The Industrial Twilight: Baradj - "Nardughan" [2012]

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Baradj - "Nardughan" [2012]

Artist: Baradj

Title: Nardughan

Genre: Folk/Pagan Metal

Country: Russia (Tatarstan)
Year: 2012

Track List:

Suz Bashi
Nardughan
Khiyal: Shefeg Jile
Sumbul-Nauruz
Dala Iyase
Khiyal: Dever Sulyshy
Irek
Kachkyn
Khiyal: Lale Chechek
Lale Chechek
Khiyal: Bure Sheulese
Ashina
Harkemnen
Khiyal: Qunaqchyllyg
Qurai
Bars

Unlike most bands from the "exotic" countries that I've posted here before, this band comes from a city that's only 400 km away from me (Kazan). Yet they're pretty unique; at least I don't know any other metal bands with lyrics in Tatar language. Not to offend anyone, but all Turkic languages (not only Tatar) sound like some incomprehensible babble to me when I hear them spoken on the streets; however, this album shows that the very same language could sound quite beautiful when used in songs. As for the music, it isn't quite your typical pagan metal: Baradj have released several post-rock EPs prior to this LP, and this one has a certain post-rock/metal touch as well. The vocals are dual (male and female), but mostly female (like in case with Infinite Tales, especially taking in consideration that "Nardughan" has some elements of MDM as well). To give you an example, here's one of the best songs from "Nardughan":

The whole discography of Baradj is officially available for free, so if you liked this album, feel free to check out their earlier releases as well - but keep in mind that their instrumental post-rock EPs and singles doesn't sound much like "Nardughan". Their first demo "Altynchen" is worth listening to as well, even though the quality of production isn't very good and the lyrics are mostly in Russian. I'd describe it as less heavy and more melancholic than this album.

Hope I'd be able to visit Kazan this summer, and maybe even see Baradj playing live. By the way, happy Nauruz-bayram to all Tatars who might be reading this post (I know for sure that at least one half-Tatar will read it ;)).

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About this blog

I created this blog mostly because I wanted to practise my English skills, and to showcase the industrial, gothic, punk, metal, neofolk and progressive rock scene of Russia/ex-USSR and Eastern Europe (especially Hungary) in the meanwhile.

As you can see, this blog doesn't take itself seriously enough, but I hope I'm doing good enough with my reviews even if my proficiency in English is limited. Along with the aforementioned stuff from Eastern Europe, I occasionally post some classic and rare albums that aren't to be missed, and generally whatever I want. Other categories of note:

* finno-ugric rarities - various music (including pop) in minor Finno-Ugric languages which I'm interested in because of my heritage. The music from Hungary, Finland and Estonia can be found under the respective categories;

* lo-fi - various poorly recorded demos from before 2000 that are of historical importance. Most of these demos come from the USSR era, so you might want to check out the USSR category as well.

As of now, I try to post only music that has already been made free by the artists themselves, or the rare old releases that are out of print. But if you're an artist and would like me to remove the download links of your work, just contact me using the form below.

Sorry, I don't do reviews by request, I don't have the time. Moreover, I think the bands that feel the need to advertise themselves by sending their demos to as many blogs as possible are usually just plain boring. If you want to contact me for any other reason, use the contact form below.

It should be obvious enough that reviewing anything on here doesn't equals endorsement of artists' personal views. This especially concerns neofolk and martial industrial. It'd be fair enough to say that I have the same approach to the political and religious topics in these genres as Laibach do.

Many of the female musicians featured on my blog are amateur models, and in many cases their modelling work is no less interesting than their music. Right now I'm working on giving it a separate section of the blog (just in case if anyone wants my review to be only about their music and not their looks). The work is in progress, check back later if you're interested.

The title of my blog comes from a song by The Kovenant (album "SETI", 2003).