Excellent effort by the Spanish Llvme with this work of pagan doom metal that is convincing throughout. The band was born in Salamanca in 2007 and made its long-distance debut three years later with Fogeira De Sueños, already effectively showcasing its own peculiar characteristics: the use of the Leonese dialect for the lyrics and the use of traditional instruments such as the bagpipes or the hurdy-gurdy, as well as the contribution of the violin, inserted in a death doom sound context . Operation, this , which succeeds perfectly to the Llvme (by the way, in Leonese means fire) with this Yía De Nuesu, which, net of a few instrumental tracks plus a “traditional” with female vocals, Vaquerida’l Baitse, presents a batch of songs of excellent sound and compositional quality, marked as mentioned by the perfect amalgam between the two musical souls that coexist on the disc. Here, in fact, the folk soul does not manifest itself in a cheerful Korpiklaani-esque version, nor does it end up being compressed into a black metal structure as with Finntroll, but draws sap, as it should, from the Mediterranean roots of the musicians. In this way, the proposal comes close, at least in attitude, to Negură Bunget, the band that, below Scandinavian latitudes, better than others has so far succeeded in offering extreme metal deeply immersed in the folk music tradition. The duo composed of Nandu, a multi-instrumentalist and author of the music, and Eric, who lends his rough vocals, contrary to the habits in vogue does not place an intro at the opening of the record, but a song, 1188 – 1230, that encompasses all its distinctive elements; the subsequent Helmántica is the most black-oriented track of the lot, while Vettonia proves to be one of the compositional peaks of the work, with a splendid bagpipe propelling the song in the opening parts. Conceyu is another little gem of gothic doom, close in sound to Nightfall, until a melancholic violin enters the scene to remind us of the band’s folk soul, and the same happens in Yía Fatu A Tierra, where the stringed instrument played by guest Marco Aurelio introduces another multifaceted track. A short instrumental precedes the album’s masterpiece, Purtiellu De La Llïaltá, where in the intro and coda the guitar rises to the forefront by sketching a poignant and epic melodic line; moreover, in this track, the contrast between Eric’s growl and Nandu’s bagpipes is much more effective than is normally the case with the now predictable juxtaposition of guttural and angelic voices. The evocative Llibación Nu Alborecer keeps the level of the work high, which wanes slightly with Miróbriga a good track but not the height of those that preceded it. The brief instrumental Fayéu De Sueños worthily closes an album in which Llvme fully succeeds in its intent to represent a multifaceted proposal, with a distinct personality and not at all imprisoned in the clichés of the genre, offering both admirers of pagan folk and those of death doom a product to savor in every step.

2012 – My Kingdom Music