After their first release “Ceinăscuți din pământ” 7 years ago, the band Ashaena returns with “Calea”, a pagan metal record balanced in between black metal and folk (not festive) metal. The Romanian group presents an interesting equilibrium of raw guitar production, with ethnic melodic instruments.
Opening with the fast “Tapae 87”, the listener can have a good prospective of what’s coming next, in “Calea”, and in the instrumental “Tara Berladnicilor”. Singing in Romanian about mythology, paganism, nature and history, it’s a record that evolves into a more melodic side in songs like “Crapat di Cer”, and “Spirit-Sageata”, without getting boring, despite having a song structure that has nothing new.
Some songs can remind the listener of Bathory or Primordial at some point, with the flutes of Skyforger, and will definitely delight the listeners of those bands. Counting with Alex Vranceanu on guitars and vocals, Cosmin “Hultanu” Duduc on guitars, vocals, flutes and pipes, Marius Gabrian on bass, and Alex “Mos Strechia” Duduc on drums, percussion and flutes, this group it’s an interesting discovery, progressive and agressive, melodic and epic, and presents to us a break from the pit of folk bands that only talk about party and beer, since there’s something more in here, something ancestral and somehow, exotic for the spirit.
Ashaena presents a very organic record that ends with two great moments full of misticism: “Zbor Insetat”, and “Mos Urs”. The world of pagan metal might be too small to absolve all the bands of the genre, but some have to be given a good listening to understand their magic, and the listener will feel exactly that be the end of this record.
