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Alkonost: Pesni vechnogo dreva
25/05/07 || Euthanatos
Alkonost is a Russian band formed in 1995 and their sound basically consists of folk-laden heavy metal. Or heavy metal-sprinkled folk.
To compare with some other bands, I’d have to cite Falkenbach, Fortid and the likes. Obviously they don’t sound exactly like these bands, but the whole viking/pagan/folk thing going on here is very reminiscent of those acts.
Even though the band has been around for almost 12 years, this is only their 6th album (if I’m not mistaken), and I obviously have no clue what the others sounded like, so I can’t really tell you if they evolved or not. What I can tell you, though, is that these former commies are damn good at what they do.
The music performed here is very desolate and will immediately take you to frozen landscapes, windy moors and darkened seas. If you’re about to go a-viking, this is definitely one of the albums you should put in your mp3 player. Or CD player. Or Walkman.
If you ask me about the lyrics, I will punch you until you bleed, because there is no way in hell I’m going to comprehend anything being said here, or am I going to decipher this bizarre alternate alphabet that the Russians have going on. Truth be told, I do think it’s kinda cool to sing in the mother-tongue. Sure, it prevents most of the world from understanding, but the language sounds aggressive and powerful and gives an extra epic touch to the whole environment proposed here.
Keyboards and the female vocals also add excellent layers to the tracks, and I especially like the multiple voices chanting, like in “Solntse Nashei Zemli”, for example. Gives a nice contrast to the rasp growl performed on the songs most of the time. And no, it would be easier to snow in hell than me get that song name spelled right. Extra points for the violin, flute, whatever instruments. In my opinion, if you’re going to play folk, go all out, and Alkonost sure do.
Summarizing: Mid-Tempo Folk Metal, sung in Russian, with very cool female vocals and nice keyboards. Faults? The album is too constant, i.e., a lot of the songs sounds similar.
The Cover: I actually like this a lot. Very different kind of art, going back to simpler ways of portraying a person, but filled with intricate details and designs all around. Very Viking, very “Rus”.
6 Vladimir Putin’s out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Metalism Records
- Website: http://www.alkonost.ru/
- Band
- Alexej Solov’ev: vocals, bass
- Andrej Losev: guitars
- Dmitrij Sokolov: guitars
- Anton Chepigin: drums
- Alena Pelevina: vocals
- Almira Fathullina: keyboards
- Tracklist
- 01. Gody Predskazaniy
- 02. Solntse Nashei Zemli
- 03. Bei, Molot!
- 04. V Serdtse Legendy…
- 05. K Rodimoi Storone
- 06. Pir Otsov
- 07. Radugi Krai
- 08. Den Posledniy Moi
