Măiestrit

Remakes can elicit a number of reactions from a band's fanbase. Some albums or tracks are way overdue for a remake because maybe the production was just too bad and a proper remake can really shed light on that. Or a remake can completely flop and make you wonder why a band ever thought remaking something that was fine the way. In even rarer cases, a remake can be done in such a way that neither version invalidates the other. Both versions could have reasons to go back to them which make it difficult it to decide if you could only pick one. Mãiestrit is that kind of album.

Mãiestrit is essentially a remake of Negura Bunget's sophomore album, Mãiastru sfetnic. The band was smart to shed more light on one of their lesser known albums even if said album was probably the best release Negura Bunget has ever created. After all, there were some cloudy areas and production issues of the original, so it was interesting from the beginning to see how the band would have cleared these things up in a new release. Additionally, there are two bonus tracks which are acoustic versions of two songs on the album.

In the original album, Mãiastru sfetnic, the concept of being isolated in a dark, unusual forest was easily created by the sound Negura Bunget created. In tracks like "Plecăciunea morții" and "Al locului", the forest felt like it was truly alive and the music was congruent in creating that atmosphere. Vocals echoed throughout the heart of the woods. On top of that, all the tracks had intense riffs and guitar melodies that blended well with all the other sounds. For such a somber atmosphere, the intense riffing complemented each track well.

Mãiestrit is by and large a failthful remake to the original release. The band has kept all the same elements, though the execution is slightly different. With better production, some of the murkiness of tracks like "Vremea locului sortit" are replaced by more clear passages so while you can argue the atmosphere is dialed back a little bit, the clearer sound is a welcome replacement and there's a little more emphasis on the riffs. On the other hand, "În-zvîcnirea apusului" is basically unchanged from the original, except vocals are now a little more upfront (not as much shrieking to stay above the other instruments) and more clear riffs.

I would argue Mãiestrit doesn't have as much of a dark vibe. The original Mãiastru sfetnic had some elements that truly felt alien or at least non-human. The atmosphere felt darker and the forest itself felt like its own living organism. If Mãiastru sfetnic is the "night" version of this music, is easily the "day" version. The introduction to "Al locului" easily reminds me of starting up a sea of trees above me and feeling the sun push through the branches. Effectively, both albums are two side of the same coin.

Lastly, Mãiestrit has acoustic versions of two tracks, which helps justify the value of the release as opposed to this just being a release. The execution on both tracks offers a new perspective on each that might be easily missed in the original versions and finishing the album on a more calm note is a nice touch. If they had to pick only two tracks to make an acoustic version of, they made the right choice here because both "Plecăciunea morții" and "A-vînt în abis" aren't as reliant on their vocals. The other tracks of either album really depend on the shrieking vocals to help paint that atmosphere. These two tracks get there a little differently, so having an acoustic version was icing on the cake.

Overall, if you had to force me to pick one version, I'd stick with the original, but "Mãiestrit" is proof you can have the best of both worlds - a great remake on its own but the original will still be relevant. After this point, Negura Bunget really became a completely different band, so I'm glad they were able to come together one last time to create this fine piece of work.

2010 was a year of great rebirth for the Romanian black metal act Negura Bunget. Losing two of their core members and having them replaced with new ones, the old band that made such regarded masterpieces as 'OM' was now virtually extinct, leaving a new band to take their place. Two albums from this year would ease the band through the transition. The more important of these would be 'Vîrstele Pamîntului', featuring both the new material and new members in action, to somewhat mixed fanfare from fans. The one of lesser importance is this, 'Maiestrit'. A re-recording of an earlier album, 'Maiestrit' has all of the makings of a fans-only release, although even as a relative newcomer to the music of this band, I have found it to be a fairly intriguing album worthy of checking out.

Although having the dubious honour of being the last recording with the classic line-up together, there is the feeling from the beginning that 'Maiestrit' offers little to the band's career. Black metal purists will undoubtedly prefer the original 'Măiastru Sfetnic' over this, but politik aside, Negura Bunget do carry through here. The music tends to be along the lines of what has been heard of them for a few albums now; a brooding, cleanly produced sound of black metal that relies heavily on Romanian folklore as its influence. Obviously, the biggest development here from the original 'Măiastru Sfetnic' is the recording quality, which much black metal tends to suffer, rather than benefit from. Even with a cleaner production though, much of the music here still feels rather haphazardly produced, leaving the vocals ill-defined and the fidelity of the sound inconsistent.

For the first half of the album or so, the tracks rely on Negura Bunget's more common black metal sound, and they are frankly somewhat boring here. Although there are aspects here like some awkwardly incorporated psychedelic effects and some synth layerings in the background, the songwriting is generally lackluster, and the songs generally do not feel as if they go anywhere. 'Al Locului' is an exception to this rule for the first half of the album, which opens up in a fairly promising way, slowly building intensity and momentum before giving way to some less-than-satisfying clean vocal work. The track is a highlight for me however, and feels as if it is going in a very different direction than the rest of the heavy tracks. Something that makes 'Maiestrit' more than a note-for-note rendition of the original album is the use of acoustic versions here, which make up the final two tracks here. Although they originally have the semblance of merely being bonus tracks to the rest of the album, they both trump most of the main black metal material here, instead feeling as if they have been arranged more thoughtfully and intelligently.

'Maiestrit' does still feel a little unnecessary, despite having some powerful music to express here. However, Negura Bunget do seem to have crafted a fairly faithful re-release of their old material, and with the subsequent departure of Negru and Sol'Faur, thus begins a new chapter for this enigmatic Romanian band.

With the implosion of the core trio of Romanian black metallers Negură Bunget last year it seemed we would not be hearing any new music to follow on from the earth-shattering "Om" opus of 2006, but here we are not even half way through 2010 and there are two new releases for us enjoy to savour already. "Măiestrit" is not strictly brand new material however; it is a re-interpretation of 2000's "Măiastru Sfetnic", an album drowned in mud and poor production, rendering much of the band's potential so phenomenally achieved on it's two successor albums near inaudible.

Let's make one thing clear: "Maiestrit" is not to "Măiastru Sfetnic" what Exodus' "Let There Be Blood" is to their thrash classic "Bonded by Blood". Where that, and other albums, have been re-recorded for the sake of giving them a pristine modern production, and thus ruining them completely in the process, "Măiastru Sfetnic" NEEDED re-working to realise it's full potential, yet the end result here still possesses a sizable chunk of atmosphere and gloomy primitivism, in keeping with the ethos of these Transilvanians.

One listen to opening track "Vremea Locului Sortit" will tell all you need to know about Negură Bunget. Bombarded with scintillating riff after another, deep murky layers of synth and guitars, and a production job full of aura, Negură Bunget are simply better than everyone else in the BM field. I'm not even exaggurating, it's that simple. In "Bruiestru" and "In-zvicnirea Apusului", long complex structures are woven into grand tapestries of continual movement and decadence, where the sense of over-whelming artistic passion and creativity hits you at every junction through adept concentration of backing synth and a knowledge of how different tempos can be used to expand the pallette of mysticism Negură Bunget paint in. I can count on one hand the number of black metal bands who stand close to these Romanians; most won't get so far as ever even reaching their gigantic shadow.

Before you know it the 55 minutes proper of "Maiestrit" have finished and you're left reeling at how such a whirlwind of devastation could have emerged from the dissonance of "Măiastru Sfetnic". As an addition two very intriguing acoustic versions of "A-vint In Abis" and "Plecaciunea Mortii" are adjoined, as if to show that even without electricity they have the knack of writing eeriely complex, beautiful songs. It says something about the quality of Negură Bunget that I would still only rate "Maiestrit" as their third best album - "'n Crugu Bradului" and "Om" are exceptional pieces of art, fully deserving the continual plaudits they receive. As a closing chapter to Negură Bunget mk. I they have managed to achieve the same level of artistic integrity as witnessed before; now let's hope this form continues through mk. II.

Originally written for www.Rockfreaks.net

I'm a latecomer to the charms of black metal, and I'm trying to educate myself. Romania's Negură Bunget has been on my list of bands to check out, but I decided to wait for two new releases that were forecast for this year (2010). Those albums -- Măiestrit and Vîrstele Pămîntului -- have recently become available, though the bands that produced them are not entirely the same. Until the spring of 2009, Negură Bunget consisted of drummer Negru, vocalist/keyboardist Hupogrammos, and guitarist/bassistbb Sol Faur. At that point, the latter two members left the band (and are now involved in a project called Dordeduh), and Negru recruited new artists to continue creating music under the Negură Bunget banner.

The first of the two new releases, Măiestrit, is a re-recording of the band's 2000 album called Măiastru Sfetnic, and the new production was completed in 2009 by the three original members of the band. I haven't listened to the 2000 recording of Măiastru Sfetnic, but Negru explained in a recent Decibel magazine interview (May 2010 issue) that the new release is both an enhancement in production and a re-imagined interpretation of the music, prompted by the band's complete dissatisfaction with the 2000 album.

I can't comment on the previous release or contrast the old with the new, but considered as a stand-alone effort, Măiestrit is completely captivating in its emotional power and is one of the most impressive albums I've heard this year. The band’s principal tools of the trade are not new (though folk instruments occasionally can be heard, even to my uneducated ears) -- tremolo guitar washing over you in fully enveloping waves of sound, drums that alternately pound and blast, atmospheric keyboards, and vocals that have the sound of wolves howling, their piercing cries echoing roughly off the forest wood. But what Negură Bunget has created with those tools is far from typical.

The largely instrumental music is elemental, organic, and deeply soulful. The images it brings to mind are dark, but they are more natural than supernatural, more rural than urban: The ominous gathering of thunderclouds across a meadow at dusk; the fall of icy rain from a wintry sky, soaking through inadequate clothes to the skin; the piercing whistle of red-eyed raptors swooping down on black wings from their mountain roosts; the stampede of wild horses; the mournful tramp of villagers about to bury a child; a swirling folk dance by torch light that builds in speed and intensity with the music.

Yet, images of something supernatural occasionally do come to mind, but not the images of human-created fantasies (e.g., demons and the damned). Instead, the music conjures something more primeval and elemental -- the surge of a dark power welling up from the earth, nature's hungry arms stretched wide to gather up its due. And so, in this music is a sense of menace as well as sublime melancholy.

I have no idea whether these kinds of images mesh at all with what the band intended when it recorded Măiestrit, and others may feel something altogether different. But I predict most listeners will feel this music. It's damned easy to get lost in it. The album includes partially acoustic versions of two of the songs, which are new to this 2010 re-imagining. Stripped (for the most part) of the tremolo guitar and the vocals, those two songs become lush, prog-metal meditations -- dark dreams that provide a fitting conclusion to this powerful collection.