OK, this is an odd, but intriguing one. ( and for clarification its Wood-Scream, not Woods-Cream) Hailing from Russia, with a few releases under their belt and playing folk metal and being female-fronted, I was hoping for some sort of epic eastern European folk romps akin to Dalriada or Grai. But instead, I got a sort of female-fronted goth/nu/ alternative metal album with female vocals and some occasionally folky keyboards and ethnic elements.

And it starts as bad as that sounds, as the opening title and second track track “Волчица” doing little to make any sort of impact other than a Russian sung female-fronted Naplam-y records, metal album with some sugary keyboards.

But there is a definite style shift ( I think the album is a mix of old and new material, based on my utterly perfect Russian reading skills). At around “Василиса” the band starts to inject more folky/ Russian instrumentation/keys into their stompy alternative/nu-metal sound, resulting is rather enjoyable, coming across a band like Taproot, Limp Bizkit, Evanescence or Soil with a Russian female singer, and a Zhaleika ( a Russian clarinet basically). I know, on paper that still sounds awful, but the track is actually a super fun, chunky, folky metal romp.

And many of the following songs follow suit, with the likes of “Водяной”, bouncy, flute (or Zhaleika ?) laden nu-metal mosh of “Русалка”, the catchy chorus of “Круговерть”, or radio-ready “Заложный”, (basically an Evanescence song with a Zhaleika). But then “Калинов мост” goes back to straight-up radio rock and “Прощание” is a generic ballad.

Valentina Tsyganova has an OK voice, not operatic or soprano, certainly a more commercial rock voice, and not great with the high notes. And, of course, I have no idea what she is singing about, but she compliments the strangely enjoyable mix of music that Woodscream somehow manages to deliver on Варево.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments