Konstelacja lodu

As with their previous release, this is from Arkona's recent "blasty" phase. It can seem quite unrelenting in its tempo at first, but there are quite a lot of subtle fluxations, and the songs generally pulse quite organically between mid/high tempo with occasional slowing. The slightly less heavy production makes it less brutal sounding than Nocturnal Arkonian Hordes.

The first song begins with the obligatory ambient intro, followed by a really awful sounding drum roll, on what I assume is a drum machine, leading into the first song proper. The drum writing isn't too obnoxious at mid tempo, but when it begins to blast shortly into the song it sounds a bit silly. The guitar sound is thinly balanced in the middle of the mix with a decent presence but never sounding particularly strong. The vocals are well done rasps, not anything spectacular but easy to listen to. Every now and again there is a keyboard line which raises its head above the mix, clearly enough to imply that these are isolated passages, rather than there being keyboards throughout. They appear to be used to accentuate key moments, and while they sound a little hokum, they are quite effective. The song powers and blasts its way to a close, all in all, quite enjoyably.

Gdzie bogowie sa jak bracia i siostry begins with a blasting intro, but soon reverts back to the usual high/mid tempo pulse that is used throughout the album. The first real tempo change comes around the middle of the track, where there is a sudden slow to a doomish crawl, lumbering on for longer than expected before things speed up for the track close, where the keyboards begin to make their presence known again, bringing a decent sense of conclusion. The outro to the track fades into the third song which is introduced by a (very) pseudo organ tone, repeating four rising notes, soon mirrored in a guitar riff. It's a nice touch which alleviates what could've been monotony after having become familiar with Arkona's quite formulaic style. The organ tune makes a return later, this time under blasts, followed by a breakdown with militant drumming, all combining to leave a positive impression that this album may not be as repetetive as it may perhaps have seemed after the first song.

The final track W mglistej konstelacji lodu is a long one, beginning with a nice floating mid-tempo riff easing the song in, before a brief keyboard segment bridges into the first fast section. Arkona's style works quite well in a song this long, as the tempo fluctuations as well as a production in which you can hear them clearly avoid any monotony. There is a rare breakdown in the central section before the song powers to an ambient fadeout. While the raw style coupled with subtle sympho keyboard use may sound strange, they combine very well due to Arkona's decision to use them sparingly, and to add body to the music rather than force it along or rely on it to provide the main features of interest. Any solo keyboard passages end very quickly indeed, being used either as intros, or for seconds long (at most) calms in the storm. The sound of them is also suitably "cold", so they don't risk sounding completely comedic. The (probable) drum machine turns out not to be a problem, as the song writing was engaging enough to make me focus on the overall music rather than superficial instrument sounds.

Overall this is well produced and crafted black metal with a decent understanding of the principles of good song writing - it is heavy, but also successfully mixes the formula up a little, and includes enough features of interest in their formula to warrant attention.