Friday, December 19, 2008

Sojaruun - Sojaruun EP (2008)


This is a debut EP from a trio of Estonians who play in multiple bands together (Urt, Tarm, and Gas aside from this one). There are three tracks present, and the style is a pagan black metal with some folk acoustic guitars and moody breakdowns.

"Teekond Hukatusse" begins in subtle acoustic and bass atmosphere before channeling the glorious melodic black metal riffs common to the pagan branch of this style. It later breaks into some acoustic guitars once more over a fast bass line, and then totally breaks into this sort of bluesy doom segment until the end. "Touske, Allmaailmaleegionid!" returns to the mid to fast paced melodic black, and remains this way throughout, but has a few pretty decent, catchy riffs. "Vooras Veri" is similar, but with another of their lush folk sections in the latter half of the song. Also this third track was my favorite on the EP, I enjoyed the opening riff, which reminded me of Borknagar for some reason though the vocals are different.

The production is demo quality, but really that's what this is. Just a sampling, and a reasonable enough one if you are a fan of this type of pagan black metal which emphasizes melody and emotion over brutality. There is nothing inherently negative to say about it, but the songs didn't catch my attention quite enough yet. All the potential is here for a successful band of this style, so we'll have to see what the future brings of them.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.myspace.com/sojaruun

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