Band:	Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy
Album:	Návaz
Style:	Folk doom metal
Release date:	January 17, 2011
A review by:	Susan

01. Mokoš / Earth Mother
02. Zlatohlav / Golden Head
03. Skryj Hlavu Do Dlaní / Hide Your Head Into Hands
04. Přísahám / Promise
05. Slava
06. Sudice / The Fate
07. Dva Stíny Mám / I Have Two Shadows
08. Pramen, Co Ví / Thinking Spring
09. Samodiva / Fay

Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy could write a textbook for other bands on how to evolve your music. There's a delicate balance between moving forward exploring new elements vs. just changing your style, and this band has found that balance. Put simply: Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy gets better with every release. Their latest album, Návaz, is a crowning step in the exciting evolution of a unique band.

Theirs is an enticing blend of folk and doom metal, heavily rooted in Moravian musical traditions. (Moravia is the region in central Europe between Bohemia and Slovakia, mostly located in the Czech Republic.) The atmosphere is as heavy and dark as any quality doom release, but the melodies, especially those driven by the cello, instantly transport you to a secret and secluded late-night Moravian folk dance. That cello is an important part of this band's intense musical landscape, and this time around it's paired with a violin that often flies overhead, calling us to follow. The vocals are smooth, subtle tones, seductive at times, which blend themselves easily with the other instruments. Over the years SSOGE has presented lyrics both in English and in Czech; today, with their increasing fame and growing international fan base they are brave enough to present this entire album in their mother tongue.

Last year Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy signed on with the Season Of Mist label and the collaboration seems to have been a perfect choice. It sounds like the label encouraged the band and polished their sound without compromising a single thing that makes the music great. Návaz is similar enough to Relic Dances, the calm and beautiful previous album, yet streamlined and refined in such a way that incorporates a more upbeat and mesmerizing tempo, as well as heavier moments. What I'm digging most is the overall energy level: Návaz has the energy of a hot debut with the expertise and compositional maturity of the 15-year-old band they are. With every spin of this album the music reveals new depths and new layers of its intensity.

I fell in love with SSOGE in the raw early days of Behind The Shadows and have enjoyed their evolution ever since. They've grown up - and Návaz is their coming out party.