Altar Shadows - Speckledy Falcons
Artist: Altar Shadows / Altorių Šešėliai
Title: Speckledy Falcons / Margi Sakalai
Country: Lithuania
Catalogue number: TTR 017
Released: 10 June 2007
Format: CD
Running time: 46:39
1. Speckledy falcons / Margi sakalai
2. …On gritty banks of the supreme river… / …Ant upės didžiausios smėlėtų krantų… (MP3)
3. Evening dusk - Glaucous / Vakaro sutemos mėlynai pilkos
4. To even deeper hell II / Į dar gilesnį pragarą II
5. The yellow moon III / Gelsvas mėnuo III (MP3)
6. I’m waiting (acoustic) / Aš taip laukiu (akustinis)
7. In the falling snow / Krintančiam sniege
8. Night, come back to me! / Sugrįžki pas mane, naktie!
9. Eternal Wars
10. Gardens, Gardens, Leliumai (Lithuanian folk song) / Sodai sodai, leliumai (liaudies daina)
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
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Description
From Lithuania, once largest country in Europe, emerges Altar Shadows!
Folk/Pagan Metal blending electric and acoustic music, ambient soundscapes, original lyrics and classical Lithuanian poetry, male and female vocals to create a memorable work that summons the ancient spirit from the shadows of false temples.
In the vein of bands such as DRUDKH, EMPYRIUM, ANUBI, early OBTEST and should be sought out by fans of Kroda, Burzum, Arkona, Nokturnal Mortum, Temnozor, Velimor, et al. for the combination of folk, pagan and black metal. However always remaining an original and visionary brand of metal.
Altar Shadows is the dark aesthetic rising from endless yearning. Yearning the values, that now seem rejected and considered to be humdrum, “unpopular”. id est sensibility, tenderness, contemplation, love for one’s homeland, it’s nature, and particularly it’s past. The roots of this aesthetic are found in the shadows of foreign altars, where the old Baltic culture wasn’t crushed by the power of interloper religion.
It is not plainspoken glorification of the Baltic past by using folklore elements in music. True reality of the ancient pagan world is unlikely to be found in here. It is more looking for moments in the present, in which the old reality still echoes… It is living through the wind of spring, through the silence of summer nights, through the rustle of autumn leaves and through the stillness of forests buried with snow… It is encoded in paintings by M. K. Ciurlionis in the poetry of V. Macernis, V. M.-Putinas ir P.Širvys.
Reviews
All told, the number of metal bands that hail from Lithuania is remarkably small; I, for one, can think of no major groups that hail from there. This may have something to do with why Speckledy Falcons, the first full-length from one-man Lithuanian group Altar Shadows, failed to make much of an impression within the English language black metal community upon its release. Despite this, the album is a worthy effort, full of moments of surprising beauty, melancholy, and majesty.
This album belongs very much to the genre of folk or pagan black metal, resembling most closely the output of groups like Kroda. The folk influence here is incredibly strong; most of the songs feature an acoustic guitar mixed about as loudly as the electric. Interestingly, however, electric guitar solos appear in several of the songs adding a slight amount of heavy metal flavor. The programmed drumming seldom strays into the realm of blast beats, keeping to folkier and occasionally rock-like rhythms. There’s not really any keyboard presence on this album, but the tracks are linked with nature samples, featuring bird calls, a running stream, and the occasional wolf-howl, among other sounds.
Despite the above, the tracks are surprisingly varied. Some, like the opening two tracks, stick to a fairly straightforward pagan sound, given the elements of the music. The fourth song, “To Even Deeper Hell II”, though, is the most aggressive, visceral piece on the album, the drums providing the only link to anything folk. This piece is then followed by “The Yellow Moon III”, probably the best song on the album. Hauntingly beautiful, the song begins with a serene flute solo (actual, not synth) backed by an acoustic guitar; about halfway through, an electric guitar picks up the flute melody with an anguished keen, accentuating the mournful sound hinted at earlier in the work. Towards the end, the flute reenters, ultimately leaving the listener with a sense of forlorn peace.
The next two songs both feature a female vocalist in addition to the usual growled vocals. The first of these is acoustic and uses only the female vocals, while still maintaining a blackened feel thanks, in part, to liberal use of tremolo picking. Though the growls and the electric return in the second one, it almost might as well be acoustic, since the electric guitar provides little more than a backdrop droning for the acoustic. Both songs are more metal-influenced folk than folk-influenced metal, but that’s far from a strike against them. Finally, it’s worth noting that the last two songs are covers, one by an equally obscure Lithuanian group called Blackthru and the other originally a Lithuanian folk song.
On the whole, this is some of the folkiest metal I’ve heard, yet it still retains a thoroughly black aesthetic. More so than other bands of its kind that I’ve heard, the sound is quite mellow, focusing more on a somber, majestic atmosphere than any kind of rage. The album is far from grim or frostbitten, so those who like their black metal kvlt should probably stay away. That said, it succeeds admirably in its goal of capturing the glories of nature and Lithuania’s pagan past through music. If you’re interested in trying some less-than-well-known pagan black metal, you should seriously consider this album.
8.7
Leviatan Magazine.
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