Malokarpatan – Krupinské ohne (2020)
by 2 jackets Moloney
Beware the enchanting pastoral sounds of wood, field and meadow! At any moment the peaceful terrain may rupture and tear without warning revealing the hellish fires within! In the theatre of sound the music on their second-latest album Krupinské Ohne shifts constantly between these two worlds, the red tooth grinding under the smile.
Fitting that the album should begin the way it does, with an orchestral piece of music which I am unable to identify (from the movie Andrej Rublev perhaps? If the band ever reads this, a clarification would be most welcome!) which in which the music softly suggests the beguiling lightness of the coming spring before shifting ominously into a choral driven section which blows like an icy wind into the surrounding gloom.
Fitting also, that the band should associate their music with the potent symbolism of the forest, that evocation of nature's dual qualities of pastoral tranquility on the one hand and darkness & danger on the other. In this sense even the gentler musical moments seem to serve as warnings of what dangers lie around the corner.
Musically although the album can fairly justifiably be classified as 'Black Metal' (the lead vocalists death growl on most/all of the songs the one consistent factor that connects the band to that particular category) in my view that term can be said to indicate a state of mind as much as it does a particular musical style and the band members' obvious fondness for different 'non-metal' styles of music is given ample expression throughout.
The expected influences are of course present: I am reminded at times of Bathory's early years and there are moments that would not sound out of place on The Return of Darkness and Evil - elsewhere however flashes of even-older-school melodic heavy metal are featured - I particularly like the surprising (& pleasing) Scorpions-style anthemic sing-along chorus on Krupinské ohne poštyrikráte teho roku vzplanuli for instance.
In addition the band's obvious fondness for 70s prog rock is very much in evidence during such moments as the Genesis/Camel -like musical passage on Na černém kuoni sme lítali firmamentem, and there is a most welcome excursion into medieval/renaissance territory (Filipojakubská noc na Štangarígelských skalách - is that a real krumhorn I have to ask?)
To sum up it's clear that the members' wide-ranging non-metal influences indicate a certain creative restlessness and a commendable willingness to integrate these other sounds into their music. Krupinské ohne strikes me as a worthy specimen of this tendency and I now look forward to listening the other albums released by this intriguing and impressive band.
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Malokarpatan on JDOS:
Dec-20: Interview#46
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