POARTă DE DINCOLO

When one thinks of Romanian metal, most people usually think of Negură Bunget. Though I've never heard much of the band, besides some videos here and there, they have seemed to make huge waves in the black metal scene. After releasing the full length 'Măiestrit' only last year, they have come back with yet another release, and though this definitely isn't there best work, it is still a pretty awesome EP.

Going into listening to this album I expected to find myself not knowing what to give it after a few listens, as with most black metal. But, to my surprise this one jumped out to me right from the start. Though their lineup has changed dramatically over the years, they still sound almost the same, at least from what I have heard of their earlier stuff. 'Poartă de Dincolo' starts out with a nice slow paced track in 'Hotar'. This song features some nice clean vocals by Ageru Păm'ntului, and also some cool black metal growls. Black metal growls are a lot higher pitched then regular growls, and that tends to upset some people's ears, but I've grown to like them a lot. This song is full of high and low points, especially near the end when the growls slowly crescendo up to a great guitar melody. The keyboards on this song, and on the whole album, are played expertly by Gădineţ, and that really enhances the bands sound, especially during the atmospheric sections.

My favorite part of black metal is the atmospheric break down sections. Negură Bunget is great at implementing these sections, and they greatly add to the overall feel of the album. 'La Marginea Lumii' and 'Frig in Oase' both feature these great drawn out sections, but they add their own touch. With added instruments that include xylophones, kavals, rulas, pan flutes, and tulnics the atmospheric sections are definitely the best part of this EP. Even though I have no idea what a kaval or a tulnic is, they sound really cool, so I'm definitely glad Negură Bunget included them.

The production on this EP is absolutely perfect, and the deep, dark almost creepy sections of it really stand out. What's great about black metal is that bands usually go out of tune on purpose to create a darker, creepier sound, and the production is so good on this that when they do it, it doesn't sound horrid at all, but quite fine.

Four songs and 28 minutes after listening to this wonderful EP, the listener will definitely be deeply entranced in 'Poartă de Dincolo'. With great instrumental and atmospheric sections combined with nice heavy black metal, Negură Bunget has definitely released yet another quality album. This EP easily deserves 4 stars, and leaves me wanting another release quite soon.