Darkestrah - The Silk Road

Off the top of you head, how many black metal bands hailing from Kyrgyzstan can you mention? I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was zero, but here is one, melodic black metal pagans Darkestrah. "The Silk Road" consists of four long songs (ranging from just under 9 minutes to just over 22) and a 2-minute outro. The music is heavily influenced by folk music, not just in the many acoustic parts that are interleaved in the songs, but also in the distorted black metal riffing.

The first song, which is also the title track, starts out with a beautiful acoustic guitar part, some wonderful percussion and a hauntingly beautiful sound that sounds like a mix between a dark flute and a choir. I am a big fan of Central Asian folk music, so this is right up my alley. After a minute and a half the guitars and drums kick in, still at a fairly slow pace, and with beautiful droning chords that mimic the intro. And then the vocals enter.

The vocals deserve a paragraph all of their own. The vocalist is female, and she produces some of the harshest, most haunting black metal vocals I've heard in years, and it fits perfectly with the music.

During the duration of the title track's 13 minutes we are treated to these haunting, slow riffs, but also to faster parts that offer some welcome variety, and now and then there is a break where the acoustic guitar or fiddle get a chance to make themselves heard again.

This is pretty much how the whole album progresses, and though the songs are long they never seem long, which is a sure sign of quality. This is one of the best releases of 2008, and a solid 8/10, bordering on a 9.