Artist: Arkona
Title: Khram
Label: Napalm Records
Cat #: NPR763DP
Release Year: 2018
Duration: Album
Format: CD
Packaging Type: Digipak

A black-soaked pagan metal masterpiece!

The Russian word Khram means nothing other than "temple" - and is also the title of the eighth Arkona album. A natural mystical temple that is open to all of us and slumbers behind the treetops at night. The seriousness and depth that connects the six-person band is not only revealed in the detailed cover artwork by the legendary collective "Rotten Fantom", but also in frontwoman Masha's lyrics written in blood, which were also incorporated into the artwork. While sound samples were still used in Arkona's early days, today they record cellos, wind instruments, wooden flutes and throat singing in painstaking detail, which unfold their hypnotic effect together with harsh metal on urgent numbers like 'Shtorm'. The often overly long pieces effortlessly switch from blackened pagan metal to sublime epic, reflected in crystal-clear melodies and piano sprinkles. With Khram, Arkona has succeeded in creating an exuberant and demanding work that wants to be uncovered layer by layer and defies its genre boundaries with an indomitable spirit!

Recommended if you like: Eluveitie, Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Falkenbach, Cruachan, Turisasm Trollfest, Heidevolk, Svatsot, Thyrfing, Skyforger, Falkenbach

Track Listing:
1. Mantra (Intro)
2. Shtorm
3. Tseluya zhizn'
4. Rebionok bez imeni
5. Khram
6. V pogonie za beloj ten'yu
7. V ladonyah bogov
8. Volchitsa
9. Mantra (Outro)