"Zagony Bogów (Fields of Gods)" Werewolf Promotion. Almost one hour of music, 12 tracks. Released as 1000 CDs!!
Atmospheric / Folk Black Metal from Poland
Stworz made a long way from their debut to this album. „Zagony Bogów” is a milestone in their career and definitely one of the best albums ever created in the Polish pagan metal scene. Yes, „pagan metal” but not „pagan black metal” anymore. Stworz bid farewell to black metal at „Cóż po żyznych ziemiach”. And with „Zagony Bogów '' they continue their own musical journey to the ancient Slavonic lands.
Since their third album „Cóż po żyznych ziemiach”, Stworz distanced itself from typical black metal. And at „Zagony Bogów” folk pagan metal is on the top, while black metal parts are gone for good. They remain in the sound of guitars maybe, but that's all. Band simply polished their style from their previous album. So do not expect anything new or revolutionary. But everything is better.
Stworz plays energetic, heavy metal with a bit of unique vocals. They're dark but definitely not black, since you can understand everything with ease (if you understand Polish language, of course, since Stworz sings in Polish only). Some songs are actually more sung that shouted, there are female vocals used quite often as well – more often than before. This album is even more melodic and catchy than the previous one. Some songs have been ringing in my head since the first time I heard them. There are some pieces with shouting and recitations as well. You can tell the difference between this and the first albums of the Stworz, where clear voices made occasional appearances only.
„Cóż po żyznych ziemiach” was a very bright and lively album, it exploded like a spring. „Zagony Bogów” follows the same path, but it's somehow heavier, like summer, hot and full of sudden, intensive thunderstorms. Songs are very melodic, glorifying nature, traditions, old gods and their eternal work, but they sound more powerful than before, sometimes the band moves close to the heavy metal. Still, Stworz is different from many other pagan metal bands – you won't find songs about war or hate here. Main themes are gods, tradition, nature, change of seasons and rural life. And their lyrics are very poetic.
Previous album introduced some folk elements to the Stworz music. On this album these are literally everywhere. Since the beginning we can hear some rural sounds, folk-style female vocals, traditional slavonic instruments. Most of the tracks here contain some of these. But that's not all. Stworz arranged a traditional Polish folk song „Czerwone Jajeczko”, doing this in the style that might remind you of classic Storm's album „Nordavind”. It became a tradition at Stworz albums to record such songs.
I've been always a bit reluctant about giving higher notes, but this album deserves it. „Zagony bogów” is, along with, „Wołosożary”, my favorite Stworz album so far. It has no weak points, everything is well written and played, songs are catchy and atmospheric. Music is powerful and heavy, perfectly mixing with folk elements. Vocals are strong and understandable. If you want to hear Slavonic pagan metal at its finest, give „Zagony bogów” a try, you won't be disappointed.
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