Album Review: Neoheresy - Obława

Artist: Neoheresy (Poland)
Album Title: Obława
Record Label: Elegy Records (USA)
Released: 2017
Purchased From: Elegy Records

It was in 2014 when Hellveto became Neoheresy, and in the few short years since then there have been four albums and a split release under the new name.  Hellveto was known for being prolific, and the artist now known as F (formerly known as L.O.N.) is keeping the tradition going with the new project.  When the name change was announced, it appeared as if there were going to be a stylistic shift.  Neoheresy, it was said, is "monumental Black Metal with the influence of ancient folk and symphonic music as well as dark ambient."  The first album released under the new moniker, Noc która dniem się stała, didn't really sound any different to me than Hellveto's Damnaretis two years earlier.  It still sounded like orchestral black metal with heavy symphonic elements.  I wondered if there was any truth to there being a "stylistic evolution," or if maybe I wasn't smart enough to detect the subtle differences between the two projects.

However, the second Neoheresy album, Talionis, which arrived less than a year later, actually did feel like a "stylistic evolution," particularly with its heavy use of choral elements.  My assumption is that these choral elements are synthesized or sampled, since F was, as usual, the only person credited with the creation of the album.  But they sound amazing and sophisticated, another effective tool to serve F's singular sound.  Sometimes they are singing, sometimes shouting, and they seem to form actual words as opposed to the simple "ooh" and "ahh" sounds that you often hear with sampled choirs.  Graveland used something possibly akin to this on the intro to Wotan Mit Mir, but the voices on Talionis sound much more natural.  In addition to the more sophisticated use of choral elements, there was a new level of intricacy in Neoheresy's arrangements.  The slight influence of folk music could be found here as well.

The excellent new direction found on Talionis continued with Potop, released less than a year later.  If Potop was inferior in any way to Talionis, it would be the length of the album, which was a full 11 minutes shorter than Talionis, clocking in at a mere 36 minutes.  Then, about a year later, Obława arrived.  The big difference I can detect between Obława and Potop is that Obława seems to focus even more on the choral arrangements, which have never sounded so good.  The actual lyrical/thematic content of the album is, like usual, completely inscrutable to me, but that has never stopped me from enjoying his music before.  The only major problem I have with Obława is its length.  It barely squeaks in at 30 minutes long.  While there are a bunch of great albums that are even shorter, due to Obława's unhurried pace it feels like I'm listening to an EP instead.  On the plus side, if F continues on the pace he's been on, we shouldn't have to wait long before the next album.

As for the packaging itself, the CD comes in a simple, slim, but attractive digipack.  The cover is simple.  Very Hate Forest-y.  On the inside flap is the album credits (I'll give you a hint: F does everything) over a photo of F holding a violin and its bow, his back to the camera.  On the back is what appears to be a painting of Knights Templar or something similar.  According to Google Translate, "Obława" translates as "Round-up" in English.  Hellveto had themes of the oppression of medieval-era pagan people by Christians (notably in the album 966), so perhaps the painting and the overall album theme are related to that subject.  The music is epic and majestic, and the production is clean and crisp.  No instruments overpower any of the others, and the orchestral instruments are given as much priority as the drums, guitars, and vocals.  Everything is impeccably played and recorded.  Nothing sounds low-budget here.  F continues to impress in every aspect.

It's difficult for me to review Hellveto/Neoheresy albums while doing them any justice because I feel like I have so little to say about them that would be helpful to anyone who is on the fence about purchasing them.  If you're unfamiliar with his music, each new album tends to be as good a place to start as any other.  If you're already a fan, like myself, then you probably already have the album already or are planning to get it regardless of what I have to say about it.  But I review his albums because it's frustrating to me that he continues to create and release such great music yet is almost entirely ignored by metal websites and critics.  F seems to create his music in a bubble of sorts, seemingly not bothered by the lack of critical attention it tends to receive.  He's been doing this for more than 20 years and seems to contain unlimited creative energy, creating great albums that have given him a small but loyal following.  Perhaps that's all he really wants.  As for me, I want more people to listen to him.  I want more people to talk about his music.  I feel like he deserves a much larger audience than he has.

Album Review: Alkonost - Сказки странствий

Artist: Alkonost (Russia)
Album Title: Skazki Stranstvij (Tales of Wanderings)
Record Label: Sound Age Productions (Russia)
Released: 2013
Purchased From: CD-Russia (defunct?)

Before I start, I want to mention that this review is for the original, Russian-language version of this album, not the 2015 English-language version, which I don't have.

Alkonost has not been on an easy road since their 2010 album On the Wings of the Call.  In 2010, many metal labels were looking to sign Russian folk metal bands in the wake of Arkona's success, and On the Wings of the Call, released on Germany's Einheit Produktionen, was poised to be Alkonost's breakthrough.  However, that success apparently didn't materialize, and the band had problems both with their new record label and within the band itself.  The lineup of the band, which was one of folk metal's few stable lineups, having been the same since 2004's Between the Worlds, fractured, first with the departure of a founding member, vocalist/bassist Alexey "Nightbird" Solovyov, and then with the mass exodus of vocalist Alena Pelevina, keyboardist Almira Fatkhullina, and drummer Anton Chepigin.  Eventually (though after the recording of this album) guitarist Dmitriy Sokolov would also make his departure from the band, leaving founding member Andrey "Elk" Losev as not only the sole founding member of Alkonost but the only band member from their 2010 album that was still in the band.  Ouch!  Still, he pressed on, assembling a new (and frequently-changing) lineup of musicians, which recorded a new album in 2016.

But, anyway, back to the matter at hand: their 2013 album Skazki Stranstvij, recorded in the midst of the events that saw its "classic" lineup implode and a new lineup come in to finish the album.  It would not be a surprise to anyone if the album turned out to be a complete mess, considering the circumstances under which it was recorded.  After all, if you look at the credits of the album, you will find 8 musicians credited, including two bassist/vocalists, two lead female vocalists (Alena and new vocalist Kseniya Pobuzhanskaya), and a keyboardist and drummer who were no longer with the band by the time it was released.

However, surprisingly, it's not a mess.  In fact, it's a pretty darn good album.  Granted, I wouldn't include it among my very favorite Alkonost albums (Between the Worlds [English version], The Path We've Never Made, and the 2007 re-recording of Songs of the Eternal Oak are, for now, my favorites), but it manages to be a cohesive, well-written, well-produced record that does not betray the band discord lying beneath the surface.  In fact, I think in particular the variety in vocal sounds between Alena and Kseniya (who were not in the band at the same time) is welcome.  The songs are pretty catchy and interesting throughout the album's all-too-brief 41-minute running time.  The guitars, still featuring the addicting dual leads of Elk and Dmitriy Sokolov, are as great as ever.  Almira's keyboards are atmospheric as always, giving the album its layer of "Alkonost sound" that was so familiar for so many years.  And though neither of the growling vocalists that appear on this album can hold a candle to Alex Nightbird, they are not bad by any means.  All in all, it sounds like an Alkonost album.  Considering the story behind it, that alone makes Skazki Stranstvij seem like an album that defied the odds.

Speaking of the atmospheric keyboards, the one strike I would actually give this album is the fact that its intro, which features only the keyboard, is too long.  4 minutes and 42 seconds of a 41 minute album is too much to take up with a keyboard intro, especially when another 4 minutes of the album are taken up with a cover song, which is closing track "The Eerie," a cover of the well-known Gods Tower song, which actually appears to feature vocals from Lesley Knife himself, unless it's someone who can do a really good Lesley Knife impersonation.  I suspect that when a band asks Lesley if they can do a cover of a Gods Tower song, the first question he asks is, "May I sing on it?" because he also performed the lead vocals on Natural Spirit's cover of "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Blood."

If you take away the keyboard intro and the Gods Tower cover, you've got seven solid tracks and about 32 minutes of Alkonost goodness.  It goes by a little too quickly, but the album is compulsively listenable so I find myself often putting it on repeat.  It will likely be viewed as an album that shows a band in a state of transition before fully embarking into unknown waters.  It's a mixture of the old and the new.  But I think it also deserves to be seen as a pleasingly- and surprisingly- solid album by a band that pressed forward after disappointment and the trauma of a major lineup shakeup that many bands wouldn't have survived.  Not their best, but, considering the circumstances, better than anyone could have possibly expected it to be.  Another solid Alkonost album worth checking out.

CD Review: Scald / Росс - Agyl's Saga

Artists: Scald (Russia) / Ross (Russia)
Album Title: Agyl's Saga
Record Label: Wroth Emitter Productions (Russia)
Released: 2013
Purchased From: Paragon Records

Scald's Will of the Gods Is Great Power (or Will of Gods Is A Great Power on the original release) is a legendary cult album in both the epic doom metal and Slavic pagan metal underground.  It was Scald's only album, released in 1997, shortly after the tragic death of vocalist and leader Maxim "Agyl" Adrianov at age 24, which also spelled the end of Scald.  The surviving members of the band underwent a change of direction and band name; they became the progressive folk metal band Tumulus.  Scald's sole album was originally released on cassette only, and it wasn't until 2003 that Wroth Emitter Productions released it on CD and gave the band a larger potential audience.  Years later, metal fans are still discovering the band and those who are fortunate enough to possess copies of Will of the Gods Is Great Power are not likely to let them go.

Though the CD version of Scald's album was said to be "remastered," listening to the album reveals the fact that, remastered or not, the sound quality leaves much to be desired.  The album sounds, well, like an album that was originally released only on cassette.  The production sounds flat and unclear.  What unfortunately suffered the most were Agyl's vocals, which were arguably the highlight of the album.  A lot of clarity and power that should have been there was lost.  Many of us thought, however, that this was the best that we could expect, that if we wanted to enjoy Will of the Gods Is Great Power, we had to accept that this was as good as it was ever going to sound.

However, some time later (in 2010, to be exact), the album was remastered again.  According to Wroth Emitter's website, this time it was taken from the original master CD.  And it is from this remastering that we find the first disc of Agyl's Saga, a double-CD compilation of the music of both Scald and Agyl's original band Ross (which more or less morphed into Scald in 1993).

The highlight, for me, is the first disc, the remastered-again Will of the Gods Is Great Power.  I've had the original CD release for many years now and have listened to it countless times.  The less-than-ideal (I wouldn't call it "poor," however) sound quality was something I grew accustomed to, and some reviewers even said that it added to the atmosphere of the recordings.  Scald's music was self-described as "ancient doom metal."  Essentially they sound quite a bit like 1980's Candlemass, but with Norse (and, earlier, perhaps Slavic) themes, similar to the Bathory of the early 1990's and in the last few years before Quorthon's death in 2003.  I'm not an expert on Doom metal, but I don't think the flat production fit the style of music.  Fortunately, with Agyl's Saga we have something more fitting.

Granted, it's still not perfect.  Everything sounds much improved with the new remastering, with the vocals getting the most welcome boost in clarity (just try to listen to the vocals toward the end of the remastered "A Tumulus" without melting into a puddle... I find it impossible).  Also, those tasteful guitar solos have never sounded so good.  The drums are far better than in the original CD release, too, though they still sound a bit weak and, at times, sound digital to me.  However, it has been said that when Scald recorded the album, the studio they used was not accustomed to recording the style of music they were playing, so any imperfections in the original mix will affect the final product.  Still, this is by far the best way to hear Will of the Gods Is Great Power.  Even if you are one of those people who felt that the sound of the original CD release was perfect, you owe it to yourself to give this version a listen.  I was skeptical, but from the first minutes of "Night Sky," I could not keep my jaw off the floor.  This legendary album can finally be heard the way it deserves to be.  Agyl would be proud.

The primary difference between the version of Will of the Gods Is Great Power on Agyl's Saga and the original CD release is that the songs have been re-sequenced to match what seems to be the original song order on the 1997 cassette release.  For some reason, the 2003 CD release changed the order of the songs, so that's something you might have to get used to if you listened to the original CD a lot.  The album still starts with the excellent "Night Sky," but from there everything gets jumbled up, and now the album closes with "In the Open Sea," which was the fourth track of the 2003 CD version.  The short instrumental "Bilrost," on the 2003 CD version, was actually part of "Ragnaradi Eve" on the original master, and that has been restored to its place at the end of that track rather than its own separate track.

Agyl's Saga is worth seeking out simply for disc one.  If I were to introduce Scald to a friend who wasn't familiar with their music, I would certainly use the version of Will of the Gods Is Great Power that's included on this double-CD.  However, there's a whole second disc included, filled (litererally... it's almost 79 minutes worth of music) with early material from this cult band, much of which has probably been heard by few people.  Unfortunately, much of it, in my opinion at least, is an interesting glimpse into the history of a band that has not had enough light shed on it, but serves little more purpose than that.  The first ten tracks of the second disc are demo and live material from Ross, the original band of Agyl and eventual Scald drummer Ottar.  Ross was not much more than a fairly uninteresting "patriotic" rock band, with Russian lyrics.  Agyl's voice had not yet found its soaring, epic style (though there are glimpses of it, such as on "Sing, Guslar!").  His voice is probably the best thing about Ross, but that's not saying a lot.  By listening through the demo tracks, then to the live material, which makes its way through 1991 into 1993, I can sort of trace some of the direction that would lead to Will of the Gods Is Great Power, which was recorded in 1996 (in 1993, bassist Velingor and guitarist Harald joined with Agyl and Ottar to become Scald, with second guitarist Kerry joining shortly after).  The only tracks on disc 2 that are credited to Scald are 11, 12, and 13.  Tracks 11 and 12 are from a 1993 rehearsal with what I assume is the same lineup that would go on to record their sole album, minus perhaps Kerry on 2nd guitar.  Both songs have Russian lyrics, as opposed to their later material which was in English.  It is with these tracks that I can first hear the potential they had, which would be unleashed roughly three years later on their album.  These songs (or sections of them, at least) were later reworked into songs that would appear on Will of the Gods Is Great Power, but here they are the product of a band that was still trying to find their sound.  The final track of the second disc is the 1995 rehearsal version of "Sepulchral Bonfire" that appeared on the 2003 CD of Will of the Gods Is Great Power, which is a little disappointing, since I am sure there are some other Scald rarities that could have been included instead.

Personally, I would have removed most of the Ross stuff and included more early Scald tracks, such as the 1994 North Winds demo.  But I suppose what this does show me is that Scald was not an accident.  They were not a band that came out of the gate fully formed.  Getting there took a lot of work.  It gives me a greater appreciation for how great the band was when they finally recorded their album in 1996.  It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, a band that went from forgettable to unforgettable in a few years.  In a more fair world, Scald should have gone on to enjoy an international audience and record a number of highly respected albums in their time.  But, unfortunately, the world isn't fair, and in the end they were only able to record one album, an album that did not find its audience until years after the band had moved on, years after the man with the vision behind it, Maxim "Agyl" Adrianov, had gone on to Valhalla.  Therefore, this double-CD collection stands most of all as a tribute to him, hence the name.

The last thing I want to talk about is the packaging itself.  I don't know if it has or will ever be released in jewel case form, but in its original form, the one I have, it is a digipack.  The packaging and artwork is pretty good, with Scald's nigh-inscrutable logo prominently displayed on the cover, back, and the spine.  The overall effect of the packaging (especially the cover) is not as perfect as that included with the 2003 CD release, and I wish they had picked a better font for the "Agyl's Saga" text on the front and spine, but I know I'm nit-picking a bit.  The included booklet has a short essay about Agyl in Russian and English, which gives a little history of the man and his music.  Also, lyrics for all of the songs on Will of the Gods Is Great Power, with the exception of "Eternal Stone," are included.

In conclusion, I know I'm repeating myself, but I feel that this double-CD collection is worth buying for the re-remastered Will of the Gods Is Great Power on disc one, while disc two is mostly just a collection of curiosities that even hardcore Scald fans will likely only listen to once and forget.  They're important to the overall story of Scald, but I only received any enjoyment from listening to the last few tracks, when the band had really begun to find their voice.  So while I highly recommend the overall package, it is with those minor reservations.  Scald is a band that deserves to be heard and remembered, and if you haven't heard them yet, this is the release I would recommend.  And if you're already a big fan of their sole album, hearing it in this improved form may cause you to appreciate its greatness all over again, like it did with me.

Bringing back The Final Age

I apologize to anyone who followed this blog for my abandoning it a few years back (and, indeed, sporadically updating it for some time before that).

There are a variety of reasons for my long absence, but I don't wish to go into them and thus bore anyone.  I guess the important thing is that I am back and will be writing new reviews shortly.

Split CD Review: Сварун / Midgaard

 

Artists: Сварун (Svarun) [Serbia] / Midgaard [Russia]
Album Title: Коловрат / Начало времён
Record Label: Nymphaea Records (Russia)
Released: 2010
Purchased From: CD-Russia

It's pretty rare that I'll buy a split CD from two bands I've never heard of, but I was intrigued enough by the artwork of Svarun's debut full-length and the samples I heard on Youtube that I decided to pick that up.  While I was at it, I decided to purchase this split from 2010 even though I wasn't yet certain I would like Svarun, and I wasn't familiar at all with Midgaard.  In this case, the risk was worth it, because this is a very solid split CD featuring a generous helping of music (nearly an hour total) from these bands, and both sides of the split are unique enough that it's unlike anything else in my collection.

Svarun begins the disc with their 5-song EP Kolovrat.  It is difficult for me to adequately describe Svarun's music, but basically they are a pagan symphonic/folk metal vocal band from Serbia.  Now, by "vocal band," I don't mean that there are no musical instruments (there is a full set of instrumentalists here) but that the music is based around the vocalists.  There are four vocalists in the band: a soprano, an alto, a tenor, and a bass.  They sing in a style that is not quite operatic and not quite folk, but a sort of blend of the two that seems to be pretty popular in Slavic folk metal lately.  Backing these vocalists are the typical guitar, bass, and drums, and there are extensive orchestral arrangements as well.  The orchestral arrangements are obviously sampled/synthesized, as is typical for most metal bands that utilize them, but they are quite well-done and almost as central to the overall sound as the vocals are.

Four of Svarun's five songs were re-recorded later for their full-length album, Slavija, but I actually prefer the versions that appear on this split.  I think there were some changes in vocalists between the split and Slavija, and I feel that the vocals sound better here than they do on the full-length (though Slavija is still good).  Svarun is an ambitious band but not one with a high budget, yet I feel like they do a good job making their music sound epic and symphonic.  The production is good and clear, and the vocals in particular sound great and are blended well.  The guitar, bass, and drums are kind of in the background (though not as much as they are on Slavija, I think) because, really, the focus is on the voices and the orchestral arrangements, and I don't think anything about it sounds low-budget or amateurish.  A triumph, so far.

Midgaard is a Viking/folk metal band from Yaroslavl, Russia.  I didn't know anything about them, and, to be honest, I didn't expect anything from them.  I tend to prefer my Russian bands to sing about Slavic mythology rather than Norse, so I wasn't really concerned with this side of the split when I purchased it.  However, immediately after Midgaard's side of the split (aka the Nachalo Vremen EP) began to play, I was intrigued.  The brief instrumental intro begins with an acoustic guitar, but soon that guitar is joined by a violin, a jaw harp, and a flute.  I wasn't expecting to hear such a beautiful, folky intro, and it gave me hope for the rest of the EP.

After the prologue, the song "Bitva" began, and I was surprised to hear a gruff male voice singing along with the acoustic guitar and jaw harp.  His voice was soon joined by some smooth background vocals and then a beautiful female voice.  It was then that I began to realize that Nachalo Vremen is not metal at all.  This is a folk EP, and a very good one at that.  I was enchanted by the sound of the guitar, the vocals, the jaw harp, violin, hand percussion and tambourine, and flute.  Oh, did I mention that the female vocalist on this recording is Oksana Knyazeva of the great (and, sadly, defunct) Vnuki Svyatoslava, one of my favorite bands ever?  And that the flute player is Irina Nadeinskaya, also of Vnuki Svyatoslava?  Needless to say, Midgaard suddenly became very interesting to me, and they did not let me down at all over the course of this 7-song EP (which essentially makes up their first full-length album, minus one short track).  A highlight is "Pesn' Vikingov" ("Vikings' Song"), which is actually a folk cover of Falkenbach's "Farewell" from Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty.  But, really, every track here is a highlight.  Midgaard finishes with a beautiful ballad, "Lad'ya," here called a "valedictory" or farewell, and indeed it does sound like that.  What a wonderful and reflective way to close the EP, and the split as well.

Midgaard's sound here is reminiscent of Volkolak (due to the hand percussion and the constant "boing-boing-ing" of the jaw harp), as well as Vnuki Svyatoslava, except with more male vocals.  Normally they are indeed a metal band, and I will keep my eyes and ears open for new music from this band, but I think I will secretly hope that they go back and revisit this pleasant folk sound again in the future.

Unexpectedly, what began as a "filler" purchase became what is undoubtedly one of my favorite split CD's ever.  Either one of the halves of this split are worth buying the CD for, but to have both sides be so great in their own, unique ways, that is just a bonus.  The bands don't really go together very well, being very different styles of music, but both sides are high quality and remind me why I seek out this kind of music.  A very pleasant surprise, and a CD that I recommend.

Album Review: Смута - На Север

 

Artist: Смута (Smuta) [Russia]
Album Title: На Север ("To the North")
Record Label: Sound Age Productions (Russia)
Released: 2013 (January)
Purchased from: CD-Russia

I've been following the Yaroslavl pagan/folk scene for a while, as they have produced several fine bands such as Scald, Tumulus, Vo Skorbyah, the folk bands Krynitza and Vnuki Svyatoslava, and newer metal bands Veda and Shexna.  I've also been following Smuta, a mainstay of the Yaroslavl scene since 2004, who have earlier this year released their fourth full-length album.  However, though I enjoyed the previous three albums, I always felt like there was something lacking in Smuta, despite them having the right ingredients to make a great album.  For instance, for their 2008 album Xmel'naya Pesn' Voini, they had in their ranks Ivan "Harald" Sergeev, former guitarist of the legendary Scald, yet despite his presence it was not an album I consider to be great.  Despite their obscurity and many lineup changes over the years, Smuta has kept at it; a fact for which I am glad, because their fourth album Na Sever is, in my opinion, truly a great one.

The sound of Smuta can be described as fairly typical Slavic pagan/folk metal.  The music is very much black metal inspired and fairly epic, while the male vocals are delivered in a deep, death metal-ish growl.  Like many Slavic folk metal bands, they also have a female vocalist, in this case a very talented woman named Maria Smolia (who also plays flute).  Maria first came to my attention on Krynitza's Hail to the Sun album in 2007, and she has been a part of Smuta since 2008.  Her vocals and flute playing are some of the true highlights of Na Sever, as she excels at both.  Her voice is sort of a half-folk-style, half-operatic style that is gaining popularity in the Slavic pagan/folk scene, and it is a heavenly voice.  This is especially evident on the album's excellent bonus track, the folk piece "Poslednie Otbleski."  This track would not have felt out of place on the aforementioned Krynitza album, and it is a welcome bonus to Na Sever.

Maria Smolia's vocals are not the only great thing about Na Sever.  The instrumentation, production, and songwriting all seem to have improved dramatically, perhaps a product of the longer period of time between the third album and this one.  On the earlier albums, I always felt that the guitar tone was too thin and that the overall sound was too light to support Evgeny Vorobiev's deep and harsh vocals, resulting in a balance that never felt satisfying to me.  However, on Na Sever, the guitar has a nice, thick tone, and the overall mix sounds much better.  I don't know if this is all due to better production equipment (or a better sound engineer), or if it can be partly attributed to the band's newest guitarist Artyom Eremeev (also of the band Veda).  The rest of the band sounds great as well, with a particularly nice performance on the drums by Evgeny Moskovsky, another newer addition to the group.  Na Sever doesn't overstay its welcome, clocking in at a short-but-sweet 36 minutes (including the bonus track), and, in my opinion, stands up quite well to repeated listens.

There's a nice balance of softer/slower, midpaced, and fast songs on the album.  The first few proper songs are scorchers, but then the band slows things down for the ballad-like "Zarovor-Obryad" (which displays Maria's vocal talents nicely) and then launches into a couple of fast-paced tracks before finishing with a pleasant instrumental and the folky bonus track.  The contrast of aggression and beauty is very satisfying on this album because the band does so well at displaying and balancing both sides.  A song that demonstrates this balance really well is "Den' Bika," a song that alternates between a faster and slower tempo and then finishes with a beautiful folk breakdown that sounds like it could have come from newer Nokturnal Mortum.

Although Smuta is not doing anything particularly original on Na Sever, it is an album I can easily recommend due to its quality.  Even those who have heard Smuta in the past and dismissed them should listen to some samples of this album, because I honestly feel that they have reached a higher level with Na Sever than they have previously achieved.  This is a gem of the Yaroslavl scene to be sure, and a very pleasant surprise for me personally, despite the fact that I've been listening to Smuta for more than five years now.  I hope that they gain some attention with this album and that this gives them momentum to continue to achieve great things.  I for one will be paying even closer attention to Smuta after this.

Album Review: Руян - Наследие

 

Artist: Руян (Ruyan) [Russia]
Album Title: Наследие ("Heritage")
Record Label: Sound Age Productions (Russia)
Released: 2011
Purchased From: CD-Russia (via Ebay)

In 2009, a band called Grai (aka Graj, or  Грай), hailing from the Republic of Tatarstan, in Russia, released their solid debut album, Полынь трава ("Wormwood," apparently).  This light-sounding, lyrically-dark album featured a couple female vocalists, including one who goes by the name Rodonitsa, who not only sang but performed the harsh vocals.  Women who can both growl and sing are no longer considered such a rarity, but Rodonitsa is quite good at both and her contributions to that album are notable.

However, at some point after Grai's debut, Rodonitsa and guitarist Char left that band and Ruyan was formed.  The strange thing is that Grai became a much sunnier-sounding band after that, while Ruyan seems to have carried with it much of the melancholy that was at the heart of Grai.  On Ruyan's debut CD, Heritage, Rodonitsa and Char are joined by guitarist Skorb, drummer Filin, and bassist Elk, better known for being a founding member of Alkonost.  Elk has since left Ruyan, as he was apparently only a session member.  So while Ruyan is a "new" band, in a sense, there's a lot of experience behind it, and that shows with the maturity of this band's excellent debut album.

Heritage begins with the much-expected folky instrumental.  Like the Nordverg album I just reviewed, Heritage features the work of multi-instrumentalist Vladimir Reshetnikov --now a full-time member of the highly-acclaimed Arkona-- as well as Yaroslav Morozov on balalaika.  The mood quickly changes with the first proper song, which has a sense of melancholy to it that emerges even before Rodonitsa switches from her soprano and folk-style singing voice to her deep death growls.  The mood, to me at least, is reminiscent of the mournful sounds of Vo Skorbyah, except not quite as brooding or slow.  Ruyan's music is like a mixture of folk and doom/death metal styles, though it occasionally shifts into a happier-sounding, folkish mood, like at the beginning of the third track.

This strange juxtaposition of such happy-sounding folk music and melancholic metal is one of those things that sounds like it simply shouldn't work (as does, I suppose, the idea of "folk metal" altogether, to those who aren't familiar with it), but this is a gorgeous and multi-shaded album.  The fact that Ruyan is Russian and Rodonitsa is a woman (a young and beautiful woman, at that) who seems equally comfortable when singing or shrieking/growling will lead to many comparisons with Arkona, a band that has the distinction of basically being the golden standard of Russian folk metal AND female-fronted folk metal.  Those comparisons are fine, I think, but they don't paint an entirely accurate picture of Ruyan's unique sound.  For one thing, Rodonitsa's voice has a completely different timbre than Masha's.  She tends to sing higher, uses a lot of folk style at times, and has deeper, more death metal-like growls.

The guitar leads are pretty folky and unique, even for this crowded genre.  There are long periods of folk-style vocals and strange guitar leads, like in the middle of the fourth track, "Song About Yarilo-Father."  At times the guitar reminds me of the style of the late Alexander Urakoff from Gods Tower.  The songs often feature various flutes and acoustic stringed instruments like the balalaika, though the impression one gets from listening to the album is not necessarily the same as one gets with a number of other folk metal bands.  There's a pervasive sadness to many of these songs that makes the happier ones, like the fourth or seventh tracks, stand out.  But even in its melancholy, ultimately I feel happy when I listen to Ruyan, like I do with any music that is beautiful and resonates with me.  This is a very talented band, both in the songwriting and instrumental departments, and is truly a world-class pagan/folk metal band on par with the best this genre has to offer.

The only time when Ruyan kind of drops the ball a little bit, at least to me, is on the final track, also called "Ruyan."  This long, mostly instrumental track seems to meander pointlessly before fading into the sounds of waves and birds (which I guess kind of appropriate, since that's how the album begins as well).  Personally, I would have liked the album to have finished on a stronger note, and it's the one fault I can find with it.  On the plus side, the track does have some nice moments, but I find my interest flagging about midway through.

Ruyan is not a household name in folk metal at this point, but Heritage is an album that deserves your attention.  It's very folky and authentic, has a variety of moods, and has one of the most talented vocalists you'll find in this genre.  If, like me, you're a fan of the Russian scene, this is essential.  Somebody please give these guys (and girl) an international record deal.