Epos o woju z krainy mrozem spowitej

Wojnar must veritably be the last of the Mohicans of the old Polish war-folk scene. I suppose this sort of unplugged pagan pride initially went hand-in-hand with the earlier black metal scenery fairly well but petered out rather quickly, as more and more people realized that lazily picking your acoustic strings and fingering your Casio does not require that much imagination. All of his erstwhile comrades (from Kraina Bez Wiatru and Perunwit to Stara Piesn and Piorun) sooner or later realized the artistic futility of such exercises after the 90's drew to a close, and either folded their operations or moved on to something else, but Wojnar stubbornly refused to acknowledge the fact that times have indeed changed.

Not that this type of direction became completely obsolete. It is just that newcomers like Jar display a decent amount of musical skill and actual familiarity with the folk tradition, when Wojnar, in the meantime, just continues to wave the banner of his bare militant paganism. And it is not that there are absolutely no redeeming qualities to his music. It does carry a certain amount of its own crude charm, as long as you keep in mind that conviction does not always trump artistic shortcomings. And if you do not believe me, then go ahead and chase an earful of Wojnar with the works of Wardruna or the latter day Svarrogh, to gain the right perspective on the fact that despite his project's longevity and fair-sized body of work, Wojnar did not exactly turn quantity into quality and amateurishness into professionalism. He did manage to sustain himself, interestingly enough...

Wojnar's beginner demo phase would not be unlike that of early Mortiis, if the latter decided to live in a forest and play folk music instead of being secluded in a dungeon. From that particular hub, the paths to progression are few really: either towards folk or towards ambient (after all, this music is often referred to as folk-ambient by metal fans), either of which would require deepening and broadening one's theoretical knowledge and technical skills. Wojnar (as well as, for that matter, the entire small scene he was a part of, save for, perhaps, Perunwit, who turned back to metal at some point) chose neither and kept cultivating virtually the same soil and breaking new ground, if any at all, in a very unhurried and modest manner.

Of course, "Epos..." continues to use the same formula that became foundational for this scene in the 90's - acoustic strumming, simplistic tribal percussion and basic keyboard chords. What makes a favorable impression on this particular album is Wojnar's relatively improved song writing, coupled with a good studio recording job. The latter applies some cosmetic sheen upon his layman playing (or, depending on your perspective, brings it all up to the light) via clear, discernible sound, plus an occasional overdubbing of an electric guitar, drum machine, synth pads and some sound effects. As for the former, the amateurishness of Wojnar's rudimentary verse-based song writing is still more than apparent but, paradoxically, turns out to be an asset, what with most of these sung or spoken songs ("Krew z Ognia i Lodu", "Wieza Wspomnien", "Prastara Piesn o Mrozie Minionym", "Znak Orla Bialego", "Piesn o Powrocie") being considerably catchy and memorable regardless, even without employing a single chorus, and generally utilizing relatively less predictable progressions than what was witnessed on the previous records.

As expected, these lyric infused tracks alternate between a number of instrumental pieces that fall within the ambient Burzum meets Lord Wind range. They also have not changed much since the 90's, as many of these compositions, be it the tribal soundtracks of "Czas Tesknoty Za Ziemia Ojczysta" and "Swiatlo w Mroku", electric guitar riff endowed "Gromow Hymn" or Vinterriket-tinged "Lza Jak Deszczu Kropla", while not at all unpleasant, do, in fact, contain an overbearing amount of primitively derivative and fully familiar, up and down the stairs (or scales), keyboard and synth sequences that only A.D.D. afflicted pagan warriors did not overuse throughout the years. In that environment, the somber ambient piece "Smutek Nocy" stands out among the rest. The holistic saving grace, however, is the fact that these pieces fit just fine into the album's fabric, despite the individual results being less than satisfactory. Ditto for the underdeveloped yet strategically placed, instrumental twin-pack of "Wyprava Ku Krainie Wiecznych Mrozow" and "Dzwiek Zwyciestwa".

At this stage, I suppose, it would be safe to say that, ironically, Wojnar somehow avoided blatant stagnation in spite of not thriving artistically. Even his somewhat misguided stab at the epic (or so he thought) format in the shape of the disc's closing, thirteen minute track is not without merit. It would be curious to see whether he would continue to retrench himself and still be able to release something more or less digestible. Otherwise, his own countryman Rob "Lord Wind" Darken is a decent sign post, as last year's "Ales Stenar" full-length revealed a more ethnic shift in this project's direction. If not, well then, I guess it is worth having one Wojnar to adamantly keep the traditional values intact. Small doses of primitive charm are there, and after fifteen years of sticking to one headstrong, obstinate standpoint, he might have finally secured his place as the Mortician (the band, that is, though, come to think of it, pun is also intended) of the blue-collar pagan-ambient.

As cold winds blow over the frozen winter landscape, one of Poland’s favourite pagan sons returns with another slab of pagan folk/ambient music and it’s musically more varied than any of his previous stuff. Wojnar seems to have matured during the years he was composing this album. While synth is still an important part of Wojnar’s music, there is a lot more guitar overall this time around. Most of the time the guitars are clean but some tracks also have a distorted guitar added, thereby bringing in a metal influence.

While almost all tracks of this album feature guitar, there are a couple of tracks which are ambient such as e.g. “Smutec Nocy”, “Łza Jak Deszczu Kropla” and “Dźwięk Zwycięstwa”. “Dźwięk Zwycięstwa” also happens to be the only really bad track on the album, it simply repeats the same keyboard melody throughout the whole track and that gets boring.

The atmosphere this album creates is very strongly pagan, that should go without saying. This is the story of ancient battles, bravery, the taking of oaths, loyalty, blood, tears… and probably sweat too, ha. The music paints very strong images in my mind, I feel like I’m actually there, watching everything unfold. There’s the sound of a winter storm between all the tracks (as well as in the beginning and at the end of the album), so the cold feeling doesn’t stop until the very end. On some tracks multiple vocal tracks have been used, which increases the power of the vocals. One good example of this is “Krew Z Ognia I Lodu”, where the main vocal track is accompanied by two additional ones that sing a couple of lines in a choir like fashion. Overall the vocals are good on this album, Wojnar’s voice varies from calm narration and clean singing to occasional angry outbursts.

On some of his earlier releases Wojnar had a bit of trouble conveying the right atmosphere but there are no such problems on this album. I think “Epos O Woju Z Krainy Mrozem Spowitej” excellently combines a melancholic feeling of longing with both a heroic and defiant vibe. The production is clear and there’s quite a lot of reverb on both the instruments and vocals, which helps to create quite a big sound. One thing that could perhaps have been done differently, could have been the use of acoustic guitars instead of clean electric ones for the folky guitar parts but this doesn’t matter that much. It sounds good enough this way too.

Except for “Dźwięk Zwycięstwa”, the song writing is great and the folk tracks such as “Krew Z Ognia I Lodu”, “Prastara Pieśń O Mrozie Minionym”, “Znak Orła Białego” and “Pieśń O Powrocie” would certainly do well on the pagan folk charts if there would be such a thing. These songs are damn catchy and make the listener want to sing along even though he or she doesn’t understand the lyrics. Perfect for a night around the campfire! Halfway though the album we encounter its darkest track, “Smutec Nocy”. A very sombre keyboard piece, it gives me visions of dark clouds gathering in the sky over a battlefield full of corpses after yet another pagan battle. “Łza Jak Deszczu Kropla” takes a peek into the past by featuring more “upbeat” piano parts in the vein of what can be found on the “Jam Synem…” demo. However, this track also has a majestic choir synth in the background, which balances out the more cheerful mood brought on by the piano. The way this track ends with sweeping synths that fade into the sound of a storm is great. “Epos O Woju Z Krainy Mrozem Spowitej” is an album that’s made with great conviction and spirit. In the booklet Wojnar mentions that he gave up many times when writing these tracks, as he wasn’t satisfied with the material. Well, I sure am glad that he eventually managed to record this stuff, since the outcome is excellent. This is the sound of perseverance!