siLLy puPPy Without a doubt, Negură Bunget was the greatest extreme metal from the Eastern European nation of Romania that has so far emerged from that mysterious land more associated with tales of Vampiric fables than black metal but that all changed when OM was released in 2006. A classic in the progressive metal universe, the band continued on until the untimely passing of band leader and main inspiration Gabriel Mafa aka Negru which pretty much meant the end of the road for the Negură clan.

Not willing to let a well-defined musical niche fade into oblivion, members Tibor Kati (vocals, guitar, keyboards, alphorn), Ovidiu Corodan (bass, vocals, percussion) and Petrică Ionuțescu (pan flute, pipes, horns) chose to keep the Negură Bunget legend alive only without tarnishing its legacy of cranking out new material without the founder but by creating a parallel band which resulted in SUR AUSTRU forming in 2018, the year after Negru’s exit from our Earthly realms. So far SUR AUSTRU has released two albums beginning with the 2019 debut “Meteahna timpurilor” and followed by this 2021 followup “Obârşie” which is the Romanian word for “descent.”

SUR AUSTRU does indeed continue the traditions of the Bungets by focusing on the very characteristics that set them apart from the rest of the world’s black metal scene, namely the presence of Romanian folk music complete with all the unusual instrumentation representative of the Carpathian mountain range that transverses the mother land. Woven into the the world of atmospheric Pagan black metal, SUR AUSTRU delivers an epic sounding journey into the world of mystical folklore in the Romanian language accompanied by sweeping atmospheric keyboard backdrops and bombastic black metal aggression much in the vein of its former connections.

This sophomore album features seven tracks that add up to about 56 minutes of playing time. Unlike the entire canon of Negură Bunget, SUR AUSTRU eschews the progressive metal attributes in favor of more tribal sounding rhythms based exclusively in the Romanian folk music repertoire with the black metal attributes adding the extra emphasis of contrast otherwise this could be considered a dark ambient / black metal hybrid with Pagan leaning subject matter. While Romanian folk music is as utterly addictive as any other music style developed across the centuries of musical experimentation across the world, it was the progressive accoutrements that really made Negură Bunget a major powerhouse on the world’s musical stage. Sadly SUR AUSTRU lacks that same impact.

There is an extra emphasis on the atmosphere on “Obârşie” which in many ways overshadows the rawness of the black metal. The keys are set up way too high in the mix while the chugging guitar riffs and angsty metal aspects are tamped down. This along with the lack of any true progressive meanderings into other musical styles, time signature deviations or avant-garde experimentalism give this release more of a one-dimensional feel than any Bunget release which ultimately leaves me unsatisfied as even the band’s later albums such as “Zău” retained the progressive leanings despite the uptick in dark folk and ambient emphasis. Overall i find this a decent experience but pales in comparison to the mighty parent band from which it spawned. Think of Negură Bunget as the Frank Zappa of Romanian black metal and SUR AUSTRU as the Dweezil followup.