It's a long
time they've been around, yet not many know them by now. From Timisoara,
the core of Black metal in Romania, the 3 musicians release their first
endeavour for Romagna's label for a sum of almost 54 minutes divided
in 4 nameless songs.
"1" starts with an obscure intro with twisted crawling bass
lines, far vocals, then keys and in turn guitars forming a powerful
and learned black, sometimes reminiscent of Enslaved. There're several
kinds of aggressive vocals, while the drumming is massiveand dynamic.
There's place for melodic keyboards embroidered in a heavy texture.
The 2nd guitar doesn't stand out but makes a cool work while the lead
plays evilly and is strongly present.
Negru doesn't only play drums, but also uses a xylophone, as in "2",
where an E riff is substained by suffocated vocals, followed by fast
black riffs mixed with slow death ones. Negura Bunget are excellent
manipulators of moods and to do this, they use melodic or atmospherical
parts in respect of the Romanian spirit; here's why you can now find
an arpeggio with keys, evocative vocals, as for the resting songs in
Romanian only. There's such an ample choice of supreme riffs in this
composition where to get lost or to be run over by that some might even
remain speechless. Later comes a wonderful and not foreseeable arpeggio
to contrast with the preceding pulsating drums. Worth being mentioned
some thrash riffing with odd drum beats before a final blast. As you
can see all of the songs are manifold and elaborated, but at the same
time the essence of Viking/Romanian warlike Black metal has been preserved.
Light guitars are entrusted with the beginning of "3", a track
lasting over 15 minutes, full of scaled riffs, while the 2nd guitar
is busy with epic Black metal ones in the background. A sort of death
and black melting with maximum utilization of the 2 guitars, embellished
by a middle riff as heavy as a boulder. The vocals are whispered and
replaced by screams swiftly, and all of that makes this a very epic
track! I didn't expect the Spanish-oriented guitars at this point, but
they're necessary to create a waiting climate before the panpipes and
the ultimate attack repeating the start of the composition structure.
Softly begins "4" with a distorted guitar sound prolonged
long. We find distant vocals and xylophone notes here as well for a
great deal of minutes; afterwards the song becomes majestic and screamed,
whereas the keyboards make a huge effect: horrorifical, deign of 50's
and 60's movies, they soon turn crazy and absolutely upset. The drummer
is able to sound malignant like never before now, while axeman Sol Faur
Sporcatu adds a classic black metal riff; again an atmospherical relaxing
passage with howlings until the end close this remarkable full length.
The 3-piece has achieved an original formula of composing varicoloured
and involving black metal, and Code666 records didn't save energies
to make them satisfied as to the multimedia section, extremely detailed
and including a videoclip.
Romania is mostly a very traditional country and Negura are clever at
explaining to the world the folk background that animates the legends
and beliefs about the vast forests, spirits and all of their panorama,
so that a limited version of this CD contains a small branch of pine!
MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 4/5/04
Contacts:
E-mail: contact@negurabunget.com
www.negurabunget.com
Spurcatu
