Review: Negura Bunget - “Vîrstele Pamîntului” (2010)
This first post-breakup release from Negura Bunget was bound to suffer some drop of quality, with the band having lost the main songwriting core of the band in founding members Huppogramos and Sol Faur. The band’s new album Vîrstele Pamîntului finally gives a taste of what this new incarnation of Negura Bunget will sound like. As expected, the magic that made the band’s last few albums so potent is not quite there, but the overall quality of this new release came as something of a surprise to me. The new lineup does an impressive job of retaining the band’s basic sound and feel. It almost comes across as an imitation of Negura Bunget’s glory days. But, this being Negura Bunget, a quality approximation of the band still makes for some great music.
Really the most fascinating aspect of this album is how well Negru managed to preserve the atmosphere, mood and production of the band’s previous albums. New vocalist Corb does a capable job, coloring the songs with a mixture of anguished blacked screams and scatterings of clean singing and spoken vocals, and the band’s usage of keyboards goes a long way towards creating the typical gloomy, mysterious Negura Bunget atmosphere. Negru’s drumming and percussion is flawless as always.
The one aspect of Vîrstele Pamîntului that really stands out as having changed is the songwriting. The musical composition is where the effects of the lineup changes are the most noticeable - the riffs just don’t flow together very well compared to the band’s previous work. That said, the guitar parts certainly aren’t bad by any means. Corb and fellow guitarist Spin actually craft some pretty intricate and captivating riffs, incorporating some weird tapping parts and odd chords.
The folk influence and the band’s usage of traditional instruments have also been emphasized even further on this album. Vîrstele Pamîntului ends up being slightly more mellow than much of the band’s previous output as a result, but the unique folk aspect of Negura Bunget’s music has always been one of its more enjoyable and unique aspects, so that’s a trade-off I can live with. Ultimately, while the album doesn’t meet the incredibly high bar that the band’s previous releases have set, it’s certainly a lot better than I thought it could be.
