I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2018] Arkona

This was an early Sunday show.  Doors at 6, bands on at 7.  It was billed as three bands, headliners Korpiklaani, with support from Arkona and a Philly band called Frost Giant, all of whom played Folk Metal–a genre I had only recently even heard of.

Parking was a drag (I was foolish in my arrival time) and so I got into the theater a little after 7.  There was some buzz in the room, but I never would have guessed that was because Frost Giant had already come and gone–leaving no trace.  After the show someone told me that they went on at 6:35 and were good.  Sorry Frost Giant, that’s poor information from the venue, but I’ve just listened to some of your stuff on bandcamp, and you guys rock.  I hope to see you again around Philly.

I didn’t know Arkona (Аркона) at all.  I looked them up before the show and learned that they were Russian, which I found really exciting and intriguing.  Korpiklaani is Finnish, so it would be a night of no one singing English at all.

Having no idea what any of these bands look like, I didn’t realize that Arkona was coming out when they did (I was also worried about a parking app I was trying to add money to).  I couldn’t read their name on the banner (in true metal format it was a mirror image of itself and wholly illegible).  Arkona came out in burlap robes, with long hair.  Then lead singer, band creator, primary songwriter and only constant member Masha Scream came up to the mic and chanted the Mantra from their new album, Khram (Храм).

And then I got to experience what folk metal is all about.

Folk metal is a bit of a misnomer because it makes it sound like there’s folk rock in it, but what it really is more of a trad metal–elements of traditional, yes, folk, melodies and songs.  And more importantly instruments.   For off on the far side of the stage was Vladimir “Volk” Reshetnikov who was playing the flute and the bagpipes and several other “ethnic wind instruments.”

The more accurate term for Arkona is “pagan metal,” because Masha Scream (Maria Arkhipova) is proud of pagan lore and love of mysticism.

So after the Mantra, echoing voice and thumping hand drum, they began playing songs from Khram.  Masha sings like no one I’ve heard before.  She sings in a “death growl” for much of the songs.  But because her voice is higher than most men, the death growl is interesting, not just gibberish.  Or maybe it’s because she is singing in Russian that I know it’s gibberish to me, so I’m not trying to hear words.  But in between the growls, she demonstrated a beautiful singing voice as well.

It was also fun to hear her speak–she has the frontwoman down perfectly.

I particularly love this clip in which she sings what sounds like a traditional Russian song in beautiful high notes, followed by a growling scream.  Her range is pretty amazing.  I also love all of the double bass drum that pummeled throughout the show.  Drummer Andrey Ishchenko has only been with the band for four years, but he fits in perfectly.

In front of me was guitarist (and Masha’s husband) Sergei “Lazar” Atrashkevich.  He played a lot of heavy chords and interesting riffs.  But most fascinating to me was that he didn’t really solo very much.  Rather, the solos came from the wind instruments.  Flutes abounded throughout the songs.  And on more than one occasion Vladimir “Volk” walked to our side of the stage playing the bagpipes.  I have literally never seen anyone headbang while carrying bagpipes before, but there it was in front of me.  Even more interesting was watching him headband when holding the flute like a guitar neck.

There were also moments of great musical interplay between the guitar and bass (Ruslan “Kniaz” Rosomaherov, who was always way in the back so I never got a photo, but he played a great low-end).

After a half-dozen songs, the band left and Masha sang “Mantra” (outro).  And I assumed that the show was over.

I thought that the Arkona was the opening act, playing about 40 minutes, maybe an hour, and then Korpiklaani would play for 90 minutes and the show would be over by ten (that’s why it started at 7, right?).  Well, after she sang “Mantra” the band started to come back on stage.

It turned out that this was a double-headline show and Arkona would be playing for 90 minutes!  And that second half of the show really showed a lot of range for the band.  Khram is something of a concept album and is rather different from their earlier albums (apparently).  And so, the older songs introduced a lot of differences within their music.

Like who would have expected a bagpipe solo after this heavy guitar thrashing.

Or check out this clip which shows them go through several style changes in about 30 seconds.

There were several songs near the end that allowed Masha Scream to show off her different styles of singing.  Like this one where she could sing beautifully before the heaviness kicked in.

Like who would have expected this accordion fueled (the accordion was on a backing track, strangely) sing along?  Well, this song is “Yarilo, which ended the show is a traditional-sounding song with accordion and bouzouki or the like.  It intersperses the traditional with the metal sounds very well.  Interestingly, this song was used in The Office!  (see the clip after the set list).

The crowd was totally into it and so was I.  I have no idea what I was singing, but it was so much fun.

Arkona are a must see just for the whole stagecraft involved.  If you’ve never looked into folk metal, they;re a great place to start because you won’t be bogged down by lyrics (unless you speak Russian).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SETLIST

1. Mantra (Intro) ϖ¹
2. Shtorm ϖ²
3. Tseluya zhizn ϖ³
4. Khram ϖ⁵
5. V pogonye za beloy tenyu ϖ⁶
6. Mantra (Outro) ϖ⁹
7. Goi, Rode, Goi!  Ψ
8. Zakliatie #
9. Arkona Ψ
10. Kupalets Ψ
11. Skvoz’ Tuman Vekov ⊗
12. Stenka na Stenku §
13. Yarilo  Ψ

& Vo slavu velikim! (2005)
⊗ Goi Rode Go! (2009)
§ Slovo (2011)
ϖ Khram (2018) [then track listing]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bQc0t4LuLs