Another sweet surprise for me: receiving a promo from Russian's own Arkona. I knew the band before, but this is the first time I actually have a chance to listen a full album from them, and what a pleasant experience it was!

One very special point about Arkona is the fact that it is a female-fronted band. But, that's not all! Not only is she the singer, but the actual heart and soul of this band, since she composes words and music. To top it all off, Maria "Masha Scream" possesses quite a vocal range. She is as comfortable with clean vocals and choirs as with screams and rasps, all of which are quite impressive, if you ask me. Slavic Folksy Pagan Metal is how one could define their music. The results of brilliant songwriting are what has been recorded on this epic opus. Ot Serdca k Nebu means "From the Heart to the Sky", and is filled with wonderful pagan hymns. The folkloric elements and melodies are present in every single track, not just as intros or outros type of thing. Different folkloric instruments were used to create nice pagan scenery including acoustic guitars, mouth harps, flute, accordion, bagpipes, percussions, mandolin as well as traditional Slavic ones. A good dose of furiousness is also taking place with faster paces and distorted guitars, the extreme and darkest side of Arkona's spectrum. This is where Maria is as convincing as any male counterpart.

I can only mention good points about those 14 superb compositions, but I do have a weak spot for the following: "Pokrovy Nebesnogo Startsa", "Slava Kupala!!!", "Nad Propastiv Let", "Katitsia Kolo" and the title track. An excellent Folk/Pagan Metal release, no doubt whatsoever!