Rating: 9.5/10
Release: 22 December 2017
Label: Independent

There are few records that in the second you press Play for the first time you fall in love with its sound and style, and in my case, Ethnix, the 4th full release from Sventoyar is one of those.
From the slow, soft intro as introducing the instruments, I felt attracted to such a wonderful sound. Once the full strength of this work begins in songs like ‘Коза’ (Goat) there is no turning back. The technique and quality of this work are remarkable and the voices are displayed in an excellent way to the ear- as a good example of this, we have ‘Сизых моих два голуба’ (My two doves are sharp). Impeccable folk work with a musicalization that stands out among other works of the genre.
Songs like ‘Жинка’ increases the energy with the powerful guitar and bass sounds – definitely one of my favorites and probably, a song easy to share with different metal audiences.
Following with this delight, we have ‘Во лузе’ (In the pocket) showing the level of the musicians’ talent and giving us a great song for headbanging. Keeping this in mind, we can feel the impressive guitars in ‘Салавейка’ and ‘Мать по сыну не тужа’ (Mother does not care for her son). Both are an excellent display of technique to listen over and over.
Folk instruments -I believe the Domra is one of them- are imperceptible in some cases, but when they are heard, they go along very well with the song. Very different from their role in ‘Выйду за ворота’ (I’ll go outside the gate) whose more folk sound along with the beautiful ‘Одверни, Боже’ finish this album from the Ukranian band Sventoyar, with a quality and interpretation worthy of praise.
Hoping everyone enjoys these tracks as much as I do there’s only one thing to say: give yourself the time to let this sound expose you some good folk metal.

Tracklist

1. Intro 01:41
2. Chornyy voron 04:54
3. Koza 03:32
4. Sama idu po kamenyu 03:35
5. Zhinka 04:12
6. Vo luze 03:41
7. Salaveyka 04:04
8. Mat’ po synu ne tuzha 04:45
9. Sizykh moikh dva goluba 03:13
10. Utitsa 06:23
11. Vyydu za vorota 04:03
12. Odverni, Bozhe 06:06