Raida Raida!!!! Make way for 'Motherless' by Concrete age. These mad lads from Russia (now based out of London) have been around for some time now, having started their journey in 2010 and they haven't been sitting idle. Motherland is their 9th full length album. If you are like me and this is the first you’re hearing of them, you're in for a treat!
Motherless is a ripper of an album. Pulsing with folk elements from Russia and East Europe, it's as much a fun album as it is one to go ape-shit crazy in the pit too. This is just the kind of performance you need if you're heavy on the potent stuff and have significant amounts sloshing about in your veins. And if you don’t, then you'll probably want to guzzle down an ale or two because you'll be having a jolly good time.
Metal-archives labels them as "Thrash/Power/Melodic Death Metal with Folk influences", which isn't a lie but its too drab a description and doesn't quite do justice to the sonic sorcery the band has managed to produce with this album. The Eastern Europe influences on the music are sharp and clear with everything, from percussions and other ethnic instruments the band has used to the vocals, including the rhythmic claps and chorus that are more present as you head deeper into the album.
Now, we all know the issue with Folk metal, it’s the same damn flute (or lute) and a regional percussion instrument that defines much of the band's music. BUT!!!!! Concrete age refuses to be shackled by this age old limitation of folk metal and stand in defiance and deliver this seamless integration of hard hitting and skull crushing melodic death that has very strong flavours of folk metal running through it. Folk music goes beyond ethnic instruments, it's about how vocals are delivered, something as simple as claps that go along the beat, ululations and so on. This is where the band absolutely shines through, they are the full package and I would pay top dollar to see them and jump straight into the moshpit!
Songs are more crisp than a pack of Crispies straight out of the oven. Of the 10 songs in the album, 5 are under the 4 min mark and as you can guess the band straight jumps into it. Short songs don't mean that the band is lazy, anything but. Just when you think that the band gets into the trap of 'folk metal', they pole vault out of it with a blazing guitar solo, scintillating vocals. Bass and guitar through the album have that rough hewn stone spear quality that does more damage than a steel scimitar. I mean they've thrown everything at this album, including Biden's dirty underwear (and it lands with a righteous plop at the precise moment!)
Lead guitars are manned by both Boris Zahariev (Raida Raida, Shalaho, Cossack's Pride& Hasbulat) and Morozov (Battle for the Caucasus, Mestizo, Nomads, Mount of Elbrus, Kara Kol & Adeghaga) and they both shred their way through the album. Boris seems to have sold soul to devil, being able to produce the riffs more slick than an oil spill in, his solos are sharp, fast and expertly performed. Better get neck braces all you headbangers, you will need it. The man is a speed demon with NOx coursing through his guitar strings.
Ilia Morozov is phenomenal at the mic and shifts effortlessly between growls, clean vocals and ethnic singing, always keeping the 'heavy' feeling in every song. Morozov has also done the ethnic instruments (is it a Kaval he is playing(?), percussions and maybe another string instrument, how many hands does this guy have???) and is equally adept at playing lead guitars - watch out for the lead guitar work on Mestizo. Giovanni Ruiu delivers skull crushing bass riffs throughout, which is the foundation that Ilia's vocals stand on and deliver that heavy atmosphere.
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