Alkonost hails from Russia and brings us their newest slab of pagan metal. It's an interesting genre by itself, and it probably has the highest percentage of female bandmembers among all metal subgenres. Alkonost is no exception, with two female metalheads in the line-up. Usually, though, you see them playing the violin, the flute, or even rarer (medieval) instruments. Here, they occupy the keyboard and the vocals. There's nothing wrong with that, but on "Put' Neprojdennyj" it softens things up too much.
Alena has a solid voice, but frankly, it makes the whole sound too gothic metal (in the vein of Nightwish and Epica). Ditto for the instrumentals, which, on the more relaxed passages, tend to sound like a crude, less commercial version of some gothic metalband. The pagan feeling is somewhat rescued by the (male) grunting vocals and by the genuine melodies straying around on the album. And these could add more depth too, I believe, by having them played by classical instruments. I'm not saying this isn't a good album, by the way. On the contrary: it has a crisp production, and most tracks have a good flow and certain highlights. It just isn't "pagan metal" as I imagine it should sound (especially because I see a stronger link between pagan and folk, like fellow Russian band Arkona brings into practice). Maybe the lyrics deal with related subjects, but I can't tell since they're in Russian. Anyway, good stuff, just don't expect it too heavy, too fast, or too medieval.
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AUTHOR: Goran
Goran has been an active reviewer for years (since the old Fishcomcollective, to the brand new Corazine - and also for Face Your Underground). He enjoys - besides metal - the creative side of life, be it through music, sports, programming or 3D. You can find him at www.myspace.com/fdemets.