Kroda: До небокраю життя... (2005)

Nope.  No idea what that says.  Kroda, like Drudkh and Nokturnal Mortum, is a pagan black metal band from Ukraine.  And here comes the standard disclaimer: like the other two, there have been alleged ties with the NS scene with Kroda.  The band itself does not appear to be an NS band, but they have been on labels associated with the scene such as Ancient Nation Productions, which was also the label that released albums by Astrofaes and Hate Forest and is a member of the Pagan Front, a loose association of labels and bands that have NS leanings.  So yes, the ties appear to be real, but the band itself has little to do with the NS ideology and is much more of a pagan/folk black metal band with lyrical content about history and nature.

The album definitely starts off in an odd way.  After an intro track that mostly features the sound of a crackling fire, the first real track "Долі шляхи" kicks in.  It starts off with a blaring horn sound that sounds like a low-budget movie about an African safari (apparently it is a Ukrainian folk instrument called a trembita) and follows that up with copious amounts of jaw harp.  That's right, jaw harp (technically it's called a drymba).  The thing that goes "boing boing boing".  But once the song settles in, it is amazing.  And that is basically true of most of the rest of the album.

Kroda does a fantastic job of combining their brand of pagan black metal with traditional Ukrainian folk instruments and melodies.  I mentioned the drymba and the trembita, but there is also a lot of use of a sopilka, which is more like a flute.  The sopilka is used frequently through several songs.  Kroda never lets the folk elements overpower the metal and takes a much more serious approach to the folk elements.  Groups like Finntroll and Korpiklaani definitely sound like they are having fun, but the music can be a goofy at times.  That is not the case with Kroda.

This is a fine example of folk metal done right.  The band blends the disparate musical influences seemlessly and crafts a terrific album.  If only all folk metal bands took their craft this seriously.