Arkona is due to chant the masses into submission with some folky chorals and double-bass drumming in October this year with the release of its fifth studio album Goi, Rode, Goi!. Since the band’s conception in 2002, the pagan folk metallers have worked to create a synergism of Russian folk music and black/death metal. The Russian musos are inspired by Russian folklore and Slavic mythology and, through the poetry of lyricism, inadvertently adhere to the oral tradition of story-telling associated with the preservation of folklore. The longevity of the pagan ideology that defines the band’s lyrical content and sound is enveloped in the name “Arkona”, which was the name of the last pagan Slavic city-castle.
Arkona’s unique sound reflects the band’s cultural heritage within the modern alternative context of metal. The quintet that is Arkona features names that would suitably accompany a band of beasties from World of Warcraft: Masha “Scream” (vocals), Sergei “Lazar” (guitar), Ruslan “Kniaz” (bass), Vlad “Artist” (drums) and Vladimir “Volk” (ethnic wind instruments). The Warcraft beasties have created a conglomeration of several traditional musical instruments used in Russian folk music, including a gaita, small pipes, a hurdy-gurdy, tin whistles, low whistles, sopilka, pipes, pan flutes and ocarinas, which have been assimilated with the brutal pace of raucous metal guitar riffs and double bass drumming. Goi, Rode, Goi! features a full-fledged chorus and a string quintet, which assist in the enhancement of an archaic atmosphere that, ironically, seems to fit so well within its modern context. Pagan choral chants juxtapose black metal screeches, grunts and screams, which complement the eclectic mix of instruments and form a cog in the wheel of what is called folk-metal.
In Goi, Rode, Goi!, Arkona has successfully managed to integrate seemingly opposing genres of music into a unique sound that reveres the musical traditions of old and, simultaneously, satisfies the uncompromising demand from metalheads for that which is ferociously unyielding. This is by no means a mean feat and due respect is thus awarded.
