Silent Stream of Godless Elegy - Návaz
CD Info
2011
Season of Mist / France
9 Tracks
Czech Lyrics
Folk metal has become a diluted genre in last decade. Simply singing about forests, witches, excessive amounts of mead, and adding a flute solo… does that really make it folk metal? Well, let’s ask some of the pioneers of the genre. Originally a doom metal band, the Czech group Silent Stream of Godless Elegy began to incorporate folk elements into their music, which reached its height on their 2004 release, "Relic Dances," an album with a unique blend of doom metal and traditional Moravian folk music. More than six years after "Relic Dances," Silent Stream of Godless Elegy is back to show the world of folk metal how it’s really done with their new album, "Návaz."
"Návaz" consists of nine tracks sung completely in the band’s native language, each featuring a wonderful mélange of traditional Moravian folk elements and doomy atmospheres and includes the lush vocals of female vocalist Hanka Hajdová and both harsh and clean male vocals by Pavel Hrnčíř. The band makes excellent use of the violin and cello, especially evident on tracks like the heavy “Dva Stíny Mám” and the closer “Samodiva,” and also includes more traditional instruments like the dulcimer to give the tracks a real folky feel to them.
The songs vary in tempo as well. From the beautiful ballad “Sudice” to the upbeat and dancy “Slava,” which really gets you moving, from the somber and doomy “Zlatohlav” to the fast and heavy “Dva Stíny Mám,” each song contributes to creating an album full of rich and diverse sounds that never really gets boring. In fact, I’ve pretty much been playing the album over and over again since I got it, discovering something new with every listen. Unfortunately, as the lyrics are in Czech, I can’t understand a word and have no idea what the songs are about, but even that adds an air of mystery and drama to the whole production which makes it even more interesting.
It’s a shame that this release will probably be overshadowed by the sheer number of big bands releasing albums this year. Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, Leaves’ Eyes, Delain, and a number of other big names all plant to release new records throughout 2011, but let “Návaz” grace your ears with beautiful folk melodies while you wait, and who knows, you might get addicted. Though Silent Stream of Godless Elegy have won Czech Grammy’s for previous albums, they’ve always remained mostly an underground band. Now signed to Season of Mist, and with their best album to date (and, in my opinion, one of the best folk metal releases to date), chances are that they’ll get a good amount of well-deserved exposure, at least until Within Temptation or Nightwish steals the spotlight and diverts the attention of us female-fronted metal fanatics away. Well, at least I’ll remember this release when it comes to name my top 10 albums of 2011!
9 / 10
