Wednesday, July 5, 2017

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.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

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.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

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.