Wóohitike

This is a really interesting concept - there seems to be a growing scene of Native American black metal. This album stands out to me though and I love it. It's really really fast and really really raw.

The first thing you'll notice is the drums are really gnarly - it sounds like someone knocking on a door. They're well done though with a crazy speed, plenty of bass pedal, lots of blast beats but sparing use of cymbals. The drums, as horribly produced as they are, really hold the music together.

The guitar riffs are fast tremolo picking. They'll change a riff but stay on the same tempo (so the drums don't change) but also will swoop up and down through tempo changes. A lot of these riffs remind me of "Hollywood Indian" music - the kind of tunes that will play in western movies and stuff. That's probably intentional. Drama is created by slowing down suddenly, breaking for a melodic sequence after half a song of blasting intensity. These breaks are necessary for the listener because it's just too intense to keep going for a full thirty minutes. It is formulaic - always about halfway through the song and suddenly there'll be a breakdown or even a full stop, so you could criticize that as weak writing.

Vocals are very high shrieks. He doesn't show very much range, just stays where he is: intense, painful, and really high. Lyrics aren't provided and I can't understand him on my own. Sometimes it sounds like he's saying "spirit" but I'm not sure if that's right. The titles are in Lakota Sioux, it's anyone's guess what the lyrics are or what language he's even speaking. Still I appreciate his vocal style, it's good to see a traditional shriek that's not annoying.

Production is just on the edge of my limits. It's raw as hell: guitars are fuzzy and crunchy, there's background noise like the stereotypical tape hiss, I already mentioned the "door knocking" drum sound. It's nasty. But, at least it's comprehensible. There's never a time when I can't follow the riffs or feel like it's just a wall of static. It's just on the limit of quality - intentional and artistic.

Overall I enjoy this a lot, and recommend to anyone who likes raw black metal. This album is fast as hell, if I had to compare it I'd say Immortal's Pure Holocaust - frantic drumming and fast tempo riffs non-stop, until a break to catch your breath halfway through each song. As I said, the aesthetic comes through in the music that does really evoke the plains Indians of the old west. This is something special.

Joining a growing movement of First Nations or aboriginal BM acts – bands like Ifernach (Canada), Ushangvagush and Ŭkcheănsălâwit (both US) come to mind – is mystery raw BM project Maȟpíya Lúta whose name translates into "Red Cloud" in the language of the Lakota people in North and South Dakota, in the US. The Lakota people are also known as the Teton Sioux, traditionally made up of seven bands or sub-tribes of which the Oglala is one such band. One of the Oglala band's notable military leaders and politicians was Red Cloud (1822 – 1909) whose photographic portrait graces the front cover of Maȟpíya Lúta's first album "Wóohitike". Red Cloud led a combined force of the Oglala Lakota, northern Cheyenne and northern Arapaho in a prolonged war (known as Red Cloud's War) against the US army over 1866 – 1868 and inflicted a stunning defeat on US forces. At the time, this was the worst defeat suffered by the US army from indigenous Americans until the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

"Wóohitike" is a powerful, raging tribute to the traditional Lakota values of perseverance, wisdom and bravery: qualities that stood the leader Red Cloud in good stead in his and his people's resistance to US encroachment on their lands. All three tracks on the album are lengthy works of sustained anger, hate and trauma channelled through raw grinding riff-heavy music. Chainsaw guitars lead you on a journey through the trials, triumphs and also tragedies endured by the Lakota over the many decades of their battle against forces intent on taking their lands and resources, and extinguishing their culture, history and identity. Aggressive though steady drumming propels the music along but what may really catch your attention is the ragged screaming, filled with intense anger and pain all at once. Opening track "Wówačhiŋtȟaŋka" establishes the band's style of epic flowing if harsh raw BM. The track tells an epic story that takes you through extended passages of thrilling tremolo guitar riff scrabble and occasional brief moments of sadness and lament where solo guitar and voice dominate.

All tracks start with very distinct riffs and none more so than second track "Wóksape" which begins almost as a sinister raw BM doom piece with a Sabbath-sounding riff. This turns out to be quite a rock'n'roll song with a headbanging groove in the drumming. Like the first track, "Wóksape" tells its own epic story taking you down many paths marked by changes in riff and most of them very fast. The song has many moods as well and all the while the screaming continues in its fury and pain. The album closes with the title track which in parts sounds a bit more conventionally black metal than the previous tracks but also features some thunderous drumming. The shrieking is almost unbearable across much of the song.

It's an intense work that demands all your attention and it can be hard-going in parts because of the sheer pain and trauma present behind the rage and the hate. The harsh lo-fi production makes the pain and sorrow even more agonising though it also blunts the edge of some of the music and the singing. This is a bit unfortunate because the level of musicianship is very good and consistent across the three tracks. It's possible that with a cleaner production, more of the technical aspects of the music would be apparent but then the fury and immense sorrow might not be so intense, and the message behind the music not so confronting.

Though the music is delivered in a harsh minimal way, the structure of the songs and their meandering nature along with the sometimes uplifting and heroic riffs turn the music into a powerful entity of tragedy and heroism. You would have to have a heart of stone to hear this music and not be affected by the intense rage and the sorrow, but also the hope for a better world where the downtrodden and those who have had to suffer and lose everything finally see justice done and their lands restored to them.