Genre: Folk Metal
Country: Ukraine
Year: 2009
Label: Oriana
I'm just going to go ahead and discuss the album at hand and leave the political discussions to you guys. What I care about is the music - and what fantastic music it is! Голос Сталі is easily the band's best work since Goat Horns (actually, I think it's better, standing right up there just underneath Lunar Poetry). The band somehow managed to work in hints of Pink Floyd and King Crimson and have it mesh seamlessly with their folk metal base. I don't know how, but they did. It sounds pretty absurd on paper, but in practice, the Ukrainian five-piece has forged the unlikely combination into an absolutely sublime work of art. There are more clean vocals on this album than on any of their past works, but they are put to great use and really help enhance the music, and there are some absolutely scorching leads provided by some guest shredders that help round out the massive, epic leanings of the songs. My only complaint here is that the production isn't quite big and full enough to support the enormous ambition of the songs, but it's still listenable and in the end it isn't much of an issue at all. Folk metal has become very tiresome and plastic to me, but Nokturnal Mortum has breathed a breath of fresh air into the genre with this beast. Голос Сталі was definitely one of my favourite albums of last year, and it's definitely not one to miss.
For fans of Moonsorrow, Аркона, Munruthel, and Skyforger.
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