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By AK Bergwanderer
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You know what I love about the modern internet age? The fact that, on any given day, you can unearth bands or artists who are absolute gems in most any music genre you may happen to be a fan of. This is a review that highlights one such gem for me.
Hailing from the southern Slavic lands of Serbia, lone STRAHOR member Volkh started composing his anthems to Slavic Paganism in 2017, at the scant age of 16. In the past six years, Volkh has laid out a body of work that consists of a couple demos, a couple EPs, some splits, and two very good full length albums in 2019’s Koledo and 2021’s Wolfborn: In The Land Of The Fallen. All of which has led to this moment; his magnum opus of a third full length, entitled Gde Vukovi Zavijaju (“Where Wolves Howl”).
Kicking off with the title track, the first impression given is this is high quality pure Pagan black metal, presented in the finest Slavic tradition; soaring, repetitive riffs that create *THAT* atmosphere that bands from that region of the world can only seem to pull off, the gruff mid-range vocals, etc. You know the sound. Then, some wrinkles in the tapestry start to appear in the form of chunky folk-metal melodic riffs, and even a couple of straight-up folk interludes. However, you can’t help but to feel there’s an underlying classic “heavy metal” vibe as well. This track is the longest on the album, and it packs every second of its 7:22 running time with pure majesty. The section leading up to the final folk inspired outro is goosebump inducing. There was a high chance that the proverbial load could have been blown with this one track, and perhaps a lesser band would have experienced exactly that. But fear not readers… Volkh is only getting started here.
‘For Those Who Follow The Heart’ puts to rest any questions of influences and comes right out of the gate with a pure heavy metal attack, and IT WILL cause you to instantly headbang with a fist raised in the air and a big, dumb smile on your face. 100% guaranteed. The main verse riffs are a bit reminiscent of something like Iron Maiden‘s ‘Be Quick or Be Dead’ with the constant fretboard work on display. This song also introduces another wrinkle into the mix, that being something you could compare to ‘Triarchy of The Lost Lovers’– era Rotting Christ and it’s doomy, dreary yet still melodic approach to black metal. It fits, it works, I like it.
‘Vampyric Sorrows’ keeps things moving along in a great mid-tempo march, then from there on out the remaining tracks brilliantly straddle the line between classic, traditional Slavic black metal and the obvious inspiration of classic 1980’s heavy metal. Particular standouts on an album full of highlights include ‘Izvor Krvi’, the ass-stomping ‘Age of The Beast’ (that heavy triplet moment in the middle… UUGGGHHH), and the beautiful rager of a closer in ‘Kletva’. Honestly? You can’t go wrong with any one of these seven tracks. All have their moments to shine, and shine they do.
The obvious focal point throughout the course of Gde Vukovi Zavijaju is Volkh‘s masterful guitar work. While perhaps not quite at the pure shred and technical level of ability of someone like Jacob Björnfot (Kvaen), his skill set and versatility is still VERY eye opening. And even more impressive when you realize that he is all of 21 years old, which only means that his ceiling is still quite high and will only get even better on future efforts. Be forewarned!
And, yet again, I can’t write up one of these reviews without giving a shout out to the production quality. In short, for an album like this, it’s perfect. Not too raw, not too polished, everything is balanced, the guitars absolutely shine without killing everything else around it. It’s another album that just has a certain level of warmth in the production that really is soothing to the ears. I can blast this full volume on my computer speakers, my headphones, in my car, on my phone, it doesn’t matter. It always sounds great.
In short, Strahor is a band that is more than worthy of full support; and Gde Vukovi Zavijaju is a no questions asked, must have album for anybody’s collection. I fully expect this to occupy space in my Top 5 come year end. If not Top 3. It IS that good.
Gde Vukovi Zavijaju released May 9th.
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Purchase Gde Vukovi Zavijaju on CD and digital from the Strahor Bandcamp HERE.
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