Backward in the Times: Part II

Naakhum has tied together all the various ideas that poked around on Part 1. Still plenty of instrumentals, both real and synthesized, but now they are blended much more smoothly with the archaic black/folk metal style. And there are more complete songs, that is, songs with lyrics, including some in English, which is very much welcome. No I don’t understand Serbian and can only read along fragmentarily in Catalan, but just knowing he’s singing (croaking really) about paleohistory and aliens is enough for me!

I’ll start with the more peculiar aspects of the music. Songs like “Spiral of Time”, “Tassili n Ajjer” and “Starcevo Fanfare” do a standout job of capturing the atmosphere of the various cultures they represent. “Starcevo” is a mostly synth piece that works as a setup to the bouncy proto-Slavic song “Vincanska kultura”. As for the other two, there’s no instrument that speaks for desert lands like the didgeridoo, and Naakhum ably places it alongside the mouth harp in “Spiral of Time”.

I also love how both “Tassili n Ajjer” and “Genetic Harvest” blend those old instruments with some slow and ominous electric guitar. Neither side is overwhelmed. These songs feel esoteric and ancient, and progressive and innovative, at the same time. Fans of Russian mesoamerican-themed band Tenochtitlan will know what I’m talking about.

The more conventional blackened folk metal songs here are great too. “Ancient Astronauts” has an odd metallic whirring sound (like a spaceship?) going all throughout, complemented by a mid-paced foreboding guitar riff. Kinda wish there were lyrics, but there’s also something cool about silent rising anticipation. “Cranial Deformation” is creepy as hell with his weirdly throaty inhuman croak. It’s close, both in subject matter and sound, to “Great Work of Ages” from Mayhem’s Ordo ad Chao, and every bit as unsettling. Naakhum even gets into a galloping pace on the Greek war epic “Molon Labe”, which is a little out of his usual material, yet serves to highlight the dazzling array of different ideas he’s capable of bringing together.