Mongol - The Altan Urug (2012) - Mongolian history and German samples from Canada - 74% (10/10/12)

The young Canadian band Mongol delivers us a quite mixed bag on their debut release “The Altan Urug”.

First of all, we have many amazing folk elements in the songs. The banjo play for example is very well employed in a couple of songs and not an instrument that is overused in the genre. The opening of the closing “Warrior’s voyage” is such a positive example. The accordion is not too dominant which is a rather positive fact as many bands simply overuse it and take its charm. These young Canadians rather use it in little doses but in a very efficient way. The mandolin has some more play time in several songs and is an enjoyable alternative to acoustic guitars.

Another good aspect is the film samples that give some pieces an interesting narrative touch and conceptual approach as in a radio play. I don’t really understand why exactly German samples are used in the atmospheric opener “Das Ziel” and also in the lyrics of the second song and much heavier “Kriegesmarsch” even though they are taken from a movie about Mongolian history but these strange samples give the album indeed a quite exotic touch. As a native German speaker I was quite surprised by these samples and my confusion was soon replaced by an honest but mildly amused smile.

Let’s say that these newcomers make a lot of things right to sound different from the high numbers of young folk metal bands out there in the world by using a few more exotic instruments and unusual samples. On the other side, there are also some weaker parts. First of all, the guitar sound is too loud and often hides a few interesting melodies of the folk instruments that play on in the background. Nevertheless, there are a few well done melodic death metal riffs here and there on the album but no truly gripping passage.

The keyboards could also be used in a more atmospheric way and are a little bit overused at times even though they have a certain male charm in the opening of the quite original “Eekum Bokum”.

The worst aspect is though the quite boring death metal vocals that sound way too ordinary for such a promising and otherwise quite original band. Clean or at least more variable extreme metal vocals would give the songs more authenticity and depth. The intriguing image of Mongolian culture and history is somewhat reduced to the image of a horde of aggressive barbarians with these simplistic vocals even though I got used to it after a couple of spins.

In the end, there are still more intriguing than negative aspects about this band. With a better production and an even better focus on the exotic folk instruments and a better vocalist, these guys could stand out among the high amount of Folk Metal bands from the underground. Anybody who wants to give these five young musicians from Devon, Alberta a try can do so and listen to the entire release on their Bandcamp site under the following address: http://mongolcanada.bandcamp.com/