Romowe Rikoito - "Undēina" [2014]

Artist: Romowe Rikoito

Title: Undēina

Genre: Neofolk

Country: East Prussia

Release date: 2014

Track List: 

1. Bewangiskas pintegas pagaūsenis
2. Rantawa
3. Kunnegsgarbs
4. Swentagrēiwa
5. Twānksta town
6. Āustrawīdja
7. Merūnas dwars
8. Merūnas meddjan
9. Skaītan
10. Dēinawas deināina
11. Undēinas dajā
12. Bewangiskas pintegas wangā

After almost a decade of silence, Romowe Rikoito have released a new full-length album in 2014.With one exception of "Twānksta town", all the lyrics on "Undēina" are in Old Prussian language (or, more precisely, in its reconstructed version - since there isn't much known about the original Prussian language, which went extinct around 300 years ago). Only a couple of songs on their previous albums used this language.

The concept of "Undēina" might be quite hard to get into for those listeners who are, like me, not too familiar with the history and mythology of the Baltic region - and not only because of the language barrier. Some info in English can be found here, hopefully it'll be helpful. As for the music, it's excellent and definitely better than what I've heard on earlier RR albums. "Undēina" is a quite lengthy release, but that's not a flaw at all.

Mirrors Of Mind - "По тонкой грани" [2011]

Artist: Mirrors Of Mind

Title: По тонкой грани

Genre: Gothic Synth, Electro

Country: Lithuania/Russia
Year: 2011

Track List:

1. Сиддхартха (пролог)
2. Дети оптимизма
3. Под покрывалом век
4. Стена
5. Искусственный отбор
6. В небо
7. По тонкой грани

Russian/Lithuanian electro-gothic trio with female vocals, formed in winter 2011. In my opinion, tracks #2 & #3 (especially the latter) are the best on the whole album. It actually strongly reminds me of some early 90's Russian pop music - mostly because of heavily reverberated vocals and danceable rhythms combined with depressive lyrics. (Contrary to popular belief, not all Russian pop music is equally disgusting - this one, for example, borders stylistically on industrial rock). Complex Numbers have used this kind of sound in some of their songs too.

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