There aren’t all too many famous metal bands coming out of Bulgaria. The only one I could think of, however, is one of the most underrated progressive metal bands ever – Pantommind, which split up last year (but has one more album to release posthumously). Recently, however, I’ve discovered another excellent Bulgarian band. Ivory Twilight is a symphonic power metal band hailing from Plovdiv that has been around since 2003, and has finally released its first full length release, Седем, (which means “Seven” in Bulgarian) ten years later.

The three worst things about this release are quite evident. First of all, we have truly awful cover artwork: a gothic prostitute disguised as Little Red Riding Hood holding a mask reminding me of my old Latin teacher at high school, and standing in a landscape inspired by the works of Salvador Dali. Next: we have rather bad production that doesn’t fit the elaborate music. The record also includes many out-of-tune vocals. I’m not sure if this is due to the cheap production or the lack of talent of the three vocalists, but the first two songs sound especially unclean. The song writing is very good, but these two tracks are hard to sit through due to the sub-mediocre vocals. I have to forgive this otherwise promising band, because this is a self-released effort. Once you have been through the first couple of songs, you will discover a passionate and sophisticated symphonic metal record with incredibly high potential.

“Безсмъртни” is the first song to feature two audibly distinctive female vocalists. One delivers a grounded and powerful performance, while the other impresses with well done operatic vocals. The calm male singer gives the song a more alternative rock or goth-rock touch. For the very first time, the vocals fit very well and don’t sound out of place. The dreamy guitar play and the appeasing keyboards create a very unique atmosphere on this track.

From this point on, Ivory Twilight delivers one great song after the other. “Вятър” offers another great combination of powerful singing. The highlights of this song are a few audible bass guitar passages, the enchanting piano melodies (reminding me slightly of Helloween’s “If I Could Fly”), and the strong chorus. “Прощално” is a powerful ballad with an emotional outburst towards the end where soaring violin samples meet gripping narrative passages and gracious female vocals. Fans of early Nightwish can’t get around a song like this.

If I had to describe the record in one word, it would be “diversity”. Three vocalists, two guitar players, a bassist, and a keyboard player deliver a dynamic firework of creativity. From acoustic guitar driven fairy ballads such as “Самодива” to potential single candidates in the form of mid-tempo anthems performed in English (like the diversified “Angel Master”), and the dark and catchy gothic rock closer “Killing Me After” the band never fails to at least surprise, and delivers at the highest song writing level.

The hidden masterpiece on the album is the apocalyptic “Simphonious Orgasmus”, with its outstanding atmospheric keyboard work varying from cinematic sounds to electronic elements, the engaging guitar riffs, and the dramatic female vocals that don’t require any male backup. The song is a little bit over the top and theatrical, but this touch of madness adds an unpredictable progressive note to the song that I like a lot. As the title suggests, you also end up hearing a few orgasmic sounds, but in a more subtle way than Turisas recently provided. This song might sound odd at first try, but I’m sure it will grow on you even though I appreciated it at first listen.

I’m sure this kind of record won’t appeal to everybody. Some people might have some problems with the weak production. Others might argue that three vocalists are muddying the waters. Purists might complain about the massive use of keyboards, though I feel they have been organically integrated into the sound. Other people might not appreciate the high degree of diversity and think this album overwhelming. To my ears, the mixture sounds excellent, and never gets boring. This is a record to discover over and over again. It’s filled with rich details and it’s experimental, but the songs are very catchy no matter if you listen to those in English or Bulgarian ones. This album is intriguing enough to make you forget its technical flaws. Ivory Twilight are not just another Nightwish clone, but a unique, sophisticated, and quite hard to categorize after all. I hope this band will get an international record deal and some credit for their great debut that they have been working on for so long. Try to get in touch with the band and get your hands on this album.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Kartikeya is a rather interesting band from Russia’s capital Moscow that mixes genre-bending progressive and technically appealing death metal elements with epic Indian folklore music in songs about Eastern mythology, Hinduism, and different philosophical topics. Fans of bands such as Absu, Arkan, Melechesh, Myrath, Nile, Orphaned Land, Rudra, Zindan or maybe even early Amorphis and Therion should definitely check this band out. If you hesitate to give this band a try because of its extreme metal nature, know that this is only one element among many others, and that Kartikeya’s music is extremely diversified, fluid, and inspiring.

The band convinces me most when it comes around with its cinematic and epic song writing in the incredible title tracks “The Battle Begins Part I: The War Of One Blood” and “The Battle Begins Part II: Arjuna”. These songs vary from chilling keyboard sounds over vivid drum, acoustic guitar, and percussion play to a surprisingly fluid mixture of slow-paced death metal elements and almost thrash metal inspired fast outbursts. The vocals vary from melodic clean parts over vivid growls to whispered narrative passages as well. The band sounds extremely atmospheric and diverse on here and put more ideas in these two progressive songs than other bands put in entire records.

The band also offers a few rapidly changing and surprising tracks that are somewhere between genius and insanity. You never really know what to expect, but the end result always sounds completely coherent. A choir of enchanting and melodic female and male vocals introduce us to the otherwise pretty extreme “Thunders Of Indra”. The harsh vocals, blast beats, and apocalyptic keyboard sounds in the otherwise folk metal driven “Ruins Of Belief” hit particularly hard as well. “Unleash The Spirit” features the fastest and most pitiless instrumental part of the record, but also surprises with catchy clean vocal parts that complete the song. If you pay some attention towards the end of the record, you will even find a cover of Soulfly’s “Babylon” as hidden track, which I didn’t expect at all. I’m not a Soulfly fan but this cover fits well on this record.

Kartikeya is definitely one, if not the, most exciting extreme metal band I have discovered over the last months and years. The band really has its own unique sound, and the fusion of epic folk passages and progressive extreme metal parts is absolutely incredible. Discover the band’s Bandcamp presence to give the band’s impressive debut album a fair try.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Kartikeya’s first album The Battle Begins, was a stunning masterpiece that mixed technically appealing, progressive and epic extreme metal with Indian folklore elements. Four years later, the band came around with a follow-up entitled Mahayuga, that really pales in comparison to the first release.

My feelings boil down to the overwhelming impression that most of the initial magic is gone. Many songs here are shorter and straighter than the elaborate epics of the first release. A track like “He Who Carries The Head Of Brahma” is an aggressive death metal song, and not completely bad, but it doesn’t represent what Kartikeya stood for on its initial release. Many of these songs sound quite alike as well. Most of the instrumental tracks go nowhere and don’t manage to develop a profound atmosphere. “Mahayuga Part I: Satya Yuga” and “Mahayuga Part II: Treta Yuga” sound like uneasy and uninspired drone compositions. Many folk sections on this release sound like samples from a Senmuth album, and feel a lot less organic than on the first record. Even the few epics featured here have considerable and unnecessary lengths without shining. “Utpavana” is a good song somewhere between Celtic Frost, Dimmu Borgir, and maybe The Vision Bleak, but after five or six impressive minutes everything has been said and the band simply stretches the track out to a length of almost ten minutes. They’re really losing me here.

There are still some rather strong songs on this album. “The Path” is a consistent track with a good mixture of folk passages, impressive symphonic samples, and a duet of hypnotizing clean male vocals and powerful growls. This is maybe the best track. “Moksha” is an inspiring and short instrumental track that would have fit on the first album easily, and “Neverborn” is a diverse epic that grows with each spin, but doesn’t go too far to bore me. The hidden track that exists on this album is actually another favorite of mine. The band added a truly enchanting version of Shakira’s “Eyes Like Yours” at the end of their record. I must admit that I already appreciate the original version, but this cover is an absolute winner, and a rather surprising choice for the band.

In the end, there are a lot of lights and shades on this album. If this was the band’s first release, I would probably tell you that it has a lot of potential and a unique style that they should expand while improving their song writing, and would probably rate it better as well. The thing is, this is the band’s second output, and that their first strike was really much better. Therefore Mahayuga must be considered as a step back, without being a complete failure. If you want to discover this band, you should maybe start with their sophomore effort and listen to their first release after, or just ignore this album and stick with the band’s debut masterpiece.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Kielwater is a progressive metal band from Lithuania which has existed under the banner of Spellbound since 1992. Many band members were replaced over and over again through the years, and it took the band until 2012 to release a full length release entitled Flirting With Disaster. Guess what?, this album is extremely good, and no disaster at all. In comparison to other genre bands, Kielwater has a heavy sound. The guitar riffs are sharp and in your face, but not stupidly brutal. The instrumental work is very appealing, especially in the bridges of the songs where one can recognize gloomy folk and jazz influences, but this kind of album isn’t too challenging. It could easily please heavy, power, and thrash metal fans for example. The powerful female vocals complete and underline the band’s unique approach, and are one of the best of their kind.

This record can sort of be divided into three stylistically different sections. There are rather challenging and progressive tracks, more grounded and catchy songs with some serious hit potential, and a few short, straight songs that most progressive metal bands are missing in their repertoires. Imagine a mixture of Heaven’s Cry, After Forever, and Benedictum, and you might come close to the final result displayed on Flirting With Disaster.

The band chose to open the album with its most courageous track. Even after six or seven spins of “In Sight”, I’m not quite sure how to feel about it. To say the least, this song is fascinating. First of all, the instrumental introduction is rather technical and rather hard to digest. A really weird drum sound that makes me think of a Wimbledon court tennis match increases this odd feeling. The vocals remind me of several symphonic metal bands, but also of Arabian folk songs, and this comes as another surprise, while turning out to be rather catchy. From time to time, the song throws in a few guttural and demonic screams that send shivers down my spine. Imagine a horror movie or video game involving an ugly witch and the way her voice is synchronized with the music, and you can imagine the result here. Over a running time of almost eight minutes, this song never really gets boring, and introduces us to a multitude of controversial ideas. Hats off to the band for opening its record with such a unique track. “Demons” fittingly goes back to the use of these weird vocal effects, and adds a few apocalyptic guitar sounds as well. Without any brutality, the horror atmosphere is nearly perfect here.

Another brave standout is the challenging “Waist To Dust”, due to its extraordinary instrumental work. Despite being one of the shorter songs, this is probably the most progressive experiment on the album. Especially when looking at the funky bass guitar part in the middle and the mixture of Arabian folk elements with some almost free jazz-sounding parts, it’s an impressive song.

Moving on to the more accessible songs, the calm and mysterious “Fourfold” convinces with enchanting and laid back vocals on one side, and a dark and dominating bass guitar on the other. The chorus is really strong, and several female-fronted power and symphonic metal bands would go green with envy if they were to hear this perfectly balanced mixture between experimentation and catchy hooks. The powerful heavy metal-inspired closer “Even If I Wish It” is another catchy song that ends the album on a very strong note. It brings the hooks once again with a balanced mixture of acoustics and strong, mid-tempo riffs that build up a gloomy atmosphere.

Apart from the progressive and the more accessible songs, there are also a few truly heavy tracks on this release. First of all, I’ll mention the heavy mid-tempo stomper “Whatever”, that has a chaotic instrumental basis, but some of the most varied vocal work on the album. The singer manages a few catchy hooks, but also hits some higher and almost hysterical-sounding notes. The track sounds rather angry on the whole, and that’s why it’s so engaging. Another addicting cut of this kind is the thrash-driven “Are You Satisfied”, thanks to an extremely strong vocal performance that delivers many catchy melodies. This song also sounds angry, but in a less chaotic manner, and is based on equally powerful riffs.

Kielwater is still a relatively unknown band from Vilnius, and here’s hoping that my review can contribute to change this, because this quintet really deserves your attention. The band offers a highly diverse and entertaining record for heavy progressive metal fans. Its mixture of technically appealing instrumentation and creative songwriting is supported by catchy hooks and beefy riffs that provide a breath of fresh air for the genre. If you are hesitating due to the female vocals, let me tell you that they sound much better than many male counterparts and add a lot of powerful charisma to the sound of the band.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Kingfisher Sky is yet another female fronted symphonic metal band from the Netherlands with a calm and somewhat progressive approach. The band was founded by Ivar de Graaf, who had been the drummer of Within Temptation. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that his new band’s first output is quite close to the calmer, almost folk rocky earlier releases of his former band. And it’s also no surprise that the band lacks any kind of unique style, sounding like an odd mixture of Within Temptation, Loreena McKennitt, Evanescence, and Autumn.

I have no problem with calmer symphonic metal bands, but Kingfisher Sky is definitely going too far on their debut release. The album sounds like one big lullaby. It’s mostly boring and, sometimes even too pop oriented for me. “Balance Of Power” has neither balance nor power, and I certainly don’t want to see the world “Through My Eyes”, because expressed this way, it all looks pretty dull, grey, and melancholic.

Among the better songs, we have the airy grower “Her White Dress”, even though it reminds me of an Evanescence ballad rather than a symphonic metal song. The three best songs are the playful folk ballad “Big Fish”, with its joyful flute sounds, the dreamy and warm single “November”, and the title track “Hallway Of Dreams”, which actually includes a few engaging guitar riffs that are otherwise almost completely absent on this record.

Despite a couple of good efforts, Kingfisher Sky delivers an album that could be played to a baby, and that doesn’t offer anything outstanding or unique. Fans of the aforementioned bands could give this release a try, but any other symphonic metal fan should skip the debut and try out the much better second effort Skin Of The Earth instead.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal