Fucking awesome. Too bad that's too short of a review to be totally fair, but to be blunt and up front Graveland's first full-length album "Carpathian Wolves" is one original and impressive piece of Polish Black Metal and a must for anyone who is a fan of the style. The six songs on this album are some of the most triumphantly evil songs I've ever heard. The songs are fairly long and well-arranged, shifting between two or three basic ideas each, and the tempos shift from fast blasting to what I call the 'triumphant strut' rhythm (that triplet-based 'da-DUM, da-DAH' beat that Darken always throws a keyboard riff over, like in "Barbarism Returns" or "At the Pagan Samhain Night"). The guitars are almost washed out in a haze of reverb (very unlike the crisp guitar sounds on "The Celtic Winter", or later on "Following the Voice of Blood), but they blend with Darken's grim, hoarse-rasp vocals creating an indistinct, almost ambient sound - a perfect base for Darken's chilly keyboard playing. Even the bass (performed on this album by 'scene-traitor' Karcharoth) provides some melodic drive here and there (most notably in "Into the War"). This album, however, may be the one on which Capricornus earned his 'sloppy' reputation; he occasionally drops beats out of blast sections, he comes in late after some fills (which sound uneven anyway), and his tempo shifts (like in "Barbarism Returns") range from odd to just plain wrong (Hurry up and wait...) - but somehow you never really notice unless you listen to the album with a metronome. I don't know if it's a testament to the musicianship of Darken playing around the inconsistent beat or simply the songs being so good you never think of paying attention, but I seriously can't imagine this being played by any other drummer. Truly a triumph of songwriting essence over aesthetic details.

With an album this good, it's almost an injustice to have to pick a 'best song' - they're really all great songs and quite unique from each other. "Barbarism Returns" is noteworthy because it's probably the one song on the album most representative of the whole album's style and atmosphere. I also rather like "At the Pagan Samhain Night" with it's evil keyboard riff-slow sections and the guitar-bass melodies of "Into the War", but really the whole album is brilliant. Track this one down - it's a keeper.

© 1999 lord vic