Concrete Age is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary.
To mark the occasion, the band led by Ilia Morozov (vocals/guitar/folk instruments), accompanied by Boris Zahariev (guitar), Erick D Red (basse) and Alex Marvey (batterie), has announced the release of its tenth album, Awaken the Gods.
If you think the band has mellowed out based on the intro to Prey for Me, wait until you hear the barrage of devastating riffs, topped off by Ilia’s screams, which only allow us a “break” during the passages where the folk instruments come to the fore! Everything in this track calls for pure and simple unleashing, while Forbidden Ministry is slightly more measured, bringing a few touches of dissonance to a raw, jerky rhythm with catchy industrial touches, but the Caucasian roots come back to tinge them with a playful edge before letting Awaken the Gods offer us intoxicating overtone singing. The instrumental approach remains fairly groovy and catchy, borrowing from all its influences to create a fairly simple rhythm before the furious Cursed Reincarnation, where screams and frenzied riffs return to wreak havoc. The airy break creates a real contrast with the other parts of the song, while Mid-East Boogie embraces its festive tones and even infuses its rhythm, making this instrumental track one of the most accessible on the album before bringing back the saturated vocals on Warrior’s Anthem, which, although quite similar, is easily more aggressive. Some of the backing vocals are very motivating, heralding catchy choruses before the band speeds up again to make Where Storms Are Gathered its new anthem, perfectly balanced between all its elements, and even adding some new, slightly more piercing ones. The band follows up with Sorrows of the Flesh, where rage takes over the riffs, but also over its leads with a scathing solo before giving way to Boro Boro, a rather joyful cover of Iranian-Swedish singer Arash, which fits perfectly with the catchy heaviness, then with Simarik, which the band adapts from the composition of Turkish musician Tarkan, offering a new side of its universe to close the album.
Concrete Age is slowly making a name for itself on the international Folk Metal scene, incorporating groove, melodic death, and thrash into its compositions. Some of the tracks on Awaken the Gods are real bombshells, which I hope to hear live one day!
85/100