Album Review: Evoking Winds - Towards Homestead (2021)

 

Picture Credit: Evoking Winds

Evoking Winds – Towards Homestead
Release Date: August 10, 2021
Label: selfrelease
Format: Digital
Length: 30:21
Genre: Pagan Metal / Folk Metal
Origin: Minsk, Belarus

The band Evoking Winds was originally founded in Belarusian capital Minsk in 2008. Original members are Ivan Sereda and Artyom Prishchepov. The two friends started Evoking Winds as a duo writing and performing music they liked. Following their passion, Evoking Winds step by step became a proper band as further members joined Prishchepov and Sereda. Soon, Yaroslav Korotkin joined as bass player and vocalist, Sergey Shulzhenko took responsibility of keyboards and orchestration for Evoking Winds. With guitar player Dmitry Sarchau and vocalist Alexander Cherepanov, what was once a little project has then become a quintet that produced sounds cold as arctic winds, filled with the harmony of Northern folklore, and driven by the sheer force of a collapsing iceberg.



As the years went by, the five members of Evoking Winds all went their own ways. Today, Sereda, Prishchepov, Cherepanov, Sarchau, and Shulzhenko live in the Russian Federation, in the People’s Republic of China, in the United States of America, and in Belarus. Despite the geographic isolation, two things have not changed. Firstly, the bonds of friendship have not been teared apart by the distance, and thus the five still stay in contact. And secondly, their love for music has not stopped a bit. Therefore, Evoking Winds still exist as a band collaborating online. Recently, they decided to publish remixed versions of their original material and making it available for everyone. The revised material of the album “Towards Homestead” is now available for free on Spotify, Yandex, YouTube, and Bandcamp. The latter platform also allows the listeners to download the whole album including the artwork. The remixed album also features James Knoerl who was responsible for programming and for the recording of the drums. Hence, the story of Evoking Winds is being retold, and hereby starts with its first chapter: “Towards Homestead”.



Music-wise, Evoking Winds play a dark and massive mix of Pagan Metal, Folk Metal, and a certain impact by Black Metal. Folklorist melodies and atmospheric soundscapes clash with brachial Black Metal attacks and create sonic cold. This is the sound of the merciless North. “Towards Homestead” is the soundtrack of ships struggling through high tides of the Baltic Sea, of hailstorms clashing against barren rocks, and of the beauty of the Northern Lights. Evoking Winds are a hot tip for fans of Northern Folk Metal and Pagan Metal acts such as Moonsorrow, early Finntroll, No Man’s Land, or Koorpiklaani. Different to many Scandinavian, and especially Finnish bands, Evoking Winds do not mix their Folk Metal with 2/4 Humppa beats, and instead increase the metallic influence which makes their music a lot harsher.

Content from the MangoReviews will always stay in the MangoRotation playlist for 14 days.

Evoking Winds Online:
Bandcamp
Yandex
YouTube
Spotify

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