Arkona have certainly undergone a notable style change throughout the years. Originally a pure folk metal band, they now primarily play black metal with notable folk elements thrown in. Regardless, they’ve been around for over 20 years now, and while I wasn’t fully onboard with them at first, their 2018 album Khram really impressed me. Now, five years later, they return with Kob’. It’s always a challenge for bands to release a worthy followup to a smash hit, so has Arkona done it with this one?
It’s immediately apparent the same sonic palette from Khram is back on Kob’. This album feels more a continuation of the previous one than anything else, which is a good thing. Arkona have upped the use of synths here, and they work quite well, especially on standout tracks “Ugasaya” and “Razryvaya plot’ ot bezyskhodnosti bytiya”. Both of these tracks showcase this band’s talent for long-form song writing, with the latter incorporating some gorgeous piano in the beginning before eventually culminating in blackened fury to close out the last proper track on the album. That being said, while I do like this album, it feels almost a bit of a step down from the previous. The songs don’t stick quite as well, and there’s more incorporation of spoken word bits here that detract from the flow of the album as a whole. While this album may not be the follow up to their magnum opus I was hoping for, I think Arkona should continue to explore this blackened tinge to their folk metal in the future, because when it’s done correctly, not many bands can pull it off better than them.
