1. "Paminit". Starts with some flute kind of thing. Possibly just a flute. Possibly not. I'm not an expert at wind instruments. With the slow build up flute solo, it's worth checking out the band's Spotify biography. In the bio there is a comparison to Bathory (!!!) since both bands incorporate national legends into their songs. The cool thing about Negura Bunget is that they are from Romania, so their national legends come directly from Transylvania. The flute solo is still going on three minutes into the song. There is an orchestra building up in the background. There is also some random sticks hammering in the back. Stick banging in metal is underrated. At 3:30, some talking starts. It doesn't sound English. It's church-ish. Some frantic acoustic guitar strums. Crazy key changes, overshadows the church chanting priest singer guy. The priest is getting mad at the 5 minute mark. The hammering is still going on. Priest is screaming at 5:15. A second set of vocals come in...death vocals. Anthemic guitar, drums, etc. kick in shortly after. Pretty cool intro. This album is off to a promising start.
2. "Dacia Hiperboreana". After the freakout at the end of the first song, things are pretty calmed down again. With the calm taking over, it seems like a good idea to recommend watching Nosferatu. Either Murnau's or Herzog's work. Or just watch them both. Talking on the track starts around the 3 minute mark. I think it's the same priest guy, but it could be someone else. His talking becomes more frantic. He's trying to get something across. By the four minute it sounds like a pretty desperate situation. Yup, death is back echoing some of the more important points of this monologue. High shrilled screams of a woman in distress. Or possibly a banshee. This is terrifying. It is also great.
3. "Umbra". Single note oboe or something. Marching drum procession. Sounds pretty eerie. Sounds kind of like a group of people leading a prisoner in shackles away. That's all this song is. A pretty important transition song, or did they just forget to write lyrics?
4. "Ochiul Inimii". More talking, more symphony, until about the 2 minute mark when a death scream breaks out and a decent metal guitar riff takes over. This song turns into full thrash around three minutes, which is cool. The ambiance could only hold up for so long. What makes the song even better is there is a flute solo going on behind all the madness. Pretty good song. It has a little bit of everything, that should make everyone happy. Or angry. I guess metal heads would prefer to be angry.
5. "Chei De Roua". A little bit too much synthesizer in the intro/first verse of this one. At the 1:45 mark, things get weird with a folksy chant. This might be an album it'd be worth knowing what was being said. It is kind of fun hearing the guitars crunch in the background behind the chant.
6. "Tara De dinicolo De Negura". More thrash. More split vocals between a growler and a devil witch man. Chorus breaks down into priest chants, mixed with a cool tea pot whistle sounding thing. Pretty good song. Everything is starting to sound the same, but it's not a bad problem. All in all, this is a decent album so far.
7. "Jar". Jar starts with sounds that sound like blowing into a jar. I'm guessing jar doesn't mean jar here, but maybe it does. Another transitional song. I think it sounded like chilling out with some jars in a misty forest. Wikipedia says that Negura Bunget translates into black fog, so I guess it makes sense.
8. "Arborele Lumii". More thrash. More chorus with random vocal effects. This one sounds like a guy shouting from the top of a mountain. "Give me back my jars". The verse metal vocals respond by saying, no you can't have these jars.
9. "Intoarcerea Amurgului". Deep bass underneath choir chant starts this one. Plucks of an acoustic guitar, and maybe a french horn? Or is that just a trumpet. We've reached the end. The beat picks up, and it kind of sounds like it could possibly become a techno song. A real old country techno song. Folksy. There are cool whisper vocals in this too.
Here's a photo from their website:
Decent album. Initial excitement kind of dissipated as it went on because it all started to sound the same.
Grade: 3 out of 5 decapitated goats.
Top Tracks:
1. Ochiul Inimii
2. Dacia Hiperboreana
3. Tara De dinicolo De Negura
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