Вольницей в просинь ночей

For those that don’t know, Temnozor is a folk black metal band from Moscow, Russia that is generally considered to be one of the better examples of this style of black metal alongside heavyweights such as Nokturnal Mortum. Вольницей в просинь ночей, or Folkstorm of the Azure Nights as it is known outside of Russia, is their second full length album that was released two years after their debut, Horizons. While Horizons was met with generally positive reception, Folkstorm of the Azure Nights is widely considered to be Temnozor’s defining work.

As the album begins, atmospheric synths are immediately heard as drumming slowly fades in along with some whispered speech. All of this continues until the three-minute mark when black metal riffs that mimic the synths come into the song along with harsh vocals with melancholic singing layered over them that eventually leads into a blast beat. Following the blast beat, choirs enter the song as P. Noir’s soaring clean vocals handle the chorus to the song. This is followed by more blast beats and a melodic folk section involving a flute before the chorus returns and the song fades out with the flute and guitar playing the main melody of the song.

Upon hearing this opening track, the band’s epic style immediately becomes apparent to the listener. While it deviates a bit from song to song, the album has a strong viking metal vibe that sounds like a crossover between Hammerheart-era bathory and traditional black metal. This is due to the fact that the songs often have a lot of flute playing, acoustic guitar, and synth work that gives the album a dense and atmospheric sound. Tracks such as the aforementioned album opener and “As the Autumn Razors Sing Above My Veins” utilize these tools to great effect and end up sounding immense as a result. Some of the songs such as “Vranakrik” and “Watch the Falcons Fly” sound more like traditional black metal and this is also executed superbly with great riffs and drum work. While all of this is without a doubt the albums main strength, the theatrics can grow a bit tiring on songs, such as the aforementioned “Watch the Falcon Fly”, where there is almost too much going on at once.

As one might guess, the performances on Folkstorm of the Azure Nights range from solid to excellent, with some of the band members shining brighter than others. Unlike most black metal bands, Temnozor actually has two vocalists performing on Folkstorm of the Azure Nights. Handling the harsh vocals is the recently deceased Kaldrad, who handles most of the vocals on the album, and P. Noir who handles all of the clean singing. Kaldrad’s vocals are nothing too impressive, but get the job done for the most part. The majority of his vocals are him belting out the lyrics almost like a thrash metal or hardcore singer, with him throwing in the odd shreik or growl to finish off the verses. On the other hand, P. Noir’s clean singing is excellently executed and contribute heavily to the band’s epic viking sound. Most of his singing is midrange and sounds pretty good, but at several points he hits some high notes that are quite impressive. Aside from the vocalists all of the instruments on the album are handled by Ratibor and Svyagir with the former playing the flute and the latter playing every other instrument on the album. For the flute playing, there isn’t much I can say as wind instruments aren’t something I know much about, but I can say that his playing contributes a lot to the bands folky sound. Svyagir on the other hand, does a great job playing the guitars, drums, keyboards, and bass on the album. The guitars never play anything too crazy, but the riffs on this album are tightly played and often quite melodic. His drumming is also pretty good and incorporates a lot of double bass work and blast beats. As previously mentioned, the keyboards on the album give the album atmosphere and as far as actual playing goes they are played well. Lastly, the bass, when it can be heard, mostly mimics the guitar riffs and sounds good, albeit hard to hear.

In the end, Folkstorm of the Azure Nights is a great folk black metal album and is a fantastic starting point for any metal fans interested in this band. The album can be tiring at points, and the theatrics may bother some listeners, but the album doesn’t do anything that is likely to turn the average metalhead away completely. If you like black metal bands such as the previously mentioned Nokturnal Mortum and Hammerheart-era Bathory, you owe it to yourself to give this album a shot.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com under my alternate username.

Two years after the beautiful debut full-length "Horizons" from this incarnation of Temnozor, the band returns with their second full-length, entitled "Вольницей в просинь ночей", or in English, "Folkstorm of the Azure Nights". A lot of fans consider this album to be their best work, their magnum opus, their creative peak, etc. I personally don't agree with that. I believe "Horizons" will always remain my favorite album from Temnozor. That album has a charm to it that, at the time, I had not heard before in this style of music. It was more a folk album than a metal album, and the production was "dirtier" than this album, giving it a truly amazing atmosphere. This album is much cleaner in terms of production, and while it still sounds somewhat buzzy and cold, the guitars sound weaker than before. This album is not bad, in fact it's great, and really only falls very slightly short of their previous effort. It seems like Temnozor can do no wrong.

Like "Horizons", the music here is still basically folk with black metal injected into its veins. There are moments where this album is more black metal than folk, such as the second track "Вранакрик". This song still has the folk atmosphere, however, it is definitely a much more metal track than anything. The guitars are much thinner on this album, giving more room to the flute and keyboards. There are also beautiful acoustic guitars on this record. If this was album was a full-course meal, the acoustic guitars would be the appetizer, the electric guitars would be the salad, the flute and synthesizers would be the main dish, and the vocals would be the desert. That is most definitely the order of precedence these instruments follow. Guitar wise, aside from the tone being much thinner than on "Horizons", the idea is pretty much the same. The third song, "Где небес лазурь разрывает сердца", contains an acoustic intro that sounds pretty familiar within the band's unique sound. The acoustic guitars continue throughout the song's nearly 8 minute length, and even intertwine with the electric guitar riffs that appear here and there. "Аркона" is probably the most upbeat song on the disc. It can best be described as a folk metal anthem to Slavic history and pride, and could almost work as a marching cadence. While most of these songs do contain metal as an influence in some form or another, the final track "Что ж вы, зори росные, утром в кровь багрянитесь" is basically a purely atmospheric synth piece and serves as a truly epic closer to the album.

The atmosphere on this album is definitely immaculate. We even hear some tribal influenced drumming in the album's nearly 9 minute opening track, and on the synthesized closer, they make a thunderous return. This, accompanied with the gorgeous clean vocals and contrasting harsh vocals that appear periodically, really makes for a triumphant yet beautiful atmosphere. This band's love for their heritage radiates throughout the entire album and truly make Temnozor who they are. Even on the more aggressive songs, such as "Вранакрик" or "Watch the Falcons Fly", which is the only English song on the album, the beauty is found within the chaos. The band is tight together and know how to keep control of the music without going overboard.

If you were satisfied by "Horizons", you will definitely be satisfied by this. If you didn't enjoy the last album because of it's production and want something more polished and tame, this will likely please you much more and help you see Temnozor in a new light. This is truly some of the most beautiful music in metal, and while I prefer "Horizons", this album really needs to be heard by any fan of folk music and black/folk metal.

Some listeners and fans of the band Temnozor' are aware of some of the members' affiliations with National Socialist movements and the like. I tend to find this band (at least this release) to be akin to Drudkh from Ukraine. Granted, some of those members were in Hate Forest, which had NSBM connotations, and the same can be said with Gorruth and Svyagir who are in bands like Nitberg, and Walknut that have more obvious militaristic racial interests. Be that as it may, this band is more about the historical significance of the Slavs, seen in songs such as Watch The Falcons Fly, and Arkona. These aforementioned songs can be more assimilated with Nationalist sympathies, but they are not as overt in nature as they could have been, if they were part of, say, Branikald or other Russian racist bands. If this kind of thing turns you off, then perhaps this is not a brand of music, nor region you should be looking into. Be that as it may, the music is quite wonderful.

Temnozor' really has a good grip on the power of building up to a climactic soundscape. The 3 longest tracks, Вольницей В Просинь Ночей , Где Небес Лазурь Разрывает Сердца, and Над Струнами Вен Моих Лезвия Осени do this to a T. They all begin with a minimalistic drum beat, and/or acoustic guitars coupled with synthesizer, and build up to a beautiful atmospheric piece of black/pagan metal. There is also the use of flutes, which can be equated to Nokturnal Mortem's earlier works (think Goat Horns era), and combine the use of harsh and clean vocals. In these tracks, the speed is slightly on the slower side, but are very brooding and powerful in their execution. It places the listener in a cold and foreboding mindset, and bring to me thoughts of wars during medieval times, in wintry forests. They are by far the most interesting, and impact the listener much more than the other tracks in the album; which are more of a R.A.C., or punkish variety similar to that of Sokyra Peruna.

Unfortunately, out of the 7 tracks, only the long tracks have a good sense of continuity. This is even more evident when coupled with the fact that they are sandwiched between the shorter, and more punk infused songs. The faster, and less epic sounds clash with the slower, atmospheric ones, and in turn, oscillates the mood from deep thought provoking, to upbeat marching anthems (see Arkona). Because of this abrupt change of pace, the power is leeched when moving from track to track.

Whether or not this album is without fault, there are still some great hints of greatness. The production is much better from their last album Horizons... and, even though the guitars do not have much oomph when compared to the synthesizers and flutes, still play in nicely with the atmosphere that the music and vocals convey. The final track on the album is an anticlimactic track that is completely lacking of guitars, and is quite unnecessary. If it was not included, and the track listing was rearranged (all the fast-paced tracks together and the longer ones at the end), I think there would be better flow from lighter subject matter, to the more thought provoking and emotive ones.

Either way, if you are a fan of Nokturnal Mortem (earlier pre-Welteschauung era), and pagan bands such as Arkona (Russian band), then you are in for a good listen. Temnozor' has been moving in the right direction since their inception, and many more years off good musical products are in store for us.

Forget for a moment that this band has the best name and logo in pretty much all of metal music, or that they also have some really amazing cover art going on for this release. Temnozor are another of those 'notorious' bands loosely associated with the NSBM movement in Europe, but you require no involvement or investment in any ideology to appreciate their glorious hymnals to the sorrows of our fading, natural world and the honor of the ancestors who shed their blood in getting us where we live today. Two of Temnozor's members are native to this band (flutist Raitbor and clean vocalist Petr), but here we also have the involvement of Kaldrad, who sits atop an entire discography of great, raw black metal as Branikald, and his Forest/Woods of Fallen cohort Svyagir (also in Walknut). Kaldrad is responsible for the black metal rasps, but Svyagir actually composes a wealth of the material and performs the all the other instruments, quite a talented guy.

Temnozor is pretty versatile as far as folk metal, some of their demos are more experimental, but Folkstorm of the Azure Nights, their third full-length effort, is the pretty standard run and gun of black pagan aggression, with a little punkish influence, a little folk, and a bunch of different vocals, from the snarls and cleans to male and female whispers. And since nothing is sexier than a female Russian voice (in either the native language or English), I found myself committed to its joys and sorrows.

This folkstorm begins with the title track, as tribal drumming and piercing synths roll across the aforementioned whispers, before the desperation of the metal rhythms commenses, and the vocals become louder and more panicked. Though the band avoid's any complexity of structure, the song is still rendered memorable by its passionate authenticity. "Vranakrik" is christened with a birds' cawing, but swifter and more straightforward black metal with the deep, gruff Russian vocals. The production is rather raw and barbaric, like a windstorm tearing at your flesh on a cold afternoon. "When the Lazure Skies Tear the Hearts Apart" brings tranquil, fine acoustic work into play, the vocals quite beautiful and subdued, power chords surging forward where required to grant an epic veneer. This is one of the most intriguing tracks on the album, fully worth the 8 minute investment. The flute of "Watch the Falcons Fly" lends a biting counterpoint to the churning, melodic black rhythms, and there is one particular discordant riff in there I enjoyed when it would appear.

"As the Autumn Razors Sing Above My Veins" (how is that for a title) is another song to make use of acoustics, these thick and plucky as they cavort about scales beneath the narrative vocal intro, which becomes quite epic as the vocals transform with some flute and synth choir. The mid section of this song is haunting and mesmerizing. "Arkona" is an anthem to the Slavic city of old, with some great Russian vocals and a building intensity betrayed by the rather steady, distant guitars. The final piece is titled "Tell Me, Ye Scarlet Dewscented Sunrises", and commences with some sweeping keyboards and choirs, before the dark, dual vocals in thick accent, drunken as if immersed in vodka. Flute and winds soon arrive to create a tension, and the track makes for a rousing climax to the album, as even more vocal choirs and samples of battle and bloodshed cap it off.

Folkstorm of the Azure Nights is quite an experience to take in, as few other acts have this level of glorious composition. The sound is quite good, lively and organic; not at the level of, say, Arkona, but better than most Russian black/folk metal you will come across. Temnozor is heavier here on the former than the latter, but the vocals make it a lot more interesting than your average snarlfest. This band still has plenty of room to grow. Folkstorm is certainly a worthwhile experience, but not the pinnacle of their potential.

And I stand corrected, the band has TWO of the best logos I've seen in metal.

Highlights: Vranakrik, When the Lazure Skies Tear the Hearts Apart, Arkona

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

It's hard for me to say if this album of Russian pagan folk war BM will be of much interest to audiences outside Russia, not that I think Temnozor will care very much if it is or not. The guys perform song-based music in which the lyrics are as important as the music, maybe much more so, and these are all in Russian so unless you know that language well or have the songs' English translations at hand, you'll just have to concentrate on the music and accept the singing as just another element in the mix. While we're on the subject of the vocals, the singing is not your typical harsh and distorted self-pitying BM singing - no, we often have very clean heroic operatic tenor singing (the title track and the outro track being good examples) from someone who possibly has or once had ambitions to be a real professional Heldentenor type opera singer. (The German term "Heldentenor" refers to a male tenor who sings the heroic good guy roles in operas.) This can edge towards being cheesy and at first I gritted my teeth at what I thought might turn out to be something kitschy but as it turns out the vocals are the only part of the recording that turn my stomach a little and the rest of the music actually has a sense of restraint and style - it's straightforward melodic BM with a lot of folk influences so there are many elements in there that counterbalance each other and compensate for any tendency on the singer's part to overstrain his pipes.

The music is very stirring, rollicking and infectious war metal fun so even if you don't understand the lyrics or the historical and mythological references in the songs, you can still tell the musicians are having a great time and are pouring their hearts and souls into their playing. Songs like "Vranakrik" have strong animated melodies that compare well with some of what 1990's French BM Vlad Tepes was doing. Temnozor mix the more excitable tunes with passages of soothing liquid acoustic guitar warbles and in this context the line between BM and Russian folk virtually disappears as a lot of eastern European folk music traditions feature balalaika and other stringed instrument playing techniques that are much the same as BM and you can often hear both styles going on at once in the same song ("Where the Lazure Skies tear the Hearts apart"). We also get quite piercing folk woodwind playing (as on "Watch the Falcons fly") which adds a very strong martial flavour.

An album of heroic war metal like this must surely have a song to rouse the troops and get them all singing and a later track "Arkona" fits this role well with its chorus of "Arkona" in the background of the later half of the song plus a jaunty, almost bouncy kind of rhythm. I half expected a big all-male choir in the background and possibly more singers might have made the song even more stirring but on the other hand this could have risked making the song too dramatic so probably it's just as well the Temnozor limited the group singing to themselves.

Outro track "Tell me, Ye Scarlet Dewscented Sunrises" is where Temnozor drop the black metal altogether and go for something completely symphonic with a bout of ferocious swordfighting and a blast of thundering war drums to even out the more preposterous tendencies of the operatic singing.

In another country a band of lesser talent dealing with the theme of war might have created something laughable and embarrassing but this is Russia where the theme of war is as much about the loss of young blood, the sorrow of mothers and families, the ongoing suffering and the love of the huge lands and forests as it is about striving for victory and risking one's life to achieve honour, glory and eternal fame. Temnozor's respect for their country's history and folk culture ensure that the music retains dignity even if the singing verges on histrionic and the vocalist starts straining his voice. The lyrics as printed in English are a call to arms and are very patriotic but I wonder whether the band could have drawn more inspiration from Russian mythology and folk stories about fighting the Varangians and other hostile tribes and evil spirits like rusalki and Baba Yaga as some songs like "Watch the Falcons fly" have what I would call generic-looking war lyrics. I guess this is just carping on my part. Even so, the band's enthusiasm is obvious, the guys play with great skill and ambition and there's a lot of joy and a celebratory mood, and this is the really important thing on an album like this.

Folkstorm of the Azure Nights is Temnozor’s third album and the first one I bought and heard. Temnozor play a very folkish type of NS black metal which actually makes them remarkably unique despite many bands playing a similar type of music. The band is headed by the mastermind behind such Blazebirth Hall bands as Branikald and Forest, Kaldrad Branislav. Temnozor is probably his most well-known project, as the others are relatively underground and obscure outside Russia and NS circles.

Musically, as stated before, we have folk-driven black metal which is actually pretty much completely folk music for a good portion of the album. Each of the seven tracks here is unique and stands out from the others yet they all blend perfectly into a single entity dedicated to the struggle of white pride. The album lasts 44 minutes and 40 seconds but it’s one of those timeless records which seem to be over right after they’ve started, such is the quality of this masterpiece.

The album opener starts with a slow intro of soft folkish synths for about one minute until the drums kick in, as do the guitars. Around the 2-minute mark the vocals start, at the beginning as soft spoken whispers in Russian, first by a female vocalist then joined by Kaldrad’s vocals. Then Kaldrad takes over completely, still guided by the same melody as in the intro. Over the 8:40 that is the length of this song this same structure is kept although the tempo increases in speed. The second half of the song features some passages of Kaldrad’s clean singing and other, rarer ones of him growling at the very end.

The second song is considerably more fast-paced, kicking off with a sampled series of screams from a murder of crows or ravens and then the song kicks off for 5 and a half minutes of patriotic Russian folk black metal. Such is the case for the rest of the songs, although they greatly vary in length, tempo and composition from one another. Interestingly, only one of the seven tracks here is sung in English. Watch the Falcon Fly is a great track but it seems slightly out of place here mostly because it’s not in Russian. Kaldrad’s English vocals aren’t as good as his Russian ones even if still excellent. The growls at the 3 minute mark are also a little out of place, which is basically the only reason why this album doesn’t get a perfect score, but overall this track is still very strong, just not on the level of the rest.

Three more songs follow Watch the Falcon Fly, all of which are in my opinion the best tracks on the album. As the Autumn Razor Sings Above my Veins and Arkona are faster moments, both of which are some of the more joyous moments on the album, giving off a very powerful feeling of pride and strength for Russians especially, then for Slavs and finally for all Aryans. The album closer, Tell me, ye Scarlet Dewscented Sunrises is a very slow and melancholic piece of incredible beauty, sung in Russian with two different apparent vocalists (I’m not sure if Kaldrad does both) and a perfect way to close the album, foretelling of the great struggle to come.

This is an excellent album and I wholeheartedly recommend it if you like folk metal, black metal or both. And even if you don’t this album will make you like those genres, especially folk, by its beauty and by the professionalism of its execution. Also this has one of the greatest album covers among those which weren’t done by the legendary Necrolord.

Temnozor's third full lenght album "Folkstorm of the Azure Nights" is a convincing piece of folk black metal with all the necessary elements put together in harmonic balance. Acoustic and beautiful guitar parts, freezingly distorted strings, atmospheric and melancholic synths, plentiful flutes and vocals of both clean singing and more aggressive expression all form this album of pure uncensored emotion. "Folkstorm" begins with a sad synth melody that keeps on going for five minutes until the song achieves its full shape. Alongside the synths we soon hear the drums and guitar both going where the simple but harrowing synth melody leads them. When the singing finally starts, I feel the cold and ancient world of paganism and nature this band has dedicated their lives on. This first song lasts almost 10 minutes and perfectly sets the mood for what is coming next.

The second song, however, is very different to the first one. This is among my favourite folk black metal songs with its incredible sense of playfulness, energy and dancing folk melodies mostly expressed by guitars. The song begins with a brief scream of a crow, after which the guitars explode to their first riff. The best part of this six minute song comes in the middle of it when after some build-up sword clinging the guitars start to introduce that extremely joyful and manipulative folk riff that simply bursts the whole sky into sunlight. Drums are also great in this part as they create a complex rhythm of their own. This song is totally unique and I believe many feel the need to hear it soon again after the first listen which will most likely make the melody stay in listener's mind.

Rest of the album is as it should be. Emotions ranging from melancholy, sadness, grief and sense of something valuable lost while emotions of pure light and joy are never forgotten either. This is typical among these folk, nationalistic or "nazi metal" bands that dedicate all their non-commercial work to praising their father land and ancestors. There are extremely beautiful and touching acoustic guitar melodies coming with this album created by a group of naturally talented musicians. Temnozor brings Ukraine's Drudkh to my mind in many ways: both deal with politically extreme themes as expressed through their incomparably emotional and multi-leveled black metal music. There is no question about the talent of these song-writers no matter how wrong some might think their opinions and racist views are. And after all, wrath and love are the principal elements of human existence, both emotions make the other and man exist.

Temnozor's second album "Horizons" and "Folkstorm of the Azure Nights" are equally folk and melancholic with the latter taking the epic and atmospheric ideas of the former even further, and possibly with a slightly more freezing and reaping sound in the guitars. Both albums make the listener experience his/her visions of silent melancholy and memories after which the light once again arrives in the form of some fantastic and playful melody of folk and dance.

Having heard Temnozor's prior releases in consecutive order from "Sorcery of Fragments" to "Horizons" and now to "Folkstorm of Azure Nights" it is completely clear that the band is certainly one of the greatest NSBM bands around. Every one of Temnozor's releases has that mystical quality that cannot be described. It puts the listener in a state where nature in all its purity can be experienced through the music's lush atmosphere. "Folkstorm of Azure Nights" seems like a combination of the aggression and environment of "Sorcery of Fragments" and the rich wintery soundscapes of "Horizons." The end result is Temnozor's most mature release that commands the listener's attention and envelopes him in the mystical nature that drives the band's music.

This release is not folk music woven in with black metal but rather vice versa. The traditional folk instruments are abundant throughout the entire release and create an incredibly consistent flow in each composition. There are layers and layers of music that build up the tremendous atmosphere throughout the album. "Folkstorm of Azure Nights" captures the traditions of the past and the call to retain ancestral wonders. The title track opens the album with a tranquil string introduction. The drums then kick in and then some whispering vocals by a woman and the singer. Suddenly the atmosphere bursts as the singer begins along with the coldness of the guitars. Immediately, it can be sensed that this will be one amazing album and indeed never is there a low point in any of the songs. Every track flows seamlessly into the next yet subtle differences can be sensed between compositions. There is a strong aggression in "Watch the Falcons Fly" that reminds me of something found off "Sorcery of Fragments." On the other hand there are moving folk compositions on songs such as "Where The Lazure Skies Tear The Hearts Apart." The singing is fantastic and brilliantly developed as a combination between the past two releases. Guitars mainly provide a cold atmosphere and accomplish exactly what they are supposed to in this kind of music. Drums are unique and keep a great rhythm throughout the album. Everything just adds up brilliantly on this release.

Fans of Temnozor will certainly be captured by this album. The music is unique and the atmosphere it creates is beyond words. This is NSBM at its best and Temnozor continue to be leaders in their music that set the standard for others to look upon. "Folkstorm of Lazure Nights" is overall a release of tremendous quality that should be listened to by all fans of NSBM who wish to capture the mystical qualities of nature and the past.