Back in the day, it was unlikely the flute would make it into the line-up of any decent heavy metal band. To most heavy metal fans it is the aural equivalent of chewing on a lemon. The flute, like its close friend the tin whistle and 1980s British politicians, will forever be a divisive force. But recently I’ve been experiencing something of an epiphany towards the sound, or whatever the pagan version of epiphany might be. First with Ireland’s Celtachor, whom I discovered earlier this year and now with Zgard from the Ukraine, whose flat-sounding flute (played by band regular Hutsul) is the perfect accessory for this long, lush, pagan black metal opus.
Zgard is a really a one man project run by Yaromisl from Western Ukraine, near Lviv, who takes on most of the duties. Pagan metal bands can’t help but mix in a few traditional elements. But wind instruments, or any other folk-inspired acoustic pageantry, aren’t made the star here and be thankful for that. Their use tends to take over the show and cover up the lack of ideas whereas Zgard’s sound is far more blended and smooth. With only a few guest appearances, alongside backing from a number of other traditional instruments, Astral Glow is more driven by that now familiar enveloping, Ukrainian ambiance common to the Slavic metal scene. This type of music is always going to be an acquired taste and here especially the guitars, high in pitch, compete for dominance with thick layers of keyboards.
To the initiated the arrangements manage to stand astride the emotive power, real or imagined, of spirit and landscape with something dark and cold. Here we seem to switch between the forest and mountains of the Carpathians and the illuminated firmament above in a more reflective than aggressive way. The guitar riffs, sometimes almost hidden amongst the vocals and sounds of electronica, are fresh and among a number of things about this release that manage to propel it from the rank and file of the genre to those that can be recommended as exemplars. On tracks like Stars in the Night Sky, clever use of keyboards are used to add depth to the hypnotic riffs and the gruff, chanted vocals.
There are harsher tracks like Old Woods but they’re still softened by the booming keyboards and the overall effect of tracks like Return to the Void is more like the sound track to a dream rather than the sweaty backroom of a bar. Not so much punching the air as sinking into a chair after a few glasses of heavy red wine. Like all good borderline-ambient black metal the hour-and-a-bit playing time gradually spreads behind us like a vast arboreal woodland where it is difficult to see exactly how far you’ve travelled or what direction you’ve been heading in. Finding brand new landscapes is not the over-riding message here. Rather, Astral Glow is about staying with the familiar – thematically and musically.
I’m never quite sure whether albums like Astral Glow find their true place as an accompaniment to a long walk in the wilds or in your own home on a cold winter’s night. Either way it’s a great soundtrack for a few hours in the life of any pagan black metal fan.
(7.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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