digital metal
Negura Bunget - N Crugu Bradului
(Code666)
For the first half on the '90s, Enslaved was by far my favorite band. As
time went on and they changed their style, no one band rose up to replace
them as kings of wandering, multi-layered, chaotic, long-playing black metal
epics. Romania's Negura Bunget, formed in 1995, first entered my radar in
1998 with Breath of Night's reissue of '96s Zirnindu-sa, and impressed me
with straightforward, fast atmospheric black with an aggressive edge; the
album wasn't impressive enough to stand above other similar bands. After a
maturing process in musicianship, Negura Bunget started making waves outside
Romania with the excellent Maiastru Sfetnic, released in 2000; finally a
contender, but not quite. Now, with a new full-length, their fourth, N Crugu
Bradului, they have surely released their masterpiece. Negura Bunget is a
black fog coming from a deep, dark, dense forest. The two words are from the
Traco-Dacic substrate of the Romanian language. Clearly, they are influenced
by Immortal, Satyricon, Darkthrone, Emperor, but lest you think perhaps they
play early '90s Norwegian black metal for nostalgia buffs, take the complex
epic arrangements of early Enslaved add in an indomitable pagan spirit,
ambient, atmospheric and primitive components and lyrics in ancient
Romanian, what comes out of the mix is more of a musical expression of being
than a series of songs. One more Enslaved connection, then I'll move on. You
know how, with early Enslaved material, you get totally caught up in the
music, lose track of time, feel it instead of hear it? Same thing here. N
Crugu Bradului is symphonic in the sense of Romantic-era composers, not as
in Dimmu Borgir; even though only drummer Negru has any classical training.
Code666, who replaces long time promoter Romanian label Bestial Records, who
actually started the label in order to release the first Negura Bunget
album, bills this album as "...intertextualizing with old Romanian folk
ballads with rhythms that transform patterns of Romanian folk music,
combined with some of the finest black metal sounds..." Before making a
comparison in your mind to old Cruachan, know that most of these folk
rhythms and patterns are played with instruments traditional to metal music,
not with folk instruments. There are some older instruments used, mostly
percussion, but not as gimmicks, with the band feeling that if using for the
sake of using it is better not to do it at all. The music has a quality of
natural sounds instead of electronic amplifications of sound samples. This
album is a journey, a shepherd who witnesses the cycles in nature while
leading his flocks through the mountains becomes a cycle, a part of
immortality. The significance here is that you go on the journey with him.
Great music puts images in your mind, not just a series of notes for you to
decipher, but an experience. This Transilvanian trio plays great music.
Lyrics are very important, important enough to be sung in an archaic form of
Romanian. Translated into English, an example: "In the depth of a thick
night, the lonely moon unstitches to let the spell take place." As is
usually the case, poetic style is probably lost in translation, but reading
the English translations I am impressed with their depth. "Brave sheep are
rambling through valleys of majestic mountains." And one can "hear the firs
sighing and the beeches whispering," and their topic of discussion is N
Crugu Bradului. They call it "primitive Transilvanian" black metal, but that
is primitive as in 200 BC, not as in 'simplistic, talentless.' The great
early 20th century American artist Alfred Stieglitz talked of making
photographs, not taking them. Every photographic image was, in his mind, an
Equivalent, a portal through which your mind travels back to reminiscence of
the feelings which inspired you to make the picture in the first place. In
other words, that photograph hanging on the wall is a vessel that holds the
key to your memory of a specific place. Just look at the picture to unlock
the portal. Negura Bunget talk of feeling music, not hearing it. They hope
to "unveil hidden essences of Romanian spirituality thus crossing the
borders of Transilvanian dimensions." In other words, their music is an
Equivalent, a dimensional portal defying time and space, a connection with
the infinite cycles of nature that links you with a timeless place, granting
you a form of immortality. As long as the music plays, you are adrift in the
mystical fog of ancient Transilvanian spirituality. Like the shepherd, you
become one with nature, timeless. The band says their goal is to melt the
conscience in with the Will of the universe. N Crugu Bradului lasts 54
minutes and contains four tracks, titled "I," "II," "III," "IIII,"
representing the principle of 4, the four seasons, four phases of the moon,
four winds, etc., saying it is "macrocosmos' manifestation in microcosmos,
the most balanced and moderated form of the contraries to coexist." Their
music is of a spiritual nature, focused on Dachs, the Romanian nation's
oldest direct ancestors who praised immortality, bravery, strength from 400
BC to 106 AD. The Dachs felt they had to have a spiritually appropriate
personality or their god would not except their sacrifice. Greek historian
Herodotus wrote that the Dachs made themselves immortal. The Dachs were well
known for their great military skill, blood thirst and wisdom, often
assimilated with their totemic war flag ritual animal, the wolf. This is the
band's entrance into transcendental spirituality, but it can be assessed
from many cultural perspectives. They emphasize spirituality and knowledge
rather than hatred and war, saying "black metal is something into which you
must reach beyond personal identity... reaching to an archetypal state." We
are a consciously assumed consequence of this spirituality. The band's fight
is for the return of this ancient spirituality and to reveal the hypocrisy
of the christian religion. Negru has a masters degree in the ethnogenesis of
the Romanian nation, but you don't need one to appreciate this album. The
more background you know the more you get out of it, however. I've been
waiting for Enslaved's successor for a long time, Negura Bunget is the new
king, and I'll call N Crugu Bradului the best black metal album of 2002.
[Grimulf]