Review Summary: An expansive yet intimate journey.
Bakos Attila is a one man project from Hungary. He has done such projects as the very calming medieval acoustic
Woodland Choir and the death metal
Taranis. Now he has just recently released his most mature and fully realized release yet with
Aranyhajnal: Golden Dawn. This album combines his heavy side with his delicate soft side.
The album sounds very Hungarian folk. The entire thing is in Hungarian complete with traditional sounding melodies and vocal techniques. Despite having some heavy metal experience, here he uses heavy guitar and drums in a familiar but not common mix of folk, ambient, symphonic, and contemporary hard rock textures. I don't want to over simplify, but I feel a decent way to describe it is as slower, more solemn, power metal/rock. Look no further than the album's artwork to get a glimpse of the album's scope and tone.
The music is very consonant and slow evolving. Pleasing sounding chords are allowed to emanate and sections are allowed to last for their full lengths without interruptions from fancy change ups and transitions. It's folky but the chord progressions generally move slowly. The straightforwardness may be the biggest turn off to many. Those who search for the most technical music and aren't ready to soak in a very slowly evolving ride may quickly become bored. But those who want to stick around for the ride should at the very least be in for a pleasant surprise.
The album has a great sense of hope, melancholy, power, reflectiveness, and letting your emotions free. It also has a nice feeling of progress as it moves along. By the end you will really feel like you went somewhere.
Életerő has a main vocal melody that was stuck in my head for weeks and it is also the most accessible song.
Áldás and
Sziklák sz*vén both have pleasingly beautiful and simple clean guitar ambient sections. Both of these tracks show his mastery of composition and dynamics as they swell and then dissolve only to naturally build up again.
Sziklák sz*vén is a standout with a passionate build up that may be the most memorable moment of the album.
Lángolj and especially
Ármány go in a more, if very tame, hard rock route that is a change from the of the rest of the album.
Lépj át and especially
Az éj rejtekén have lullaby elements.
There is a keen attention to detail on this album such as subtle sound effects and symphonic layering. Bakos Attila's catchy, charismatic, well layered, and well ranged vocals give the album a strong sense of drive and purpose, and the skillful overall composition and focused musical statement is pleasing. These are the elements that will keep me coming back for repeated listens. It is extremely delicate at times and powerful at others. It is quite mature with gang vocals that lend to the grand sense of anthemic dynamics and made me think that the project had a 4-5 person lineup. It is an expansive yet intimate journey; a mature and accessible release that should please many looking for simple yet deep listening.
