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Info
- Band(s): Negură Bunget
- Label(s): Code666
- Release Format(s): CD
- Release Year: 2002
- Review Date: February 26, 2003
- Author(s): FelixS, Steven Van Cauwenbergh
Much has been said and told about this band from Romania, but not really much is known about them. Also, all the releases, before this one, are barely obtainable. The band is shrouded in a haze of fog and mystery, cult at its best! This CD will be the first encounter with this band for most people, and it will be a tall order. The CD is a gem among black metal, no doubt, but it’s a hefty piece of work. It’s not an easy listen, and there are lots of weird drum ticks, crazy quiet parts and strange folky sections. But after several listens, the professional nature of this CD emerges more and more, it will appear as a near-perfect album. I think hardly anything could have been better on this album. This is undoubtedly one of the few black metal bands that can be original and creative in this genre that is dogged by clichés and unwritten genre rules.
The compositions are truly verging on the brilliant and amaze me every listen. The album has four tracks simply numbered from I to IV, but still clocks in at over 50 minutes, which is also an art in itself: keeping such long songs interesting and engaging. The songs are full of raw double guitar runs and riffs, great bass lines and excellent drumming which all point to high technical talent. Fans of raw but substantive and technical black metal as well as pagan black metal should definitely not miss this album. This disc will definitely occupy a prominent place in my collection.
The album also contains a nice extra in the form of a multimedia section. Here you can see the full discography, biography, photos and many more things. It also features a cool music video for the song Välzduh, which was originally on a Code666 collector. Very professionally done and definitely worth watching, I actually think it’s the one of the best black metal videos ever made. All in all, this will turn into a black metal album for the ages. (FelixS0
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It’s been a while when I heard from NEGURA BUNGET, I remember hearing them years ago and to my pleasant surprise I see they haven’t been lazy asses. For as far as I know I liked their old material but it is so damn hard to get. Well with this one they will be available almost everywere I guess, and that’s a good thing. They’re very inventive and original in sound and composition, the sound is thick and massive though the feeling stays harsh and cold. Four songs and almost an hour runningtime, and they aren’t boring for one minute. It’s all rather complex in views of riffing and arrangements but it’s not annoying, the songs are still songs but just get a load of that double guitarwork, the excellent woven basslines and the diversity in drum parts. Listening to this is like hearing a story without understanding the words but experiencing the feeling of how it’s told. This is how pagn black should sound I think, although played with electric instruments you tend to forget that and get carried away by the unity of sounds and feelings who are often agressive but all in function of the concept.
There’s also a very nice bonus to this release, you get apart from the music also a clip of a song that will be on a compilation, a lot of additional band information that’s very nicely done. Also a limited number of copies are handmade by the members of NEGURA BUNGET. (Steven van Cauwenbergh)