Rating: 6.5/10
Release: 6 June 2023
Label: Independent

Amongst all Slavic folk/pagan metal bands worth being included in the genre’s history, the name Znich cannot be forgotten. It is 27 years they’ve been active in the scene, with 5 full-lengths, a bunch of EPs and solos and gigs amongst Belarus and Poland and many more countries, making this name a must-have for all people approaching the more Slavic part of folk metal. “Maci” is their sixth and latest album but I’d rather consider it a “long EP” as it doesn’t reach half an hour of duration, with an intro and its 7 tracks, and an average duration of 3 minutes and a half. With all this in mind, when I saw a new release from Znich available I was happy to pick it up for a review but honestly, the overall album did not live up to my expectations. So what is wrong with this work?

Znich is keeping their music very simple for their latest work, and the musical execution is what someone would expect from a typical piece of Slavic metal. Typical female vocals and bagpipes are the clear trademarks of a pagan metal act whereas the male harsh vocals of singer Ales Tabolich is not giving any particular mark to the more “Slavic” part of the band’s music but it is giving a sharp and violent tone to the music tending at times towards black metal, and this atmosphere is working well for such a musical theme. Unfortunately, the guitars are lacking a massive amount of ideas for the song and are just limited to the absolute minimum, following the melody note by note most of the time and nothing more. I can think of three or four good riffs throughout the whole album but the music is completely missing any solo. Focusing the attention on the more folky part of the music without any support of guitars is going to make your songs hardly memorable.

The band has not gained any support from labels since their fourth album back in 2011, releasing their works in limited copies. Still, I do not think this is decreasing the band’s success, especially seeing its activity in lives all over Eastern Europe. Overall I would consider this to be a missed opportunity for a group that certainly knows how to set up good albums as we were shown in the past.

Tracklist

1. Cmok 01:01
2. Maci 03:33
3. Na vajnočku 03:31
4. Jak soniejka zachodziła 03:19
5. Viedźma čaraŭnica 03:42
6. Šumić hudzie 04:27
7. Zamova 03:39
8. Voj sama sama 03:38