Monday, July 27, 2009

Album Review: Natural Spirit - Сита Роса

Natural Spirit - Сита Роса (Sita Rosa)

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...

Crimfall - As the Path Unfolds...

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

Crom - Vengeance

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.