Retra - Retra (2009/2012)

Cover of the CD version

Retra, alternatively Rethra or Radogoszcz, was an important Slavic temple city on the Baltic sea-coast, near the Elbe (or Labe) river in the middle-ages, destroyed by German crusaders in 1068 and undiscovered to this day. Retra is also the name of this Polish band/project and their first album, released originally 2009 on CD by Eastside and as a limited (320 copies) cassette version, the item at hand, in 2012 by Werewolf Promotion. Dedicated to the Polabian (west) Slavs, one of the lyrics (Wieleci = Veleti) is based upon written sources regarding them. Another, the self-titled Retra (Radogoszcz) is based on Thietmar's description of the temple city. As all lyrics are written in Polish which is not among the languages I've mastered there's little further to say about them.

Retra consists of two men, Tomasz doing vocals, guitar and keyboards, also known from Kalot Enbolot, Moriturus and Vexation and Trivialis handling vocals, bass and drums, his other projects including Nów, Majestat and formerly Grom and Fornostem.

Cassette cover.

The album has six tracks for a total length of 43 minutes, which means most are quite lenghty, the first track, a shorter instrumental, serving as an intro. This solution works, it draws you in nicely with a slower paced, melancholic approach which is infinitely better than some really tired intro consisting of warfare samples from a film or the like. The first "proper" tracks kicks off right away with dual chanted clean vocals and I admit it, after having heard Nów first I thought is it going to be the same thing all over again? Well fortunately it's different enough with the two vocalists sounding both individual and using both snarled black metal vocals as well as the cleanish singing with variations like the Bathory-like choirs on the third track. Another thing is that the riffing is quite catchy and the songs' length allow them to develop and progress, with differing parts such as atmospheric breaks included. The tempo remains mostly slow to midpaced which suits the epic nature of the music well. I'd compare this foremost to viking era (both) Bathory. Some of the atmospheric guitar bits and actually parts of the riffing too remind me of Immortal when they go wandering the mountains of Blashyrkh instead of storming through red clouds and holocaust winds. Proficient musicianship and a good studio sound with a fitting guitar tone complete the picture.

In the end of the day, this is a great album if you enjoy epic heathen metal. No aggression or very warlike moods here either, this is a melancholic affair, a monument reminiscing a lost people and a lost era. I can't really point just one thing that makes this so much better than the Nów album I reviewed last time as the basic elements are similar. Everything just flows so much better here and it feels complete. However I recommend you check this out, try Eastside for the CD version and either Werewolf Promotion or Trivialis himself for the tape version.