VLTOR – Not Gold But Iron

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8.0

• Band:
  VLTOR
• Duration: 00:58:35
• Available from: 20/09/2024
• Label:

• Dusktone

Long-distance debut for this new, very interesting national reality in which former members of Frangar and HomSelvareg play: after the EP “Odi” released in 2019, with the new “Non Auro Sed Ferro” the band wants to underline the celebration of the past, of the Italian peninsula inhabited by its pagan peoples and one in particular who will become dominant: that of the Romans, fusing pagan black metal with the folk element in an unexpected and very personal way.
After a beautiful atmospheric intro, whose purpose is to hypnotically anchor the listener in order to drag him into the ancient world of bloody and genuine cults, of forests inhabited by divinities and warrior peoples, comes “Taurobolio”, which takes its name from the Roman rite in which a bull was sacrificed on the altars; the task of this song is precisely to 'sacrifice' itself at the opening of the album to fertilize the following songs, which seem to take their lifeblood from this first truly exciting chapter.
A clue that the paganism felt by the members of this band seems more than genuine is in the music of Vltor itself: it is not the classic black metal excessively spiced up by the folk current to the point of turning into popular festival music, in which all the ancestral and more intimately religious element is regularly swept away by cheerful rhythms of group dances; here the folk element is given only by percussion and wind instruments (mainly flutes, if we are not mistaken) and in this choice lies the goodness of this very fascinating album.
The production is perfect, balanced, with a convincing screaming by Flamen Martialis (who also takes care of the wind instruments and percussions) and never preponderant, the guitars are rough but also heavy and the rest can be heard clearly.
The first riff of the aforementioned “Taurobolio” could make you fear the umpteenth example in a somewhat Darkthrone style (but not those of the golden age …), instead Vltor press on the accelerator as soon as they can and throughout the album they play a linear, bare black metal at a good pace, but with good riffs to support it. Vestigian's work on the guitars is excellent, in fact, since the riffs he plays, although not transcendental, are inspired and create interesting textures. Yet, what characterizes this album and the style of the band itself is the use of unconventional instruments, at least in a certain type of extreme music.
For this reason, “Non Auro Sed Ferro” certainly has among its 'precursor fathers' that masterpiece entitled “Tuatha Na Gael” by the Irish Cruachan, released in 1995: in that album one of the first attempts was made to combine folk with raw black metal and the result was surprising, because the folk element did not distort the violent essence of black metal, it did not transform it into something folkloristic as would happen years later.
Many, many are the groups that have followed that stylistic path, and yet the use of wind instruments, certain archaic atmospheres and a mysterious patina bring the two releases closer despite the decades that separate them. There are obvious differences between the debut of the Irish band and our Italian combo, precisely in the different folk tradition of the countries of origin; so rest assured, you will not find anything Irish in “Non Auro Sed Ferro”. The songs all have their own history and a peculiarity, they have a not indifferent ancestral charge and paint ancient times with a few melodic brush strokes.
The wind instruments are dominant here and practically build most of the melodies of the release, a choice that will surely sound strange and disorienting to more than someone, but in reality the decision turns out to be a truly winning one as it was thought out and crafted with skill.
Another noteworthy piece is certainly “Haec Est Italia”, with a truly remarkable and majestic crescendo, or the ode to the divine in “Deus Silvarum”, where it is possible to immerse oneself in a hypothetical forest, and in the resulting mystical sensation. Even “Fons Perennis” and a couple of other chapters are shrouded in an arcane aura where one perceives that in the heart of the sacred forest something is about to happen, but one does not know what exactly.
The most appropriate reading while listening to this album could be the “De Origine Et Situ Germanorum” by the Latin historian Tacitus when he describes – unfortunately too briefly – the mysterious sacred rite of the Germanic people of the Semnoni.
It's been a while since the Italian pagan black metal scene has seen a release of this level: when you find performers so good at representing certain themes in music, the pagan feeling can only grow stronger.