Carmina Barbarica

Considering how easy is nowadays for an epic metal band to be branded as ridiculous and outdated, I came across Wotan. They really blew me away. Since Manowar’s epic days (before Fighting the World) haven’t really paid much attention to the genre since there are too few pure epic bands and not all too good either. Wotan on the other hand are a true epic band and not one black or power or death or gothic with epic elements. “Carmina Barbarica” stands over every other album released in the last 15 years and claimed an epic title. A bold statement but when you actually listen to ‘Carmina Barbarica’ (great title by the way) you will also get the feeling of the battlefield covered with speared bodies and warriors with bloody wounds by swords and clothes of animal skin and shields of wood and iron. Sound ridiculous? However, it isn’t, what it is, is a revelation in the middle of a computer age which main characteristic is lack of fantasy and purpose.

About the music itself, one should keep in mind that innovation, advance and novelty cannot jump in the train of Epic metal without changing it to something else. What really matters is heartily compositions performed with total dedication to the norms of something as great as the encouragement of young warriors to fight. Nevertheless, Wotan introduce some speed parts perfectly embodied to the general atmosphere. The guitar solos of Mario Degiovanni may not be technically supreme but they blend and maintain the general essence of the epic sentiment. Having accomplished the musical background for an epic storytelling due to the solid performance of the pounding dedication of the drummer Lorenzo Giudici and the escalating bass parts of Salvatore Oliveri, Wotan unleash their main attraction, Vanni Ceni. The singer whose voice is as enchanting, as colorful and powerful as the compositions demand. Especially in ‘Ride of the Templars’ there’s a chilling resemblance to Eric Adams’s epic screams, a fact clearly apparent in many songs of the album with no intention to hide it. It seems like he is challenging Eric on an epic battle of their own!

I have to admit that I utterly enjoyed all the songs to the last note, as they all are truly enchanting. All I have to add is the contradiction of “Under the sign of Odin's Ravens” which is a song of an obvious theme but musically and vocally has a very strong ‘native Indian’ atmosphere and the narration of Herodotus ‘History’ in Greek in the middle of “Thermopiles” (Hot Gates) which as good as it sounds as an idea doesn’t quite work for the song. Other than that ‘Carmina Barbarica’ is quite an achievement.