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Powerful, Beautiful, and Original. - 90%
Unlike their other releases, over half the songs here are covers (though impressively improved stylistically). Much of their discography is also 'split' releases. These together with the absense of any reviews for them here on MetalArchives make me wonder if they've included these in trying to get more exposure and attention. To my mind this album deserves it.
This was my first encounter with Sokyra Peruna. The band is apparently a pack of racists, but all the lyrics on this release are in Ukrainian, so if, like me, you love the sound of the Slavic languages but don't understand a word of Ukrainian, this is irrelevant, so don't let that, or the term "hatecore" in their genre classification shy you away from this album.
I've heard hundreds of pagan/viking/folk bands by now, and I rarely expect to hear something unique anymore (a Falkenbach, a Korpiklaani, a Rimmersgard...), so the moment I heard this album I just smiled with amazement. I really can't understate how diverse this album is from song to song.
There are a variety of vocal styles on the album... the passionate pagan metal style I love (similar to those of Månegarm), though they become a little too 'troll' for me at times (refer to "Berserker" by Volkolak for a good example of what I mean); clean and romantic, and in duet with a female vocalist on a couple songs; and oddly enough, on "My Brothers" (track 2), -operatic-.
Everywhere you turn is acoustic or undistorted electric guitar, the style ranging from peaceful neofolk melodies to rock riffs (which the "RAC" in their genre classification hints at---Rock Against Communism), but tends toward the mellow side of things (a much lighter album than their 2003 release, "For All We Have And Are").
"The Last Drakkar" (track 6), instrumentally, is very much a rock-style song. I feel the style of the vocals detract from what could be a beautiful neofolk song during the introduction and verses, but they work powerfully in the chorus. Amazingly this is almost unrecognizable from the original song by Honor. I prefer the original vocals better, but Sokyra Peruna's version is so much more melodic and dynamic. The Ken McLellan cover is a perfect example of what they could have done here, vocally. I wasn't able to find the original of this cover, but I simply can't imagine it being better than this. I consider this one of the nicest neofolk songs I've ever heard.
"Born to Win" (track 5) and "The Last Drakkar" (track 6) were instant favorites of mine, picking this up expecting Folk Metal. Though not 'heavy', they bring that same lively cry for revolution vibe as you'll get from the likes of Korpiklaani and Månegarm.
"Road to Valhalla" (track 10), to my ears the guitar and female vocals in the beginning sound very much like an American "country" song (as does the original version by Skrewdriver), but flute and male vocals come in and turn this quickly into a very slavic song. The duet is just beautiful; "Schmerzen" or "Herbstabend" by Forseti, or a brief moment in Pagan Reign's "Immortal Tribe" take up a similar vibe, but they're really no rival for this. This easily outdoes the original.
This isn't a metal album, and it's really not even a rock album like earlier releases, but it's an album worth hearing if you love pagan/folk styled music, and don't demand it be heavy.
Highlights: "The Last Drakkar" (track 6) and "Road to Valhalla" (track 10).
