Review Summary: A nice effort, but nothing new.
I have a tendency to be very critical of female fronted metal albums, unless they are done very well; even still, I’ve no interest in bands like Nightwish and the sort. I guess it really depends on the type of metal being played, and the singer herself. Alkonost is an exception to this, and I have a small attachment to their brand of folky, melodic metal, and their singer, Alena Pelevin.
Stone Heart Blood is the band’s latest full length, and is more or less the exact same dish as any of their previous work.
Even though it is folk metal, a lot of the elements of folk metal aren’t apparent in Alkonost. For one, they don’t use any traditional instruments, relying solely on the common synth, keyboards, and chugga-chug riffing. The difference Alkonost has though is that they manage to invigorate a tired formula through the use of some strong melodies that hint towards Russian traditional music. The layers of synth and keyboards create a soft and cushioned backing to each song, while either the lead guitars or Pelevin direct the song through harmonious melodies. The vocal duties are shared with bassist Alexey Solovyov, who provides a throaty rasp that again separates Alkonost from their contemporaries.
Another big thing about the band for me is that they don’t conform to European metal standards by writing in English. They maintain an identity through keeping their Russian folklore in the language that it makes the most sense in, Russian. It not only gives the music a mysterious feel and atmosphere, but also an unchallenged authenticity.
Pelevin’s voice is very deep and operatic, and balances rather well with Solovyov’s growls. In most instances where they sing together, Solovyov reduces the intensity of his rasps to a deep and solemn state by which together with Pelevin creates a very dynamic sound. Other than that, the to-ing and fro-ing between the two vocalists can be very satisfying; there is great chemistry between their voices.
The unfortunate thing about this album though, is that there is almost no progression whatsoever from their last release,
The Path We’ve Never Made. I would go as far as saying that the style of music is almost identical to that of the said previous album. It can be debated whether or not they’re just comfortable playing this style repeatedly, or if they actually don’t know how to play any different, and one must understand that there isn’t much room for change within the confines of the genre. Even so, the album is a decently enjoyable romp into folk metal, but doesn’t really offer anything special.
This Message Edited On 06.22.08
