http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=266841&PHPSESSID=2754af686eb0acdab4a291d38457f3da
98%
Negură Bunget - Vîrstele Pămîntului - 98% [SIZE=-1]Written by
Avestriel [/SIZE]
Finally, after quite a long wait, only briefly interrupted by the appetizer which goes by the name of Maiestrit, we get Vîrstele Pămîntului, the first explicitly new album by Negură Bunget since 2006's Om. As I've mentioned on my review for Maiestrit, I wasn't sure what to expect, and even though I was sure the band would deliver quality material, I didn't really believe the new lineup could hold a candle to the majestic works of the classic lineup.
So, did these expectations turn to be accurate? It's a bit complicated.
I don't really know the details regarding general compositions on previous albums, I don't know if the trademark sound achieved by the band was the work of Negru, the only original member left in the band, or if it was a completely democratic effort. It would explain a lot if the former was the actual case, otherwise it would seem the new members simply tried to carry on the sound bequeathed by the former members, adding their own quota of creative input. Whichever may be the case, it worked.
As far as I'm concerned this is a new, different beast. But enough of this, let's jump right into the music.
The album starts right off with an intro of sorts; a beautiful folk ensemble complete with wind instruments, percussion, the classic strings we've heard in previous albums and some clean, almost ritualistic chanting right before keyboards join the party, building up to an entangled crescendo while the singer(s?) adds different tones of growls and generally raspy vocal deliveries until the metal instruments kick when there's only a minute left in the song, and immediately, if subtly, you can hear and feel the changes in the band's sound.
The new vocalist (I'm assuming it's one of the new guys, Corb) is amazing, his voice feels full of energy, his spoken parts are soaked in passion and his growls are very guttural and inspired. All throughout the album he gives a very imaginative performance, not settling with one or two styles. The first third of the album is overall heavier, slower, even more atmosphere-centered than any other piece of music this band has ever recorded, guitars tend to be less fuzzy and aggressive, there's a lot more lead parts, clean guitars and acoustic guitars playing slow but increasingly more energetic tunes which work perhaps as a prelude of things to come.
As I said, folk elements and spacey, droning keyboards are more prominent, and actually take the center of the stage on this first third, not only in presence as accompaniments but as central aspects of the structure and melody of the first couple of songs. Indeed, until the fourth track reaches the 2 minute mark, metal parts are quite limited.
Negru, who has always been in charge of the drums, this time plays around with new styles, he sounds quite organic and unveils a freestyle mosaic of busy rhythms which keep changing even though time signature changes are quite scarce; a step away from the chaotic but fluent nature of previous albums. Despite that, a key element of his drumming still remains: at crucial times, he's still the central engine which keeps the moods of the songs in movement.
This is only a bit far from the Negură Bunget most of us grew to love with albums like Om, but as I mentioned, this new entity keeps its core intact, choosing to develop a new skin around the ancestral foundations of the band's sound. At times, though, the remains of the old band will reach the surface of this new skin, as is the case with Ochiul Inimii, which around the 3 minute mark turns into something that sounds like an outtake from 'n Crugu Bradului (in fact, there's a riff off Cara de Dincolo de Negurã which sounds extremely familiar, but in all honesty I'm too lazy to check their entire discography song by song to see if it's actually been used before), but that feeling doesn't last much, as the band's new members don't waste time displaying their own take on inventive melodies and arrangements, which seem more intricate at times, more "progressive" in the traditional sense of the word (there are even some Enslaved-tinged moments), if less experimental and dissonant than the melodies crafted by the classic lineup.
On Chei de Rouã we get treated to the vocalist clean singing again, but this time it's not as monolithic and solemn as on the intro, but it's very melodic and has a strong folkloric tone to it, bringing to mind images of rural Romania, a place with strange, colourful and fascinating culture and traditions, people living their lives in a more simplistic way but at the same time enshrouded in the mysteries of the unknown, of the land itself, in a time when a forest or a mountain were the most mysterious places on earth, a time when nature was given godly status. The combination of clean chanting and growls on this album is some of the most elegant and otherworldly I've listened to in quite a while.
As I mentioned, the album starts on a light note, the first three tracks being almost completely devoid of what one could call actual black metal. But this situation is quickly turned upside down around halfway through the album, where the most relentless songs inhabit. There's a seemingly calculated balance between actual metal parts with tremolos and blastbeats and the wide, scenic folk and atmospheric pieces, which combine at times in odd ways; leads the kind of which are new to this band abound and some melodies are even rockish in nature, so to speak. All of this, luckily, works in wonderful ways, and not one second of music seems to be out of place, not one passage goes to waste, not once did I find myself feeling like skipping forward or getting distracted. This music calls on the listener and requests his full attention.
All said, though, the fact that the new lineup so gracefully managed to not only keep the band's soul alive, but give it a fresh new body is sort of a double-edged sword. On one hand, we are given this wonderful piece of musical art, a worthy heir of this band's amazing past, but on the other hand, I can't help but feel that this was intended, and that the band as it exists now might have lost a chance to completely reinvent themselves, not unlike the classic Negură Bunget once did.
To close this convulsed review, I ask myself, does my previous statement (and I quote directly from my review on their previous album: "I don't think Negru and his new company will be able to pull something of this characteristics ever again") still stand?
All in all I believe I was proven wrong. Sort of.
