In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new albums that share a common theme.

This week’s edition of Second Circle features two bands made similar by their shared foundations in folk metal, yet the comparisons end there — one features progressive black metal rooted in archaic pagan folklore and the other an epic symphonic/melodic death metal take on the genre. Let’s descend to find out what Sur Austru and Wolfhorde have to offer us to close out the month of August.

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Datura Străhiarelor is the third album from Romania’s Sur Austru, formed out of the ashes of the legendary Negură Bunget after the tragic death of frontman Negru in 2017. Continuing that band’s legacy of progressive folk/black metal, Datura Străhiarelor is an eerie trek to the darkest depths of ancient Carpathian forest with a veritable pagan symphony of choirs, strings, and traditional horns complementing the metal instrumentation; topping off this expansive sound are infrequent but powerful moments of moonlit beauty in the form of mournful flute interludes. Telling an apocalyptic tale wherein magical beings from Romanian folklore break the seal between the fantastic and human worlds (resulting in the annihilation of mankind), the interplay between the folk and progressive elements really aids in feeling like a story is being told, not to mention the great vocal diversity on the album representing a cast of characters; raspy cleans, deep harsh vocals characteristic of many Eastern European pagan black metal bands, martial “hoo / hahs” on “Imparecherea”, and of course the expansive choirs.

There’s so much great stuff on this album I’d like to talk about which makes me wish I had given it a standalone review, so I’ll keep it more brief; the one-two punch of “Cele Rele” and and “Cele Bune” really exemplifies everything that makes this album unique. The former alternates between slow, crushing riffs and proggy odd-time breaks headlined by flute — truly the unsung hero of this entire album — and just when you think the song has concluded, there’s the outro that hits SO HARD every time I revisit. The latter track has more technical riffing, impeccably placed keyboard and guitar solos in its middle section, and even finds time for a staggeringly beautiful flute, chime, and atmospheric keys outro. The continuous forward momentum of “Stansura,” patient buildup of “Farmacarea,” and the Opeth-ian closer “Ispravirea” are also bigger highlights on an album full of them.

On top of being a great album in it’s own right, Datura Str​ă​hiarelor serves as a stark reminder that I’ve seriously neglected not just the earlier work of Sur Austru, but Negură Bunget (aside from OM) and Dordeduh as well; I’m not sure they’ll have “flute as a climactic instrument” moments like Datura, but no doubt these additional journeys to the Carpathians will also be worth the trek.

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Datura Str​ă​hiarelor will be available August 30 on Avantgarde Music. For more information on Sur Austru, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.

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Bloodmoon Symphonies was described in the promo material as folk/black/death metal; of course genres are all subjective, but as someone who prides himself on (over)using genre tags that’s definitely not what I’d use to describe this slab of modern melodic death metal with a healthy dose of symphonic and pseudo-power metal elements. Despite this false advertising, with an opening track titled “The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog” I can’t be too mad can I? As stated previously, Wolfhorde plays energetic melodic metal with backing symphonic elements that somehow (in the parlance of our times) is classified as folk metal, akin to bands like Wintersun or Nekrogoblikon. It’s not quite melodeath, power, or symphonic metal, so why not just label it “folk” in spite of no folk instrumentation actually appearing on the album? There’s a good amount of effort put into this album performance and production-wise, but all this genre-talk is to distract from the fact that I didn’t get too much out of this album.

What I will say about Bloodmoon Symphonies is that the guitars sound heavy as fuck (especially at the low end), with the accompanying keys creating a sound reminiscent of some of the beefier power metal out there nowadays. Tracks like “Forsaken Shrine” and “Kuoleman Mustat Siivet” genuinely surprised me with their reliance on very solid clean vocals, even if they ultimately take more of a “big chorus” approach that doesn’t do much for me with this type of heavy music. Instrumental “Anubis” and 9+ minute closer “Bloodmoon Symphonies” are a bit more adventurous in their songwriting choices, but don’t do much to save an almost 50-minute album performed in this style. At the time of writing Time II has yet to be unveiled to the world, so in case that album is as mediocre as I’m anticipating please give Wolfhorde a listen!

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Bloodmoon Symphonies will be available August 30 on Inverse Records. For more information on Wolfhorde, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.

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— Colin