#niburta

Równo za tydzień przez Alchemię przetoczy się fala nowoczesnego folkmetalu i z tej okazji mam dla Was dwa bileciki.

There’s this thought I had in mind for quite some time that quite some music that crosses folk and traditonal music elements with harsher Metal elements ends up sounding a bit like the stuff that I’m calling “Modern Metal” here, even though it doesn’t really use synths or sound futuristic. But some of the composition methods don’t seem to be far off. I originally planned to make this a little series of posts in the context of crossover Metal, leading in with some thoughts on Tengger Cavalry. But I’m not quite sure that would be feasible right now. 

But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little delve into that usical sphere anyway. As there actually are some bands around that don’t just play Metal with traditional music influences that sounds somewhat like Modern Metal but pretty much straight up Modern Metal with traditional music influences. Allow me to turn your ears towards two of those.

Let’s start with the one that actually made me want to write this exact post. Which is Ukranian project Sva Da Ra, that released their debut EP “Istok” just two days ago. It’s one of those releases I just stumble upon in a random browse and get the immediate urge to shout into the world about. It’s niche, it has a pretty low profile and it is seriously killer stuff. It may lean a bit more on the Progressive Metal and Ambient side than what I normally recommend here; but the combination of heavy downtuned guitar stabs, various traditional instruments, electronic elements and all clean female vocals in a likely eastern european singing style that I can not tell you the name of all come together to form a sound that does some really intriguing splits between traditional music and modern Metal styles without really ever sounding entirely like either one of those even a second. Be sure to check it out:

Исток / Istok by Sva Da Ra

The second band that I think I should really mention given the occasion are Niburta. These Hungarian guys, and girl, of course, have been around for a while. Their first album “Scream From The East” was released in 2012 and could garner some critical acclaim, if I remember right. It’s a pretty weird but also pretty amazing combination of Death Metal with strong groove-orientation, traditional instrumentation and a strong Progressive and Avant-Garde undercurrent with slightly off-kilter sections and clean female vocals (again, in a likely traditional eastern european singing style that I don’t know the name of).

Their recent new EP leans a bit more on the modern side of things with a very percussive feel to it and some more modern Industrial-style riffing.

ReSet by Niburta

Tennger Cavalry’s Top 5 International Bands

There are plenty of folk-metal bands out there, but few are as interesting as Mongolian quartet Tengger Cavalry. The band formed in 2010, blending nomadic music from Central Asia with metal. Frontman Nature Ganganbeigal is not only versed in Khoomei, or throat singing, but can also play Mongolian nomadic instruments including Montolian horese-head fiddle Morin Khuur, Mongolian flute and Tibetan…