Good things come in threes for Sur Austru.
In 2024, the band composed of Tibor Kati (vocals/guitar/keyboards/bucium, Grimegod) and Ovidiu Corodan (bass/vocals/simandre, Grimegod) former members of Negura Bunget, as well as Mihai Florea (guitar/bucium, Grimegod), Ionut Cadariu (flute/keyboards), Calin Puticiu (percussion), Beni Ursulescu (drums/vocals, Katara) and Paul Marcu (percussion) unveil Datura Strahiarelor, their third album, on Avantgarde Music.
Nature settles in slowly with the introduction of Aratarea, but voices and mystical sounds soon return to disturb the quietude, intensifying and creating an atmosphere conducive to the arrival of the first saturated riffs. They continue on Stransura, the next track, while the massive growl and melancholic touches of keyboards and other traditional instruments create a kind of continuity with the previous track, but also of their own, allowing us only a few moments of floating. Black Metal roots are most noticeable towards the end, before Salba Hiara offers us an interlude led by a thunderstorm and a few words in Romanian that carry us through to Cele Rele, where they are once again replaced by more majestic tones and saturated vocals. Flutes fuel the ritualistic intoxicating aspect of the band’s heavy violence, which strangely soothes us and takes our spirits on a journey by the time we reach Cele Bune, which gives its keyboards a more prominent place, coupling riffs with spiritual touches. Percussion and traditional sounds are perfectly integrated into the ferocious rhythm, giving it a lighter aura and finally traveling alone to the end of the track, which leads into Farmacarea, where we are greeted by a rather obscure quietude. Heaviness invites itself to our walk in nature, and we discover an almost esoteric atmosphere made up of chants, choruses and misty riffs that progress until they intensify on the final, cut then explode again with Afurisirea, the next composition. The surge calms slightly, only to darken again, alternating between almost occult passages, new eruptions of fury and moments of intensity guided by folk influences, before the band allows us to catch our breath with the gentle introduction to Imparecherea, followed by its heavy approach. The numerous choirs and percussion make this track quite menacing, but there are also some calmer leads before we reach the Prog tones of Ispravirea, the last and longest of these new compositions, which lets us drift between all the nuances the musicians are capable of creating, from the most violent and visceral to the most natural, via these ritualistic points to close the album.
Sur Austru has once again pulled off a masterpiece, creating an album of unique intensity. Datura Strahiarelor bewitches us from the very first notes, leading us into the darkest, yet most soothing corners of Romanian folklore.
95/100
