Aj necemo o muzici, to nema svrhe, ali moralno - apsolutno
edit: self promotion
MAIESTRIT
NEGURA BUNGET
Lupus Lounge CD
For those of you who have been living under a rock in the last few months, it should be said at the very beginning that „Maiestrit“ is the last fruit of collaboration of „classic“ Negura Bunget line up (so to say). Just when they have reached the heights of popularity with magnificent „Om“ (released way back in 2006.), Negura announced that they have split up, but soon thereafter drummer Negru gathered the new crew and decided to continue under the old monicker. That decision was met with the scorn of the other two old members Hupogrammos and Sol Faun who have founded the new unit called Dordeduh. We all have yet to hear the new stuff from both sides as „Maiestrit“ is not the new release of Negura Bunget in the true sense of the word – it is re-recording of their „Maiastru Sfetnic“ full length, which was originally unleashed in 2000. by Romanian label Bestial Records. The idea of recreating this piece of history was incepted before the break up and the initial work (drums and guitars) has started in 2007. but Sol Faun and Hupogrammos finished everything else in the summer of 2009. Now that we got this complicated history of „Maiestrit“ all sorted out, we shall go further on with this scribble... I must say that my homeland Serbia was one of the first lands that have accepted Negura’s unique brand of black spirituality; if I remember well, thay have had concerts around here way back in 2000. I have seen them live for the first time in 2003. in Belgrade if I am correct (I still have the flyer of that gig lying around, but I simply cannot find it right now), and on that occasion I have bought all their releases on tape format (save the tapes!); so I feel a little bit nostalgic about the original „Maiastru Sfetnik“, but I will try to judge this new offering the best I can... Obviously, the sound is vastly improved and the instruments got more space and differentiation between them so everything is much cleaner. You will not have to try hard to distinguish one instrument from another, as it was the case with the first version . The drums are louder in the mix and more comprehensable, it should be said that Negru improved his drumming skills over the time very much as he wasn't so sure in his playing skills in the early days of the band. And also the vocals are not buried in the mix but instead they are up front. I must say that I haven’t noticed some drastic changes in the songs’ arrangements, only some guitar parts and vocal patterns are a bit adjusted but nothing drastical. Keys have the lions’ share of creating the atmosphere (as first time around) and the new sound did them much justice. „Maiastru Sfetnik“ took some advantage from its murky sound to create very obscure aura, while „Maiestrit“ is much more precise but the power of the songs will embrace your soul nevertheless, and that is the proof of the album’s strength. „Maiestrit“ is nicely rounded up with 2 bonus tracks, acoustic renditions of „A-vint in Abis“ and „Plecaciunea Mortii“, which are a treat for themselves. Solely composed by Sol Faun and Hupogrammos, the songs were given the new dark life. The main roles are played by drums, keyboards, clean gutars (electric from time to time) and bass, which must be mentioned separately as one can hear very rich bass lines – a thing for compliment for sure. So what you get here is not some shitty live / demo bonus track-ripoffs but instead true reinterpretations of Negura sound which wil excite everyone into their ambient side. All in all, I think that you have realised by now that „Maiestrit“ is very carefully done re-building of „Maiastru Sfetnic“, where the guys paid a lot of attention on every detail but trying to keep the original aura of the initial creation as close as possible. It is up to everyone individually how they will accept „Maiestrit“, but I feel that it is totally recommended to Negura fans. I for one will always stay attached to „Maiastru Sfetnic“ forest-friendly foggy sound but sure as hell I had some very good time with „Maiestrit“ and see myself listening to it often in the future.