Arkona - Decade of Glory review

At the very beginning of 2002, there was a pagan metal band founded in Moscow, called Giperboreya/Hiperborea () and very soon it changed name. The engine of this band was a short, but musically talented and persistent organizer lady blessed with powerful voice by Rod, Veles and the other ancient Slavic deities. Shes Masha Scream Arkhipova, who reached in spite of the early difficulties (she was left alone in 2003 when all the other members quit the band) that her group recently became one of the most famous and popular bands of the folk/pagan metal scene all over the world. And this group is called Arkona as from February 2002! The lead folk/pagan metal band of Eastern Europe celebrated its 10th anniversary with an epic show in Moscow on February 11th, 2012 (they changed their name to the name of the last Pagan centre of the Slavs on the same day in 2002). And they also recorded this grand gig and itll be released as double CD in Europe by Napalm Records entitled Decade of Glory, and in Russia via Sound Age Productions on three CDs, entitled 10 on February 22nd, 2013. As we see the number of the discs, its clean that its not a simple live album. On the colossal birthday concert the band played 31 songs compiling from every era, therere both earlier rather blackish songs and later rather folkish ones. But its still not only a live compilation album, because all tracks are epically arranged, many were also re-arranged, because the Russian five-piece was supported by a choir with 9 members, two folk background vocalists and a strings quartet so there were 20 musicians on the stage at the same time! So Decade of Glory is an orchestral live compilation, which summarizes the life-work of the genial Muscovite horde very well. Of course a live album cant fully evoke the real atmosphere of the show but listening to this one you can feel that it was a really special and unique experience for the audience. The choirs are amazing, especially the folk duet called Ribonka, the strings section is very strong (it plays bigger role in the older pieces) and as always, Masha and the band are awesome. And this complex audio material is perfectly completed by the graphic artwork of the booklet which takes the band-members back to the age of their ancestors. To sum up I have to tell that this is a perfect summary of Arkonas first decade with epic highnesses, elevated moods, folkish revelries and true ancient, heathen atmosphere. Rare and unique material, a real eargasm for the devoted folk metal fans!

10/10