Review: Leshak - “Chertovorot” (2009)
With their debut full-length Chertovorot, Russia’s Leshak joins bands like Korpiklaani, Eluveitie and Ensiferum in the increasingly crowded folk metal scene. Chertovorot runs surprisingly lean at just under 30 minutes, and contains only six actual metal songs. While portions of the album definitely make the band’s lack of experience evident, there’s also some good stuff here that makes Leshak’s debut at least a fun, lighthearted listen.
This being a folk metal album, Chertovorot is full of the usual fast, thrashy rhythms, folk melodies and traditional instruments. Quality varies from song to song, but the band ties everything together quite well in a few places, such as the opener ‘Firtree’s Bark’ and the closer ‘Was Wollen Wir Trinken’. The deep growl of vocalist Sergey Frontline brings early Amorphis to mind and is one of the strong points of the album. Musically, the flute-driven melodies and general speed and aggression of the album reminds me of Kroda’s early output.
There are of course a few missteps - the vocal chanting in ‘By The Paths of Leshak’ sounds almost Native American and kind of kills the song, and the title track also contains an instrument that is hilariously kazoo-like, which makes that particular song pretty much impossible to take seriously. That aside, Leshak do deliver a few pretty enjoyable folk metal tracks on this album, so this Russian group is definitely one to keep on your radar if you’re a fan of the genre.
