Alkonost is a Russian band founded in 1995 by Elk. The idea was to write music about European medieval time, as well as Russian folklore. The final line was to include a female lead vocalist by the name of Aljona in 2000.
Alkonost plays Russian folk metal. Their sound structure is based on mid-paced melodies, heavy & powerful riffs /bass duo, operatic female vocals, folksy /epic lead and discrete keyboards. This music is actually more muscular than what we commonly hear and this is mainly caused by those strong bass lines. Coupled with the operatic voices, it makes for a somewhat awkward match. They do have raspy vocals, but were mostly given the background role. The formula is being used from top to bottom, so variation is a missing element here. There are no acoustic parts on this disc and the folkloric (un-electric) parts are rather rare, unfortunately. The songs are not too lengthy, generally lasting between five and six minutes. My favorite composition is called "Wonderland True Story". It has calmer parts, clean male chants and a bit of flute too (maybe keyboards?). On the other hand, this is where the skipping and scratches effects starts to happens, only to get worst as the album progresses. This type of problem are occurring more and frequently with the MP3 promos, but never was it so bad before.
On the Wings of the Call is not bad per say, I just enjoy more refined and folkloric sounding folk metal.
Track listing:
1 - Bird Ship
2 – Chilly Fire of the Night
3 – Thought-Trees
4 – Ineffable Light
5 – Wonderland True Story
6 – Fire Bloom-Charm
7 – Princess' Lament
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