For a long time, I had a stock answer when people asked what kind of music I write about: "Everything from folk to death metal." Now that folk death metal is a thing (I've lost track of how many bands from the former Soviet Union and nearby countries play something that can only be described as "folk death metal"), I just give people my website address. Anyway, these guys from Belarus are more folk black metal than folk death metal, but at some point there's way too much quibbling about genre labels.

Evoking Winds Towards Homestead (self-released)

Evoking Winds uses plenty of acoustic elements, but its real success comes from merging the proggier side of death metal and black metal's sheets of doom. The vocals are somewhat discernible, and these songs are constructed in a grand, epochal style.

Oh, and the sound has just enough lushness to find a soul within the madness. If you're a purist (especially a metal purist), a lot of what's going on here must sound terribly wrong. But it's precisely those disparate elements and styles that create the spectacular sense of wonder that permeates this album.

Imagine a pre-Wildhoney Tiamat fully embracing both black metal and acoustic folk sounds. Not many folks can handle the difficult balance required, but Evoking Winds makes it sound effortless. Now here's the kicker: This album came out in 2008. Apparently it wasn't appreciated as it should have been, but the band soldiered on. Many, many lifetimes later, all of the band's output is being remastered and offered up for free (Bandcamp is a good place to grab your share). This is the first installment. I can't wait to hear the rest.

Jon Worley