of "Silent Night," which transitions into the sound of flames and people screaming, and then explodes into probably the fastest and most aggressive song on the album. This (somewhat playful) anti-Christian moment is reflected in an illustration in the booklet of what looks like a bear standing in the snow in front of a burning church. It's nothing that Finntroll hasn't done before (Jaktens Tid has a similar track), but a few may be bothered by it.

Svartby's full-length debut is a pretty short album (only 33 minutes), but it's so enjoyable that I often listen to it all the way through more than once. Really, the only knock I can make against Svartby is that, no matter how good they are (and they are quite good), they are doomed to sit in the shadow of the well-known band that inspired them if they do not establish their own identity. There are certainly moments of originality, such as the wonderful "Moder Av Alla Häxor," but generally they do not stray very far from an established sound. A band that shows this much spirit and talent deserves to be viewed as more than just "that Russian band that sounds like Finntroll," so I'm hoping that their sound will evolve into something a little more original. Maybe they'll be like Morrigan, a band that, at one point, seemed content to re-create Bathory's "Blood Fire Death" but then became something great on their own terms without losing the qualities that made their earlier albums so enjoyable despite their derivativeness. I love the overall aesthetic and the atmosphere Svartby creates, so I really hope to hear more from them.

I'm reluctant to give the album my full recommendation because I know that a lot of metal fans who are more jaded than I am will dismiss Svartby because of the similarities between them and their main influence. However, if you're not one of those fans and can still enjoy a band despite those similarities, Kom I Min Kittel is a very enjoyable (and addicting) album full of great songs. It has put a smile on my face many times, even when I'm at work (a feat which is not always easy these days). I'm certainly glad I took a chance on it.

Album Review: Astaarth - "Gloria Burgundia"

2008-06-19T20:54:00.007-04:00

Artist: Astaarth (France)
Album Title: Gloria Burgundia
Label: Bloodfiredeath (Germany)
Released: 2007

Astaarth is a band (now a duo) that has been in existence since 1996, yet Gloria Burgundia is their first album (not including two demos released in 1998 and 2002, respectively). According to the insert, Astaarth plays "Burgundian Pagan/folk Metal exclusively," this statement being followed by about twenty exclamation points. Listening to this album has had the benefit of forcing me to learn some things about the history of Burgundy, a region of France and Switzerland that was once the site of the kingdom of the Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe that probably originated from Scandinavia. As a lyric from the album's opening track, "Our Beloved Country," states: "We are not French, nor another nationality. We are Burgundians above all." Okay, then. These guys mean business.

The music can be described as somewhat raw and epic black metal with a strong folk sound. One half of the duo plays, in addition to the expected heavy metal instruments, the épinette (a form of zither found in France), banjo, double-bass, and Irish pipes. There are also several guest musicians on the recording, so, in addition to those instruments, we are treated to the sound of the hurdy gurdy, mouth harp, flute, violin, accordion, and spoons (!). To top it off, there are backing vocalists who sing choir parts as well as pieces of traditional Burgundian songs that appear within the construct of the long (between 7 and 12 minute) tracks. Two shorter instrumental tracks round out the package, leaving us with a very odd but compelling 57-minute folk metal album. The lyrics are almost all in English, and primarily deal with Burgundian history and nationalism.

My first listen to this album was a strange experience due to the contrast of the black metal and the frequent folk sections. One moment I was listening to a fairly normal black metal with the expected shrieking vocals, and then in the next moment I'm hearing weird yipping sounds, handclaps, acoustic guitar, mouth harp, double-bass, and another stringed instrument that I'm assuming is the épinette. I'm no neophyte to to folk metal, but even I had to become accustomed to the music Astaarth creates on Gloria Burgundia. I can't even imagine the reaction that a person who is not at all familiar to folk metal would have if I were to play the album for them, especially the track "Vae Victis," which is the one with the spoons.

Although I enjoy Gloria Burgundia immensely, I found that, in contrast to the vibrant (and often smile-inducing) folk sections, some of the longer black metal-oriented sections can be dry. Astaarth is miles more interesting when they bring in the folk instruments and traditional melodies. Fortunately, the black metal sections are made better when the violin, bagpipes, and other instruments play along, though I didn't always notice them at first listen.

Astaarth is likely to have limited appeal with Gloria Burgundia, because, even by folk metal standards, this is a bit of a niche product. I think that some listeners will be entertained but will view it as no more than a novelty due to the uniqueness of the sound. However, I have found it both entertaining and enlightening, and I enjoy it even more with each listen. It persuaded me to look into the history of Burgundy, a subject with which I was unfamiliar previously, so that says something about its impact on me. It's definitely an album to check out if you're looking for something different and perhaps challenging. It's a great album, but, like most folk metal, it's going to sound perplexing and strange to those who aren't prepared for it.

So, prepare yourself with a visit to Astaarth's Myspace profile and give them a listen. I can almost guarantee that you've never heard anything else like it. I would definitely recommend Gloria Burgundia to open-minded fans of folk metal, and I hope we won't have to wait 11 years to hear a second album from this Burgundian duo.

Nokturnal Mortum live footage on Youtube

2008-06-01T20:20:00.003-04:00

The notorious Ukrainian pagan metal band, opening for Satyricon in Kiev, performs a new song here

Counting the days until The Voice of Steel is released...

Album Review: Altorių Šešėliai - "Margi Sakalai"

2008-05-29T20:39:00.008-04:00

Artist: Altorių Šešėliai [Altar Shadows] (Lithuania)
Album Title: Margi Sakalai (Speckledy Falcons)
Label: Todestrieb Records (U.K.)
Released: 2007

I blame my unfortunate lack of knowledge about Lithuania on the fact that, when I was being taught European history and geography in school, the country was a part of the Soviet Union. Whoever wrote the textbooks my school used seemed to believe that countries that had been annexed by the U.S.S.R. were assimilated forever and therefore had lost their identity, even though countries like Lithuania had existed for hundreds of years before the Soviet Union. In fact, Lithuania will celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of its name in 2009.

With such a long and rich history as this nation has (for instance, it was the last pagan nation in Europe, and put up quite a resistance during the Northern Crusades), it's inevitable that musical acts will arise who revere and celebrate its past and present. One of them is Altorių Šešėliai, more popularly known as Altar Shadows, which brings us "poetic pagan black metal from the feral gardens and misty soilfields of lowland Lithuania." Simply to call it black metal would be inaccurate, though, as there is quite a bit of folk on this one-man project's first "major" release, Margi Sakalai, which I will call Speckledy Falcons from this point on (since it's the title as it appears on the cover of the Todestrieb Records release, and I find it endearing).

As you can probably tell by the description, the title, and the cover of the album, the theme of nature is very much present in Altar Shadows' music. Many of the lyrics are taken from Lithuanian poetry, and some of the melodies used are folk tunes. The music itself, on most of the tracks at least, is pretty raw black metal. Some of it reminds me of the first few Wyrd albums and the Hungarian black metal project Marblebog. I am at times also reminded of Agalloch. While much of Speckledy Falcons is in this atmospheric black metal style (though he often includes acoustic guitar, possibly a mandolin, and once in a while a flute), there are some beautiful softer moments as well. My favorite track on the album is the acoustic version of "Að Taip Laukiu" ("I'm Waiting"), the original of which appeared on a previous release. This track features a female guest vocalist and adds depth to what was already a great song. Another favorite track is the instrumental "Gelsvas Mënuo III" ("The Yellow Moon III"). I don't usually care for instrumentals in the middle of an album, but sometimes I put this one on repeat.

Speckledy Falcons is a wonderful album, a work of melancholy beauty. The only song that doesn't seem to fit is a cover song called "Eternal Wars," which is a song by fellow Lithuanian project Blackthru. Musically, it's a pretty solid track, but the lyrics (typical black metal stuff about the war between God and Lucifer), which are in English on this one song, don't fit with the rest of the album. That's all right, though, because it doesn't detract from the album when I'm listening to it.

Thanks to Todestrieb, Speckledy Falcons is not a difficult album to obtain as of this writing. I'm not sure that every fan of folk, pagan, or atmospheric black metal would enjoy this album, but I think that fans of these genres should definitely check out Altar Shadows. A few tracks from Speckledy Falcons can be streamed from his Myspace page here if you are interested.

Album Review: Eluveitie - "Slania"

2008-05-19T18:40:00.009-04:00

Artist: Eluveitie (Switzerland)
Album Title: Slania
Label: Nuclear Blast (Germany, USA)
Released: 2008

Though it seems unlikely that melodic death metal and traditional Celtic music can mix into something listenable, Eluveitie has been doing precisely that since their 2003 debut EP, Vên, arrived on the folk metal scene. Vên was received well enough that this former studio project became a full-fledged band, releasing their first album, Spirit, in 2006. Due to their accessible and enjoyable sound, they've gained a strong and loyal fanbase over the last few years. With their signing late last year to the large metal label Nuclear Blast, Eluveitie was given an opportunity to expose a much wider audience to their unique brand of folk metal. Fortunately, they did not squander that opportunity, as their second album, Slania, is an amazing piece of work, in many ways a refinement of the elements that made Spirit such a popular album in the scene.

Eluveitie's sound is an intriguing blend of Gothenburg-style death metal (think In Flames or Dark Tranquillity) and Celtic music. The eight-piece band (formerly they had as many as ten members) not only features two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer, but four members who play traditional instruments. The vocalist, Chrigel Glanzmann, also plays flute, bagpipes, mandola, bodhrán, and acoustic guitar. One member plays bagpipes and various flutes, another plays violin, and yet another plays the hurdy gurdy. Unlike many folk metal bands who only have occasional folk elements, for Eluveitie it is an integral part of their sound and not simply a gimmick or "tacked-on" element.

Thematically, Eluveitie deals primarily with Celtic (Gaulish, to be specific) history. Oppression and conquest by the Roman Empire is a frequent lyrical theme, which means that many of Eluveitie's songs seem angry, a feeling that is enhanced by the nature of the melodic death metal that makes up the base of their sound. This isn't light-hearted, Korpiklaani-style folk metal, though you may at times find yourself torn between the desire to bang your head and the desire to get up and dance a jig. Part of the album's theme, the idea of the Great Wheel, the seasonal cycle, is represented by periodic instrumental folk pieces, including the beautiful "Anagantios," and the songs that begin and end the album ("Samon" and "Elembivos," respectively). As a bonus, a short but sweet acoustic version of "Samon" appears at the end of the CD.

As with any follow-up, Slania will be frequently compared to its predecessor, Spirit. The fact that there has been so much debate over which CD is superior is an indication to me that there is no clear consensus among Eluveitie fans. Spirit has some really stunning moments, and is overall a very strong album, but it also has a few tracks that I don't enjoy very much. Slania, on the other hand, is consistently great all the way through. Perhaps it doesn't ever reach such highs as the last few minutes of "Tegernakô" from Spirit, but, when listening through the entire album, I enjoy it more overall than I do Spirit. The albums are quite similar, though, both featuring great production, songwriting, and performances. Both use melodies drawn from Celtic traditional songs (a fact that has annoyed some fans, which makes me snicker a little... apparently these people want "folk metal" but are offended if you actually use traditional folk tunes instead of simply making up tunes that sound like traditional tunes) and contain a somewhat equal ratio of metal to folk. With Slania, it appears to me that the folk elements are better blended with the metal elements, so much so that it may appear upon first listen that Eluveitie has diminished the folk on this album. They haven't, though. It's there. It's just integrated more with the metal elements.

This is a metal album that should not be overlooked this year. Those who would be tempted to avoid the album due to the term "melodic death metal" or even "Celtic music" should at least listen to some samples online. I am not much of a fan of any sort of death metal, melodic or otherwise, but yet I have been a big fan of Eluveitie since shortly after Spirit's release in 2006. Slania proves that the band has staying power, and I am looking forward to seeing what great works they will deliver in the future.

Album Review: Turisas - "The Varangian Way"

2008-05-08T21:09:00.008-04:00

Artist: Turisas (Finland)
Album Title: The Varangian Way
Label: Century Media (U.S.)
Released: 2007

The Varangian Way refers to a trade route used by Norsemen, mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries, by which they reached the Byzantine Empire. The Varangians, as they came to be known, settled in Eastern Europe and are believed to be part of the ancestry of the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians (the Rus'). The trade route they used, by way of a series of rivers and the Caspian sea, is the setting for the fictional story that unfolds in Turisas' second album.

The first Turisas album, Battle Metal, was beloved by many, but I mostly hated it. It sounded to me, even at the time when I was still new to the pagan metal genre, like a generic version of Moonsorrow. Take Viking metal, strip out all specific references to Vikings or paganism, and you end up with a widely-accessible, relatively inoffensive, but diluted product. It had a few songs that I enjoyed, such as "Among Ancestors," but I thought that the lyrics and the overall atmosphere of Battle Metal was cheesy and bland.

It was with reluctance that I bought the second Turisas album, The Varangian Way. It was hailed by many of the same people who loved Battle Metal, which didn't tell me anything about the album's alleged quality. Some even felt it less good than the debut. I wasn't really expecting much when the disc arrived in the mail, but, in this case, the album turned out far better than I had hoped, almost reaching my top five metal CD's of 2007.

Musically, Turisas treads much of the same water as they did on Battle Metal. This is very accessible, symphonic, and epic Viking metal. This is not a band you listen to for great guitar riffs, because the guitars are just kind of there. The high-quality symphonic arrangements (synthesized, but convincing) take the spotlight from the guitars and drive the music. This tends to give off the atmosphere of listening to a heavy metal musical about Vikings, which is something that I hope someone eventually attempts. There is no lead guitar on this album; every time you think you're hearing a guitar solo, you're actually hearing an electric violin. There's also an accordion, though I don't hear it that often. The vocals of Warlord Nygård range from extremely good clean singing to harsh vocals. He is frequently backed by a choir of singers, and by this I don't mean just the typical "Viking choir" that you find on many albums in this genre. I mean that, quite literally, there is a choir on the album, though they are mostly utilized towards the end of the disc, perhaps to build the epic quality of the album until it culminates in the incredible closer, "Miklagard Overture."

The Varangian Way surprised me by how much the band has matured since Battle Metal. The album is wonderfully paced, with no unnecessary or bland tracks to be found throughout its 43 minutes of playing time. Lyrically, most of the album is concerned with the dangers of the voyage over raging rivers and through storms. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, nobody picks up a sword to behead an enemy throughout the entire album. It's mostly about the journey and the discovery of new lands and cultures, and by the end of the album, as Nygård sings the lines, "Adventures lie ahead, many knots unraveled on my thread," I hope that this is not the last we will hear of Hakon the Bastard.

For those who are looking for an introduction to Viking metal, The Varangian Way is a great start. Even non-metal fans should not be put off by it, because many of the things that non-metal fans hate about heavy metal (wanky guitar solos, high-pitched vocals, etc.) are not to be found on this release. For this reason, however, perhaps it will be avoided or criticized by a number of metal fans. But who cares? They've got plenty of generic power metal bands with Halford-wannabe vocalists to listen to if they so wish. The overall impression I'm left with after listening to Turisas is: this is surprisingly tasteful for a metal album. I'm a metal fan, and am well-aware and accepting of its excesses, but The Varangian Way is an album I can recommend to almost anyone.

And, because it's on a relatively large- and well-distributed label like Century Media, there's a chance you'll actually be able to find it. That's always a plus.

A stunning album... Very highly recommended.

Album Review: Alkonost - "Песни Вечного Древа"

2008-05-07T21:43:00.008-04:00

Artist: Alkonost (Russia)
Album Title: Песни Вечного Древа (Songs of the Eternal Oak)
Label: Metalism Records (Russia)
Released: 2007

The earliest Alkonost release (not including demos) was the cassette-only "album" Songs of the Eternal Oak in 2000. These songs were released on CD, along with the Spirit Tending To Revolt demo, as the eponymous Alkonost in 2002. The Russian folk metal band was a different beast back in the Songs of the Eternal Oak days, with their relatively raw production and black metal-ish male vocals, as opposed to the heavily-female-voiced, cleanly-produced folk metal that they began making with the release of Between the Worlds in 2004. The vocals of Alex "Nightbird" Solovyov didn't fully disappear (except on Between the Worlds' Russian-language re-recording, Межмирье... what was up with that?), instead alternating with the beautiful operatic vocals of Alena Pelevina, but I would imagine that, for fans of Alkonost's early releases, the transition between the Songs of the Eternal Oak material and Between the Worlds must have been jarring.

I'm not sure how many old-school Alkonost fans continued to follow the band during this transition period, but, for those who sometimes yearn for the old days while still enjoying the progressions and changes that Alkonost has made over the past several years, Песни Вечного Древа may be of interest to you. Though, now that I think about it, if you're one of these fans I just described, then you've probably owned this album for over a year, in which case this "review" is pretty much useless to you. So let me start again: for fans of Alkonost's newer albums who may not be familiar with the beginnings of this band, Песни Вечного Древа may be of interest to you.

For the most part, Песни Вечного Древа is a Russian language re-recording of the classic Songs of the Eternal Oak. They also include "День последний мой" (a new Russian language version of "My Last Day" from Spirit Tending To Revolt), which is a really nice version of one of my favorite Alkonost songs, and a song called "К родимой стороне," which may be a new recording of an old song, but, if it is, I'm not familiar with the original. This song is also unique in that it features guest vocals by Ilya from Svarga (Russia... not the Ukrainian NS pagan metal band) and Alexandr from Rarog (also from Russia, not the Polish band). Alexandr seems to get around, because he also did guest vocals on the album by Rodogor, which I should also get around to reviewing one of these days. [May 14th edit: He's also in Kalevala, who just released their debut. Must get my hands on that CD.]

How Песни Вечного Древа differs from every Alknost album released since 2004 is that the excellent harsh vocals of Alex "Nightbird" dominate the album. Alena only appears on a few songs, and even then her presence is minimal. I greatly enjoy her voice, but since these songs were originally done with only a male vocalist, it makes sense to put Alexey back in the spotlight for this recording. Because there's very little singing to balance out the growling, this gives the album a bit of a harder edge than other newer Alkonost albums, though the music and production is pretty much the same as what they've been doing recently. This may cause it to have more appeal for those who prefer the growled vocals, or those who feel that Alkonost (or at least newer Alkonost) is a bit too "wimpy." I have no idea, though. I enjoy both newer and older Alkonost, though I prefer the newer material because of Alena's voice and the modern production.

Though many if not all of these songs are more than 10 years old, and were written during the formative years of the band, they hold up rather well when compared to the songs that appear on The Path We've Never Made or Stone Heart Blood. The album has plenty of great moments, though it holds few surprises for those who own the original Songs of the Eternal Oak or Alkonost. And those who don't feel that one set of vocals can hold up the entire album (or who can't imagine Alkonost without Alena's vocals featured prominently) may be disappointed in the album. However, I think many fans will find this to their liking, as I have. I'm not exactly sure why Alkonost has chosen to re-record so many of their old songs with Russian lyrics, but in this case they've given us a newly-polished version of a great album, which I would imagine is good news to those who haven't warmed up to the more raw production and harsher sound of the original.

Perhaps it's not a "must" for every Alkonost fan, but Песни Вечного Древа is still a great listen and a worthwhile purchase for those of us who can't get enough of them. It's almost worth it just for the new version of "My Last Day."

New Dalriada video on Youtube

2008-05-04T22:54:00.003-04:00

I found this while browsing Youtube tonight. I didn't even know Dalriada had a new album out, but apparently it came out in April. Judging from the new song, it sounds like another good release by my favorite Hungarian band. I guess it's off to Ebay to make a new purchase.

Album Review: Slavland - "Echa Wieków Pradawnych"

2008-04-22T21:58:00.005-04:00

Artist: Slavland (Poland)
Album Title: Echa Wieków Pradawnych
Label: Eastside (Poland)
Released: 2007

Although many pagan metal fans have just recently discovered Slavland, Echa Wieków Pradawnych is actually his sixth album. Only the last three of his albums are readily available, as the first three were either self-released or had very limited distribution. The one-man project of Belzagor has been gaining a following over the past few years since signing with the great Polish label Eastside, so hopefully the older albums will see a re-issue someday.

Anyway, Slavland came to my attention in the summer of 2006, when I purchased the CD Szepty Starych Dębów very inexpensively from Drakkar in France. I was immediately drawn to the folk sections of the album, but the extremely raw and underproduced black metal (and Belzagor's vocals) initially put me off. After a few solid listens, though, I wised up and became a fan of his music, soon purchasing the 2006 album (and now one of my favorite pagan metal CD's) Tarcza Swaroga ("Swarog's Shield"). I was greatly anticipating the release of Echa Wieków Pradawnych, and it didn't disappoint me.

Belzagor is one talented multi-instrumentalist; that much is obvious to me. On this album, he not only handles all the guitar, bass, and drums, but also a long list of traditional instruments. I'm not sure what all of them are, but there are a number of flutes, bagpipes, percussion, and stringed instruments on this, as well as other, Slavland albums. The live drums are an element that are new to this release. On previous Slavland albums (at least the two that I have), Belzagor used a weak-sounding drum machine, so this new element is welcome. The metal sections of the album are still somewhat under-produced, though, but there have been improvements since Tarcza Swaroga.

Slavland is a bit of a difficult band to get into, even to seasoned veterans of the folk and pagan metal scenes. It combines very raw and aggressive black metal (complete with the shrieking vocals) with strong folk elements. Many fans of black metal will not welcome the folk sound, while many fans of folk metal will not enjoy the raw black metal sound. However, for fans of both (and the open-minded), Slavland's music is unique and very cool. I love the way the songs transition between and sometimes blend the disparate metal and folk elements, though it was something I had to get used to, admittedly.

Another feature that will take some getting used to, even to long-time Slavland fans, are the frequent sung (as in, not shrieked) vocals on the album. Belzagor has always sung at times on his albums, but on Echa Wieków Pradawnych it is obvious that he is trying to incorporate them into the Slavland sound even more. Whether or not that was a good idea is up to the individual listener. Sung vocals are fine, but Belzagor's singing voice is, well, an acquired taste. He's not always on-key, and he tends to use a fake vibrato at the end of phrases. Once I got used to his style, though, I can't imagine the songs without those vocals. Strange or not, they are an important part of the sound (as well as the charm).

There are twelve tracks on the CD, but half of them are folk songs without any metal elements. Some of these folk tracks have vocals, but some are instrumentals. They are certainly not filler, though, as they are written, assembled, and performed with great care and quality, and I wouldn't remove a single one of them from the album. The remaining songs are metal, but with frequent folk parts, and none of the songs escape without any folk elements, so those of you who don't like that side of Slavland are going to be out of luck. He packs a lot of great music into the 50 minutes or so that makes up Echa Wieków Pradawnych, so the album should be quite satisfying to fans of true folk metal.

Though I wouldn't put Echa Wieków Pradawnych quite as high on my list as Tarcza Swaroga, it is a very solid follow-up that also finds Slavland in a state of progression and improvement. The production could still improve quite a bit, but the metal parts no longer seem as if they were transferred from a low-bitrate sound file, and the live drums certainly add a needed "punch" to the sound. Slavland is also continuing to improve in the way the metal and folk elements blend and add to each other. It makes me very optimistic and excited about the future of the project.

If you have overlooked Slavland up until this point, I recommend you check it out and give it a solid chance.

Album Review: Walknut - "Graveforests and Their Shadows"

2008-04-22T21:02:00.006-04:00

Artist: Walknut (Russia)
Album Title: Graveforests and Their Shadows
Label: Stellar Winter Records (Russia)
Released: 2007

The walknut, better known as the valknut, is a symbol used to signify a person being bound to Odin and his service. It has been found on ancient runestones in Scandinavia and other areas, and is used by neopagans today. It is appropriate, then, that this Northern-themed Russian pagan metal band would adopt the name for their moniker. According to their label, Stellar Winter, Walknut features members of Nitberg, Forest, and Temnozor, the former two bands belonging to the Russian black metal circle Blazebirth Hall. Little else is known about Walknut, but the band has managed to cause quite a stir in the black metal realm with their debut, Graveforests and Their Shadows.

First of all, let me say that the artwork for the CD is fantastic and completely appropriate for the music it represents. The packaging consists mostly of grainy pictures of forests, as well as a photo of the band members themselves. The lyrics, which are in English, are printed in the booklet, which is helpful, and a nice runic font is used.

The music itself is atmospheric, droning black metal inspired by bands like Burzum. The closest modern reference point I can make (considering my general ignorance of any black metal-related music that is not pagan in nature) is the band Drudkh. Both bands have long, repetitive, and atmospheric songs with melancholic, nature-based lyrics. Graveforests and Their Shadows has six tracks, but only three of them have vocals. The remaining three tracks are instrumental (one being synth-based, the other two being metal). The three tracks with vocals, though, are all around 10-12 minutes long. The vocals are distorted and ghostly, like the howling of the wind, and they are fantastic. According to the insert, they were performed and recorded in the forest. I don't know if that's true or not. The lyrics paint a gray picture of dead forests, the ghosts of warriors, and men who have forgotten their roots.

The structure of the songs is pretty minimalistic. Each of the three songs with vocals have a small number of riffs that are repeated throughout, and each song has its own great hook that is placed at the perfect moments throughout the track. This kind of music is bound to leave some listeners bored, but I found its simplicity to be refreshing and effective. The guitar tone is thick and manages to evoke the melancholy and despair of the lyrics. Although the production isn't entirely clear, it's perfect for the music. It manages to sound almost timeless. This is not lo-fi garage black metal recording, so you won't have to crank it up to hear it over the background hiss (as there isn't any).

Walknut has already managed to find a pretty wide and appreciative audience, so chances are that if you're a fan of pagan metal then you are already aware of this band by now. For fans of Drudkh, Burzum, or Hate Forest, there's really no question that Graveforests and Their Shadows is a CD that should be in your collection. Hopefully this band will continue to record and release music, because, although the ingredients of their sound are not very original, Walknut has managed to mix those ingredients into a very compelling and satisfying debut album. My #3 favorite metal album of the year, after Moonsorrow and Menhir...

Album Review: Menhir - "Hildebrandslied"

2008-04-14T21:40:00.008-04:00

Artist: Menhir (Germany)
Album Title: Hildebrandslied
Label: Trollzorn (Germany)
Released: 2007

Das Hildebrandslied, or the Lay of Hildebrand, is a poem in Old High German about a father and son who meet and fight each other on a battlefield. The ending of the poem is lost to time, so the outcome of the battle is not known. This ancient tale forms the centerpiece of Menhir's fourth album, Hildebrandslied, one of the best metal albums of 2007.

Menhir is one of the forefathers of German pagan metal, having been around since 1995. They are a prominent part of the incredible Thuringian pagan metal scene, which features such great bands as Fjoergyn, Die Saat, XIV Dark Centuries, Helritt, Surturs Lohe, and Odroerir. In my opinion, Menhir is probably the best of the group. They took a lot of time between their third album, Ziuwari, and their newest, Hildebrandslied, but, judging from the finished product, it was time well spent.

The music of Menhir is epic and heroic, led by the soaring baritone vocals of singer/guitarist Heiko. I've always enjoyed his singing voice, imperfect though it has been throughout the years, but on this album his vocals have become a force to be reckoned with. It's mighty, booming, and proud... definitely a perfect fit for this kind of music. Heiko doesn't always sing, though. Like on past Menhir albums, he sometimes employs a harsh vocal style, though on Hildebrandslied it is not used nearly as often as his singing voice. The rest of the players are great as well. Guitarist Fix (also known for his excellent second band, Odroerir) returns, but the remaining three members appear for the first time on this album. I suppose it's difficult to keep a band together during a six year period between albums. The band sounds tighter than ever, though certainly Heiko's vocals are the focal point of the album. There is also a violin on a few tracks, which reminded me of the band's classic folk EP Buchonia.

The packaging for the CD is pretty elaborate, being one of those oversized digipacks that doesn't fit in my CD bookcase. The digipack is one of the nicest I've seen, as far as artwork is concerned. There are a lot of great photos of the band and members of Ulfhednar, a pagan re-enactment group. The cover of the insert is a reproduction of the first page of Das Hildebrandslied. It's all very well-thought-out, which is a perfect match for the quality of the music itself.

The album doesn't take long to get moving, as the vocals start 20 seconds into the first song. I'm used to pagan metal albums containing long instrumental intros, so it's refreshing to hear a band get right to business. The album starts strongly with the first two excellent songs, "Das alte Lied des Windes" and "Des Kriegers Gesicht (Ulfhednar)," but it manages to get even better when the album's centerpiece, the two-part "Das Hildebrandslied," begins. This section of the album begins with a brief but beautiful intro (featuring violin, acoustic guitar, and gentle synths) and then moves into what is perhaps the high mark of Menhir's already-strong career, "Das Hildebrandslied - Teil I." This nine-minute song is my musical highlight for the year 2007, hands-down. It manages to contain some of the most beautiful softer moments of the album and the most epic moments, and Heiko puts on an incredible vocal performance. Both this and the second part are sung in Old High German, and it is basically a word-for-word musical rendition of the Lay of Hildebrand, although they took some liberties with the text for the sake of flow. "Das Hildebrandslied - Teil II" finishes the tale, and it is a great all-acoustic track.

The next song, "Dein Ahn," is the weakest, in my opinion, but that's only because the rest of the album is so good. Things pick up again with the last track, "Weit in der Ferne," and the album ends as well as it begins.

Hildebrandslied would have been a shoe-in for my favorite album of 2007 if it hadn't been for the unstoppable force known as Moonsorrow's V: Hävitetty. There is just so much great music packed into the 41 and a half minutes that make up this album that no pagan metal fan should ignore it. I would even go as far as to recommend it to metal fans of more mainstream tastes, because I feel that the album could have really wide appeal among metal fans.

Due to its complete lack of availability in North America, I had to order the CD from Germany. However, their label has plans to issue the album in a regular jewel case version, which will be easier for them to distribute over here. For American listeners who are interested in Hildebrandslied, and cannot wait for the possibility of a jewel case version, it will probably cost you quite a bit to ship the digipack version over here, but for Menhir fans (and fans of epic and powerful pagan metal in general) it will likely be worth the cost.

Album Review: Fearlight - "Наш Завет"

2008-03-28T21:44:00.016-04:00

Artist: Fearlight (Russia)
Album Title: Наш Завет (Our Legacy)
Label: Gardarika Musikk (Russia)
Released: 2007

Although I enjoy folk metal bands from all over Europe (and elsewhere), there's something about Russian bands that tends to resonate with me especially deeply. Over the past few years, I have found many great bands from there, beginning with my discovery of Pagan Reign and Arkona. I make it a point to seek out Russian folk metal bands, so I am always pleased to discover a new one. Fearlight came to my attention through a music video on Youtube, and I was immediately taken with their sound and image. I immediately ordered their debut CD, Our Legacy, and, for a few days, I couldn't listen to anything else.

Like many folk metal bands from Russia, Fearlight is a bit of a mystery to me. Their website doesn't seem to be up anymore, and there is very little information about them online. According to their label, they began in 2005 as a doom metal band, but not much else in the way of band information is given, except that they took their time completing Our Legacy due to their wanting the production and arrangements to be perfect. I was able to listen to their 2005 demo and was surprised at how their style changed between the demo and their debut album. Their early sound is very much rooted in gothic metal, and though a few elements of their sound have survived (the use of both female and male vocals), it might as well be an entirely different band.

Fearlight is a five-piece band from Saint Petersburg, Russia. There are two vocalists in the band, "Elf" (a male, and also the band's guitarist) and "Albinoni" (a female, and the band's keyboardist). Neither of them have particularly strong voices, but they sound fine on this album, especially when singing together. I wouldn't say that they harmonize (this isn't Odroerir); rather they seem to mostly sing in unison. They both have soft voices, which gives the music a bit more of a gentle, folky sound than most bands that call themselves folk metal. Elf also utilizes a harsh vocal style, but very rarely. The band also includes a bassist ("Sin K River") and a drummer ("Makmillan Arfist"), as well as a tin whistle- and bagpipe-player ("Scald").

Our Legacy somewhat alternates between slower, ballad-like songs, and faster ones. Many of the songs (like track 8, "Три девы" or "Three Wise Maids") sound very much like folk songs at their base, rather than metal songs with folk instruments added to the mix. The bagpipes and tin whistles are beautifully intertwined with the traditional metal instruments, and folk melodies (as well as elements of classical music) are all over this album. Those who accuse folk metal of being inauthentic in its relation to folk music should give this CD a listen.

Another feature of Our Legacy is the sheer addictiveness of this album. When I received it, I listened to it for a few hours in the evening, and then throughout the entire next day at work. This is one of those albums that, once I reach the end, I want to go back and listen to the beginning again. It doesn't hurt that the first actual song on the album (after the Intro), "Лес" or "The Wood," features a beautiful chorus that I love to hear again and again. And the fourth song, the title track, is one of those songs I could listen to on repeat all day. Fortunately, the rest of the album maintains a high level of quality, with nothing I would consider "filler." At 36 minutes, it's a brisk listen, but an immensely enjoyable and satisfying one. The one minor criticism I could make is that two of the songs use English lyrics, and they don't make any sense to me. What exactly does the line "Vanishing is me, like a mad in fears" mean? Fortunately, the broken English was not noticeable to me when listening to the album, but I hope that in the future they stick to the Russian lyrics.

The album finishes with an outro that features music by the great composer Modest Moussorgsky and some folk poetry. When it's all done, inevitably I begin at track 1 again and am never tempted to skip any of the tracks on my next listen. I've had the CD for a few weeks now and it continues to delight me, though I have listened to it dozens of times. Therefore, it is very easy for me to recommend it to fans of true folk metal. Fearlight may not be a well-known name in Russian folk metal yet (in comparison to Alkonost, Butterfly Temple, or Arkona), but after an album like this, they deserve to get a lot more recognition than they have gotten so far. Hopefully Gardarika Musikk will get the CD out there so that more people can hear it. Tracking it down on this side of the Atlantic is practically impossible. Fortunately the good folks at Dark Symphonies got in a few copies, though they sold out quickly.

I will do my small part to help spread the word about Fearlight by typing "BUY THIS!" and posting this review on my humble blog that nobody reads.

Album Review: Drudkh - "Estrangement"

2008-03-17T21:37:00.003-04:00

Artist: Drudkh (Ukraine)
Album Title: Estrangement
Label: Supernal Music (U.K.)
Released: 2007

Although it's not very often we'll see an album by a pagan metal band from a country as obscure (in the metal world) as Ukraine grab the attention of underground metal critics, that's exactly what happened when Drudkh unleashed Blood In Our Wells upon the world in 2006. They had been quietly building up a fanbase for the previous couple of years, releasing a trio of albums that you will often see mentioned in "best of" lists on metal forums: Forgotten Legends, Autumn Aurora, and The Swan Road. But, for some reason, Blood In Our Wells managed to make Drudkh a bit of a critical darling in the world of underground extreme metal. Not bad for a band who never gives interviews or concerts, has never released any sort of band photo, and is often incorrectly identified as National Socialists.

As is inevitable, expectations were high for a follow-up to Blood In Our Wells. That album, to many, is the pinnacle of their impressive career. Then they managed to confound everyone, not once, but twice. The first was with the release of an instrumental folk album,Songs of Grief and Solitude, which many described as boring, and the 10" vinyl Anti-Urban EP, which most viewed as pointless and sub-par. Therefore, by the time Estrangement was released in 2007 (less than a year and a half after Blood In Our Wells), it seems that much of the crowd had dissipated. I suppose it's just as well, because Drudkh doesn't seem to welcome the attention.

Drudkh's sound is a little difficult to describe, at least if you want to do it any justice. They write very atmospheric and somewhat repetitive songs, often with a thick guitar tone, accompanied by lyrics taken from Ukrainian poetry and vocals that are kind of a rough shout rather than a growl or shriek. At first, they didn't use any keyboards, but ever since Autumn Aurora, the occasional keyboard will show up at just the perfect time. The band manages to evolve with each album, but on Estrangement they almost seem to devolve into a mixture of the sound they employed on the first few albums. However, they've improved in the way that the bass is now very audible (and well performed), and the songs, to me at least, seem less repetitive. The occasional solo is also welcome.

The few negatives I can come up with are that I don't really care for the way the drums are recorded, and that the album is a little on the short side. There are four songs, and it clocks in at about 36 minutes total. However, there is no filler, and even the instrumental that closes the album is great (and this is coming from a person who doesn't usually like instrumentals). They've trimmed out most of the use of samples, except for a very brief one that begins the album. This may be a good or a bad thing depending on whether or not you enjoyed the Ukrainian film and folk music samples from Blood In Our Wells.

There are always those who say that Drudkh is overrated, and Estrangement is not likely to silence those voices. It's a strange little album, and if I were more of a cynical type (I'm not, which is one reason why I make a very bad album reviewer) I would say that Drudkh kind of pushed this one out the door without much effort. However, I really enjoy Estrangement. I listen to it more often than I listen to their earlier albums, with the possible exception of Blood In Our Wells. It has kind of an addicting sound that I don't get tired of, even on those days when my attention span is shorter than usual. The songs are well constructed, the recording quality is good (except for the drums, as I already mentioned), and, even though they dialed back the epic qualities of their music, the beauty and melancholy is still very much present.

So, despite what the detractors might say, I find Drudkh to be an amazing band, and Estrangement is a great addition to their discography.

Album Review: Graveland - "Will Stronger Than Death"

2008-03-17T20:48:00.006-04:00

Artist: Graveland (Poland)
Album Title: Will Stronger Than Death
Label: No Colours Records (Germany)
Released: 2007

Chances are, just about every fan of pagan metal has at least a passing familiarity with Graveland's Rob Darken. Whether it is the controversy he has courted over the years due to his political affiliations and interviews, or his flow of almost-yearly album releases, he remains a visible and outspoken figure in the scene.

I'm not much of a fan of Graveland's early, black metal, period. And I never really got into albums like Thousand Swords, despite having heard many good things about them. My introduction to Graveland (and I admit this rather sheepishly, since it will reveal me to be a relative newcomer) was 2005's Fire Chariot of Destruction, an excellent and epic album. I began tracking down many of his earlier releases, but Fire Chariot of Destruction remained my very favorite. Since with each release his production skills improved (and the "epic-ness" seemed to increase), I felt that Will Stronger Than Death would be even more sweeping.

However, I was shocked (and, admittedly, a little dismayed at first) to find that Will Stronger Than Death is actually a step back in many ways. The production is less clear and the keyboards and choirs are used less often than on its predecessor. It seems that maybe Rob Darken realized that he didn't want to continue travelling in that direction and made a bit of a departure. I was unhappy about this at first, but then I gave the album a chance and realized that, in many ways, this is quite possibly the best Graveland CD I've heard.

The key to the appeal of this album is, for the most part, the riffs. The riffs are like the sound of war. The drums help give it that effect as well. The riffs are repetitive, certainly, but they work together to cast a persistent mood throughout the album. The color of the album is almost entirely gray, like you're traveling into battle with clouds looming overhead. That kind of mood may cause some to tire of the album, since every song at least on a surface level sounds quite similar to the one that preceded it, but, if you're in the right mood, it's a very satisfying listen. The elements of the album will be familiar to anyone acquainted with the sound of modern Graveland (including that barely-decipherable, almost-emotionless croak of Darken's); it's the strong songwriting that helps it stand out from its already-strong predecessors.

I guess the easy way to say this is that if you didn't like any Graveland before, Will Stronger Than Death is not likely to win you over, but I think even fans of certain periods in Graveland's career who have been alienated by the newer albums may find this to be a pleasant surprise. As for me, I have heard enough comparisons to his earlier work that I may have to track down some more releases.

Album Review: Аркона - "От сердца к небу"

2008-02-09T17:16:00.001-05:00

Artist: Аркона [Arkona] (Russia)
Album Title: От сердца к небу (From the Heart to the Heaven)
Label: Sound Age Production (Russia)
Released: 2007

Arkona may have only been around since 2002, but the band has made a large progression in only a few short years. The first two albums, Возрождение and Лепта, were very solid metal albums which put Arkona on the map, to to speak, but the folk metal was really kicked into overdrive with 2005's Во славу великим!, a monster of an album, which replaced the first two album's keyboard-based folk melodies with a number of traditional instruments such as various flutes and bagpipes. Во славу великим! also clocked in at over an hour long, and managed to keep its momentum throughout. It's a tough act to follow, but after only 2 years, during which time they released a live CD and DVD, Arkona is back with another masterwork, От сердца к небу (which I will call From the Heart to the Heaven for the remainder of this review).

One of the major draws of this band, besides the many wonderful folk melodies, are the excellent vocals by frontwoman (and principal songwriter) Masha "Scream." She is capable of doing both clean and harsh vocals proficiently, and, in a live setting, can quickly alternate between the two without missing a note. She's like the Russian female version of Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt in that regard. She also has a great love for Russia, paganism, and folk music.

I was really excited to get this album, and ordered the limited edition digibook version from a Russian Ebay seller shortly after its release. I'd only been listening to Arkona since the summer of 2006, when I bought Лепта, but since then had acquired all of their CD's (as I tend to do). The digibook is pretty slick, with excellent artwork from Kris Verwimp. I don't like the digibook's cover artwork as much as the image posted above (which I'm guessing will be on the regular jewel case edition), but at least that image is contained within the booklet itself. The artwork seems to give off a somewhat melancholy atmosphere, which is a pretty good preparation for the music itself.

From the Heart to the Heaven is a pretty dark album, compared to its predecessor. It is also an album that is even further rooted in traditional Russian folk music than any Arkona album before it, and perhaps more than any folk metal album I have ever heard from that country (and, being a big fan of Russian pagan/folk metal, I've heard many). After a short and dark synth intro, the first track explodes into one of the heaviest Arkona songs I've heard thus far. The guitars are crunchy, Masha's voice is snarling, and the drumming is tight. Yep, this is classic Arkona. The second track, however, is the first of many songs on the album to contain the chanting of a folk choir. It sounds great, but I would imagine some listeners may not like it.

The CD is split pretty evenly between what I would consider "normal" Arkona songs and songs which are much more folk-based (and therefore may not appeal to listeners who are looking for simply a metal album with folk melodies). Out of the eleven tracks on the album (twelve in the digibook edition), six are what I would call "normal" Arkona songs. Four songs are metal (or partly metal) but with folk choir vocals, and one is a folk instrumental. The digibook contains a bonus track, which is another instrumental folk tune. Most of the non-"normal" Arkona songs fall towards the middle of the CD, so for a listener who doesn't like those types of songs, the middle of the CD will seem to drag.

However, for those who are looking for a "true" folk metal album and not just a metal album with some folk melodies thrown in, From the Heart to the Heaven is one that must be heard. The "folk choir" vocals remind me of a Ukrainian folk choir CD I have in my collection. I've never heard a Russian folk choir, but I would guess it sounds pretty similar. I don't know if this is what Arkona was aiming for, but the choir-style vocals (usually backed by bagpipes or other traditional instruments) certainly adds to the atmosphere the album creates. A variety of sound effects (of nature, usually) between songs also helps.

As a concept album, From the Heart to the Heaven is best when taken as a whole, though there are certainly some standout songs that will sound great on their own (the title track is one of them; the anthemic "Славься, Русь" is another one). It is a wonderful album, but it is less accessible than Arkona's previous albums. For those who are musically open-minded and adventurous, or those who have an affection for traditional folk music but also don't mind a lot of screaming and guitars, Arkona's latest is an easy one to recommend.

I should also point out that the production is excellent throughout, and the band sounds better than ever. I've never found the metal elements of Arkona's music to be that impressive --they sound fine, but there's nothing flashy or memorable about their performances, besides Masha's vocals-- but in my opinion the entire band has managed to impress me with this release. I was especially pleased with the work of drummer Vlad. The traditional instruments also sound fantastic, and I hope that this is an element that Arkona continues to incorporate on future releases. I don't know how many different wind, string, and percussion instruments are used on this album (my ability to read Russian is very limited), but I think there is a much greater variety used on this album than on the last one.

From the Heart to the Heaven solidifies Arkona's place, in my opinion at least, as one of the very greatest bands in pagan and folk metal. I hope that they continue to follow this musical path, but, even if they don't, this album will stand as a masterwork of the genre. It may not draw in as many new fans as Во славу великим! did, but Arkona is to be commended for following their hearts and contributing a work of great art. This is one of my top albums of 2007, and one that, each time I listen to it, reaffirms my love for folk metal and the great potential this genre has.

Album Review: Dalriada - "Kikelet"

2008-02-08T21:07:00.001-05:00

Band: Dalriada (Hungary)
Album Title: Kikelet
Label: Nail Records (Hungary)
Released: 2007

Dalriada, formerly known as Echo of Dalriada, has to be one of my favorite discoveries of 2007. Grounded in Hungarian folk music, and sounding completely unlike anything I've ever heard, their albums are both immediately pleasing and yet hold up under repeated listens. They were first brought to my attention on the Viking Blood messageboard, when someone posted a Youtube link to the video for their song "Téli ének" from 2006's Jégbontó and I was immediately enchanted by vocalist Laura Binder's unique (in this genre anyway) style. She doesn't have a typical metal voice at all; it sounds more like a traditional Hungarian folk voice. It took me longer to get used to the vocals of founding member Andras Ficzek, who sometimes sounds like he's really straining to hit the notes. After a while, Andras' vocals became part of the great charm of this lovely folk metal band.

Although I immediately fell in love with Dalriada's sound, it took me several months before I was able to track down their albums. Unfortunately, they seem to have little to no distribution outside of their native Hungary, and I had to get them from a (very nice) Hungarian seller on Ebay. First I acquired the two albums released under their previous name, Echo of Dalriada, and then about a month later acquired Kikelet. The debut, Fergeteg, is a good CD, though it pales in comparison to Jégbontó, which quickly became one of my very favorite folk metal albums. Jégbontó is full of songs that are catchy, beautiful, accessible, and yet still very deep, with so many melody and key changes that it's pretty much impossible to predict where a song is going to go until you've listened to it several times. While this may sound daunting, the band's sound is so enjoyable that it seems to flow naturally.

With the release of Kikelet, not much has changed since Jégbontó despite the band name being shortened. The songs aren't as immediately catchy and accessible as they are on Jégbontó, though with repeated listens it begins to make sense and I began to enjoy it just as much. A standout track is the single "Táltosének," which is available as an mp3 download from Dalriada's website (and can be heard on their Myspace page). Though catchier and perhaps not as complex as the rest of the songs on the album, it is nonetheless a great introduction to the band, with an absolutely addicting chorus (thanks to Laura Binder's infectious vocal lines and some solid backing vocals).

Andras Ficzek handles quite a bit of the vocal duties on this album, and in addition to his normal sung vocals gives an occasional black metal shriek (on track 8, "Tűzhozó"). Excellent drumming by Tadeusz Rieckmann is also worthy of mention. The band sounds tight; obviously they are all very talented musicians, and work quite well together. There are a few really nice violin parts as well. I don't know who plays the violin on this album, whether it's a band member or a session musician, but it sounds great. I will also mention the production, as it's fantastic and lets the listener hear every fine detail of the performances.

I find myself gushing with praise for this band, but they deserve it. Dalriada will probably never have the international success they deserve, which is usually the case with bands in this genre, but I feel Dalriada has a lot of potential for a wider audience if only that audience had access to their albums. They are a refreshing and totally unique band, and I would recommend them to anyone. I realize, reading back at my review, that I've been pretty vague about what the band sounds like. I think it's because I would much rather play the album for a person than try to describe it, as I'm not very good at describing music. For anyone who is interested, I recommend going here or here and listening to some of their mp3's. I know I say this a lot, but this is a band that is really worth going through the trouble of finding their albums.

Album Review: Родосвет - "Бойня Словена"

2008-02-08T20:05:00.001-05:00

Band: Родосвет [Rodosvet] (Russia)
Album Title: Бойня Словена (Slavonic Butchery)
Label: Stellar Winter (Russia)
Released: 2007

In the realm of pagan metal, there exist a number of bands that push controversial politics yet have a significant number of fans who are not affiliated with those politics (and, in many cases, vehemently disagree with them). The most well-known examples of bands with this kind of crossover success are the infamous Temnozor (Темнозорь), Graveland, and Nokturnal Mortum. From the great Russian label Stellar Winter comes Moscow-based Rodosvet, a band which may become another one to add to that list.

I don't know much of anything about Rodosvet, except that some members of the band were formerly in a pagan metal band called Elfsword. At some point Rodosvet was formed, and in 2007 they released their debut album, Slavonic Butchery, through Stellar Winter. There does not seem to be any band information in the packaging itself, which is all in Russian. There are no credits, and no band photos (except for a photo of a guy with a wolf's head photoshopped onto his shoulders).

The album starts with a pleasant synth intro. That should come as no surprise to seasoned fans of the genre. In fact, it is almost expected for a pagan metal band to start each album with a short instrumental. The second track begins with a speech sample (a film sample?), and then the metal starts. The vocals at first are in a death metal style, but then turn into a more high-pitched black metal style. Then there are some nice folky melodies played on keyboard before the death metal growls start again. At this point, I was reminded of the Ukrainian band Dub Buk, a reference that I would come back to several times over the course of this album. It has that same "black thrash" type of sound, though this band seems to be too restless to settle for one particular sound throughout the album.

Not only is there variety in the music, but the vocals alternate among different styles, including the aforementioned death metal growls and black metal shrieks, as well as gravelly shouts that remind me of Rusich (Ukraine) and proud clean vocals reminiscent of Temnozor. This variety is nice, and keeps things interesting. There are a lot of time changes within the songs as well, as well as some acoustic and folk passages. It's all very pleasing to my ears and quite entertaining, though (as usual) I have no idea what is being said in the lyrics. The vocals sound both very proud and very angry. The album ends with a sad a capella song that reminds me of the Ukrainian folk songs that served as intros on Hate Forest's Battlefields and the track that ends Dub Buk's Rus Ponad Vse! I don't know if the track is composed of samples or if it's the members of the band singing, but it sounds mournful and probably an appropriate way to end an album called Slavonic Butchery.

I've never read a review on this album, nor have I seen many people discussing it. Personally, I think it's a really good CD and a pretty safe bet for fans of the bands I mentioned over the course of this review. The easiest comparison to make is Temnozor, but Rodosvet seems to have more creative energy and certainly better production (while lacking the flute that is such a big part of Temnozor's sound). Hopefully Rodosvet will continue to release albums and will be able to better differentiate themselves from other bands in the genre. Regardless, Slavonic Butchery is a very strong debut from a promising young band.

Krynitza live clip on Youtube

2008-02-08T19:58:00.000-05:00

Here

I wasn't sure if Russian folk band Krynitza ever played live, but here is a clip of them performing at a folk festival.

While you're at Youtube, you might as well watch this fan-made video of the Krynitza track "Angel."

Angel video