I have always found folk metal intriquing. The flutes, and sometimes other non-metal instruments, that are used throughout the compositions and the way that they mix together just fascinate me and when done well take me back to the lore of the Lord of the Rings and other fantasy lore.

The CD kicks off with an instrumental aptly called “Intro” that is pure folk metal, through and through. The guitars, the drums, bass, and of course the flute. Good stuff.

The second track, “Salvation Ark” is another good folk music composition. The only difference is this track has death metal style main vocals and group vocals on the chorus. Another good song, although I believe the lyrics are sung in another language, as I can’t seem to pick any out. The playback between the guitars and flute three quarters through the song is very cool.

“Weapon of Hope”, track number 3, starts off with accoustic guitars and sounds nice. Then the rest of the band, flute included, come in to join the accoustic guitars. I really dig the rythm of this song. Again, death metal style vocals, so my assumption that this is the main style of singing for this band. The “solo” section isn’t really a guitar solo, but more of a bass and flute arrangement with the guitars playing off of both of those. Again, intriguing and in my humble opinion, good.

Track 4, “The Waters of Meribah” (not sure what or where Meribah is) is another song. This song is similar in style to the other two songs, but I do hear either strings or keys playing “strings” added as an additional layer to the music, although more in the background of the mix. The drummer really does some fantastic timekeeping on this track. The solo section on this song is more of a flute solo, then an actual guitar solo which is short but very sweet.

Track number 5, “The Serpent of Brass”, starts off with all instruments playing with a good intro, another cool rythm kicks in, a bit similar to the last song, but not the same. The lead siner on this one sounds female, in addition to the death metal singing of the lead singer. This song is definitely a bit heavier than the rest of the songs, more of a metal song with folk influences. The “solo” section goes into an almost thrash tempo, guitars are playing rythm, with flute leading, then slows down and switches to the guitar soloing, with another string instrument, possibly a violin, playing along. This is my personal favorite song on the album.

The album, or EP if you prefer, ends with track 6, titled “Temptation of the Righteous One”. Song song is also a bit heavier than some of the others, with a great guitar riff throughout. This track also has the lead singer singing both his death vocal style and clean vocals. This has to be my second favorite track on the EP. Also, during the guitar solo, the flute also plays a different melody, but the two solos gel very well together. Very interesting song composition!

Overall, I was impressed by this 6-song EP by Oskord. If you are a fan of folk metal, definitely give this one a listen! If you aren’t currently a fan of this metal style or haven’t really heard it before, this is a great place to start!

Rating: 8.5/10

Written By Thrasher777 [Brian]

Line Up:
Pavel Smirnov – vocal
Sergey Nagorny – guitar, vocal
Max Kiprov – guitar
Alexei Andrushenko – bass
Dmitry Titorenko – drums

Tracklisting:
1. Into
2. Salvation Ark
3. Weapon of Hope
4. The Waters of Meribah
5. The Serpent of Brass
6. Temptation of the Righteous One

Record Label: Soundmass, 2011

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