NEGURĂ BUNGET — Vîrstele Pamîntului (review)

NEGURĂ BUNGET — Vîrstele Pamîntului album cover Album · 2010 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Virstele Pamintului" is the 5th full-length studio album by Romanian experimental/ progressive black metal act Negura Bunget. It´s the first studio album since the split up where the two of the three founding members of the band, Hupogrammos and Sol´Faur, left Negura Bunget to form Dordeduh, leaving Negru as the only founding member left in the band. Negru opted to continue with the Negura Bunget name and has added no less than five new musicians to the lineup making Negura Bunget almost a completely new band. "Virstele Pamintului" is the last release out of a three album record deal Negura Bunget signed with leading Italian experimental extreme metal label Code666. The album is released in a regular CD version but also in a special limited version which bears this description: "The special limited version comes in a handmade woodbox, roped and filled with the very earth of the place it comes from". The latter falls in the catagory of rather bizarre collector´s items if you ask me, but it would be pretty great to show to the friends.

Almost simoultaniously with the release of "Virstele Pamintului", Negura Bunget also released "Maiestrit (2010)" which is a re-recording of the 2000 "Maiastru Sfetnic" album with some added tracks. "Maiestrit" was recorded with the original trio lineup of Hupogrammos, Negru and Sol´Faur before they split.

The music on "Virstele Pamintului" is a mix of dark ambient ethnic music and experimental and for the most part quite melodic black metal. The former style is very dominant on parts of the album which is best examplified by the fact that you won´t hear distorted guitars or extreme vocals before about 15 minutes into the album. Negura Bunget include lots of traditional Romanian folk intruments in the music, but also more regular instrumentation like guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. The vocals are a mix of various clean kinds of vocals/ talking and raspy black metal ones. The music is very dark and atmospheric and the dark ambient element makes me think of Ulver at times but also a band like Dead Can Dance comes to mind.

The production is professional and suits the music well.

After having released what many consider one of the most important experimental black metal albums in "Om (2006)", "Virstele Pamintului" does come as a bit of a disappointment IMO. There are many excellent ideas and parts on the album but overall there are too much dark ambient ethnic music and not enough metal for my taste and a 3.5 star rating is warranted. It´s an interesting mix but not without flaws. "Virstele Pamintului" is recommended to those who enjoy the more experimental side of black metal with an ethnic ambient touch.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 5 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed