Firebird (Жар-Птица) formed in Penza, Russia and this is there debut album. They are one of the better Russian folk metal acts I've had the pleasure of listening to. This is largely in part because they don't saturate there music with with goofy folk interludes to fill space. It has a very organic and natural feel which gives the music a great flow.I was also very happy to hear some more than decent raspy growls as I think lately that is something that has missing in the Russian folk metal scene. It's especially great when it intertwines with the Gothic female vocals as usually it's just the latter,which gets old. The highlight is without a doubt the folk infused melodies as they really give some pep to the music. Everything working in unison works with the bands energy and the result is some really awesome tuneskies.
Admittedly, I've always had a stick up my ass about Russian folk metal bands as I largely felt they have saturated the genre with sub par efforts. I'm stoked that a Russian band has finally got it right; 8/10.
**Quick side note: I translated the (mp3)tags into English because I get annoyed when I want to remember a song and can't remember the Russian title. Some of the titles may be incorrect as they are just literal translations.**
- Quality: V0 MP3 / VBR
- Download: MirrorCreator
