Reviews list for Negură Bunget - Măiestrit / Măiastru sfetnic (2010)

Another very overrated release from Negura Bunget which is thankfully a bit better than the "Vîrstele Pămîntului" release which coincided with this one. However it is still quite flawed in many of the same ways. This release is a re-recording of their 2000 album of the same title with a couple of extra acoustic tracks thrown in.  It features a more pure black metal sound with less of the folk metal influence apparent on their recent material. The song structures are extremely pieced together & never really allow the music to flow. I've noticed this a lot in black metal this year. It seems that there is very little attention put in to the transitions between riffs these days. The musicianship is also found to be fairly pedestrian at times. I certainly don't share the admiration for the drumming that some others have expressed. They are so far back in the mix that I find myself wondering whether they even exist at times. The vocals are also not done any favours by the mix either as they are off in the background for the most part. There are some very good moments when the band decide to give their mid-pace riffs some breathing space but these moments are quickly swallowed up by sudden transitions & I find that I there is probably not a single track that I like in it's entirety. In my opinion this is clearly the most overrated metal band on RYM at the moment.