Rating: 9.5/10
Release: 14 April 2023
Label: Dangus

The Lithuanian band Ūkanose, born in 2012, released after a long time an album that collected nine songs that the band often performed live, but that had never been put on a record. The concept of the band was born after a conversation between the members on history, Lithuanian folklore and mythology while they were drinking beer. Thy say they wanted to do a remake of some Lithuanian folk songs in a folk metal key.

On the cover of this album there is the face of an old man, with the appearance of a god, with his gaze lost in the void, on which beard there are warriors fighting in battle all completed by a blue (main tone of the cover in all of its shades, with a splash of white) background with a pagan/viking symbol behind the face of the old man.

In this album there are nine songs in full Ūkanose style. Among these tracks there are a few that stands out, even if they are all good “1236”, a song more electric than the others, in which the flute incursions are well calibrated within the song and where all the solos are very beautiful; “Iš prūsų žemės” where you can hear a cadenced chant, helped by the instrumental part and the wind instruments and the drums; “Samagonas” where there is a really impressive horn section, a faster singing than the rest of the nine tracks and a really spectacular drums, as well as the guitar section; “Leliumoj” a song that becomes almost acoustic after a start with electric instruments, but with an instrumental not very invasive on the sung part; “Plėšikėliai” finally it is a perfect song, well balanced, that closes the record making the listener dance with the flute that vaguely reminds Arkona’s “Yarilo”. A special mention goes to “Apynelis”, which looks a lot like a tavern song, in a good sense and is a song with which you can both mosh and dance, with a beautiful soft vocal section, as well as the instrumental part. The flute appears as a fundamental instrument in this album, the voices are always in clean and always well alternated and balanced on the record. The other instruments are always well calibrated and never sound out of place, making the record perfect from every point of view.  

In conclusion this album is in full rule one of the best produced by the Lithuanian band, which prove to be able to always churn out masterpieces, with a sound that presents a very high level from the point of view of both composition and performance.

Tracklist

1. Liūdna liūdna 04:48
2. Ten už marių 07:01
3. 1236 04:54
4. Jievaru žydėsiu 05:17
5. Iš prūsų žemės 06:33
6. Apynėlis 04:00
7. Samagonas 03:39
8. Leliumoj 04:40
9. Plėšikėliai 03:38