Slavland "Stal Biała, Krew Czerwona" CD Digipack

My first contact with Slavland's work goes back to school days. The first album that I heard and that Belzagor recorded under this name was "Szepty Starych Dębów", then I reached for the earlier material "Gęstwiny Dróg Zapomienia". They were obviously strongly pagan/folk metal materials, but still containing a large dose of black metal. Belzagor's vocals had ominous, almost vampiric character. Percussion was probably computer-made, I don't remember for sure. Anyway, the albums were distinguished by austerity and their aesthetics were firmly rooted in the 90s. I don't remember listening to anything else from Slavland. Now, years later, I go back to the Eastside catalog again and come across a new album from this band. I can't say, I was curious how this music has changed over the years, and what new Belzagor has created. And a pleasant surprise. It's still a lot from the aesthetics I remember. Cool riffs, lots of ravishing folk elements that Slavland has always been famous for. The percussion does not click so much and it seems that it is a living instrument, not a computer, it has a much better sound and, importantly, we already have fully mature and developed vocals and transparent compositions here, there is no more dirt. Having no contact with Slavland's music since "Szepty Starych Dębów", the progress is amazing, you can see the difference and all the creative path that Belzagor has traveled over the years. The song "Na Tatary" could easily be included in the repertoire of the Russian Arkona, it is really a serious level of performance. Maybe it's not in the case of production, but the composition for sure. What is worth mentioning, while working on "Stal biała, krew czerwona", old Polish and Lithuanian texts and lyrics were used. For example, such "1672" comes from "Pieśni Ludu" once collected by Zygmunt Gloger. It is a slightly balladizing folk song that used to be sung probably in military forts, somewhere in the distant Podole. This album is a work that almost perfectly depicts the underground pagan folk metal and proves that Slavland is doing well, and that its work only gets better over the years. I can confidently recommend the album to everyone who knows and likes bands such as Biały Viteź, Nów, Venedae, Piorun or Temnozor.

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