Zăul Moş is the fourth album from folk/pagan black metallers Syn Ze Sase Tri and whilst it’s an all-round excellent listen, there’s a few elements that could be improved on.
The album gets off to a strong enough start, with tremendously powerful symphonic instrumental lines that add a tonne of atmosphere to the piece and flow well with the guitars. Additionally, the chanted and whispered vocals that are followed by the beautifully meaty harsh vocals are awesome – but then Syn Ze Sase Tri slaps an awful weedy prog wail in your face that will make you want to recoil. (Indeed, it nearly made me turn the music off and not bother progressing any further because it just sounded so horribly out of place, but since everything else was so awesome, it felt like I was cutting off my nose to spite my face.) Thankfully, that approach is used very sparingly on the album but nevertheless it does ruin an otherwise exceptional piece.
From the soaring symphonic melodies topped with powerful harsh vocals in Dîn Negru Gînd to later track Urzeala Ceriului which is a more in-your-face and heavy track, there’s a good mix of different styles and ideas to the music and makes for a more engaging listen rather than just having an album full of tracks that follow the same tried-and-tested formula.
All in all, Zăul Moş is a rather good listen that is definitely worth a closer glimpse – it’s just the occasional uncontrolled clean vocals that leave a little to be desired.
7/10
