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A Darkly Epic Medieval Symphony - 90%
Of all of L.O.N’s side projects outside of Hellveto, Blakagir seems to be the strongest. Hellveto alone has released 10 full-length albums in the last five years, not to mention his three similar side-projects. You would think that with all the music this guy is making, a lot of it would come out repetitive and uninspired, but not so. Each song has its own face; pagan, medieval, orchestral sounding music that some may categorize as Black Metal. It reminds me somewhat of Summoning’s later albums without as much vocals. Blakagir seems to use harsh vocals sparingly, along with choirs and rallying dialogue. This album is very epic and somewhat enchanting. It succeeds in creating an ancient atmosphere.
L.O.N is a skilled pianist (or keyboardist) from my perspective (myself having played piano since the 90s) and he enriches the music with piano playing every now and then to compliment the excellent use of strings, winds, and percussion… but mostly strings and percussion.
The album is over 50 minutes long, the 10 songs ranging from three and a half to seven and a half minutes. That is including the demo “Droga…” which is included on the album and counts for the last three tracks. The Droga tracks are just as good as the Nostalgia tracks, if not better musically- however they are entirely lacking of vocals. I’m not saying that the absence of vocals is a bad thing; this type of music is good on its own without vocals bringing attention away from the fantastic sound of the actual music. Where the vocals are used on this album, however, they are used effectively.
I recommend this album, for what it is, it’s superb.
Just don’t expect to be able to headbang to it… for then you would be a fool.
