Katk kutsariks

Personally, I've never gotten that far into folk metal before, and my only prior basis of the style was mostly based off of folk-influenced black metal which I'd enjoyed in the past. In my quest to become more culture, I discovered this album whilst seeking out more folk-influenced metal, and boy am I glad I listened to it.

The first track was a short intro track. It was really cool; just some tribal-chant-ish vocals that sounded kind of like throat singing, but I can’t say I’m familiar enough with the style to say for certain. It sounded really cool though, and did a good job of setting up the mood of the album. The first proper song started off with a sick thrashy riff and some awesome drums. I didn’t expect such a thrash sound, although the album did slow down after the first couple tracks. The relatively low vocals gave it a really interesting sound, especially due to how thrashier sounding bands typically have a higher, more shouty vocal style. Overall the vocals in general were really cool, and they had a lot of variation throughout the album. They were completely in a different language (which after researching it, I found out was Estonian), which my dumb English brain really loved. There were a lot of different vocal styles throughout as well: fast-paced singing with a few shoutier parts, tribal chanting similar to the intro track, really nice female vocals included on the 5th track, and at a few points, some cool choral backing vocals.

I really appreciated the presence of the bass on this album; in addition to the lower tuned guitar, it gave it a thick, heavy sound that I’m always a big fan of. The bass played some great parts, and the guitar riffs were overall pretty awesome. The drums were badass as hell: really skillfully played and the beats were well written. There was a lot of chugging in this album, which, layered with folk-y instruments playing the melody over them, had a really cool effect and unique sound. I loved the folk instruments they used in this album, from the woodwind/flute, a string instrument that I can’t identify, and a violin. The use of less “conventional” instruments gave it a unique sound that I really enjoyed.

I liked how they switched up the musical styles on this album multiple times. It started off making me expect a consistent thrash album, but later slowed it down into a more straightforward heavy metal style. It remained a consistent heavy metal album, but there was enough variation within that genre to thoroughly keep my interest. While the first couple of tracks were hella thrash, after that it slowed down and focused more on heavy riffs paired with interesting and engaging melodies. Despite the variation, it didn’t fall into the trap of inconsistency, which some albums that change it up tend to do. This album stayed in a cohesive style the whole time without getting boring. The tracks were pretty short, so it definitely didn’t drag on at all. The melodies were all interesting and nice to listen to, and despite the evident focus on heaviness, still had a melodic focus.

Overall, I absolutely loved this album. It definitely surpassed whatever expectations I had, and I’ll definitely revisit it at some point. If you're looking for something classic, yet refreshing and interesting, I'd recommend you give this album a spin.