NEGURĂ BUNGET
Zău LUPUS LOUNGE/PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS
Transcendental Transylvanians offer a haunting farewell
A 27-YEAR LEGACY
culminates with the release of an album that might not have been. Zău, the third instalment of Negur˘ăa
Bunget’s Transylvanian
Trilogy (their ninth studio album overall) was completed by the band in the wake of co-founding member, drummer and conceptual visionary Gabriel ‘Negru’ Mafa’s untimely death at the age of 42 in 2017.
Zău was already in the process of being written, Negru having recorded the majority of his drum tracks, leaving the remaining members, vocalist Tibor Kati, guitarist/ keyboardist Adrian ‘OQ’ Neagoe and folk instrumentalist Petric˘ăaă Ionueă scu to respectfully fill in the blanks.
The result is an album laden with even more spiritual portent than their alchemical blend of Romanian mythos, folk music and black metal has always instilled, the final part of a tribute to the ancient, forested bowers of their homeland as much as it is a farewell to its creator. More bombastic than predecessor, Zi, the five tracks exert swathes of uplifting, powerful symphony, making 16-minute-long opener Brad a graceful force to be reckoned with, as an ethereal quality is lent to the track by guest vocalist Manuela Marchi.ă Iarba Fiarelor
follows, the use of a nai (folk flute) creating a freespirited, fairytale-esque quality that makes the oncoming sonic wall even more towering when it eventually overshadows.
Tinerețe Fără Bărânețe is brazenly bombastic, its keening atmospherics enveloping a bounding riff that explodes in a flurry of blasts before proving hypnotic at the apex. Toacă Din Cer makes for a grand finale, the earthy clack of wooden percussion a precursor to grandstanding riffing under soaring atmospheres, a fitting end to a band whose legacy will live long in black metal circles. Zău is rife with the spirit of its creative mastermind, a eulogy to his vision and a final love letter to the mist-enshrouded forests that so inspired him.
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FOR FANS OF: Drudkh, Fen, Panopticon