Review by Felix on April 1, 2025.

The Metal Archives list four bands under the name Arkona and to me, the Polish formation is the only relevant one. Not only relevant; with eight albums spanning almost 30 years, the guys are on a good way to become a living legend. Maybe the Polish scene marks the most powerful in Eastern Europe and Arkona is among the best formations from their country. This alone says a lot. “Konstelacja ludo” marks their fourth album. After this work, Arkona’s weapons fell silent for ten years, if we ignore a few split releases. This was a pity, but one thing is for sure, the album sounds more energetic than all albums of some competitors together.

After the atmospheric introduction of the opener, drilling guitars take the command and attack with full force. The raspy vocals overflow with malice and the rapidly pounding drums create a formidable hailstorm. Arkona invites us to their ode to icy landscapes and they do it in a way that allows no contradiction. The guitar lines of the opener are comparatively simple but definitely strong enough to catch the attention of any black metal maniac. Track number two even exacerbates the basic mood. “Gdzie bogowie są jak bracia i siostry…“ follows a very strict and totalitarian approach at the beginning, a doomy part pays tribute to Hellhammer and even a calm intermezzo does not let the listener out of its grip. Already these two tracks make one thing very clear. One can like Arkona’s music or not, but one cannot deny their total musical authenticity and personal integrity. Influences from early Emperor and old Darkthrone are combined with completely autonomous ideas and the result is – at least in its best moments – a dramatic orgy of violence, for example during the second half of „Gdzie bogowie…“, where keyboards accompany the guitar inferno and add a lot of haunting sounds. The first part of the album comes to an end with the unbelievably dense and extremely fast “Chłodne i dostojne są nasze oblicza…” (thanks to the guy who once invented the copy function!). To be honest, I am impressed because I did not expect such an ice-cold and mighty storm.

And what about the songs on positions four to six? Well, they build a monolithic unit with the first songs and pummel the audience with unbroken vehemence. Mastermind and sole composer Khorzon is not only responsible for guitar and bass. His contribution also includes the fervent nagging. It expresses the spirit of the genre and is put in the right place in the excellent mix. Without copying the Northern role models in technical terms, “Konstelacja lodu” spreads cold vibes and creates a feeling of being exposed to an inhospitable surrounding. With having said this, the mix sets the frame for each and every track to develop its full effect. This is the perfect complement to the arrangement of the tracks because Khorzon demonstrates his fine instinct to conceptualize songs with a perfect length, always mighty, never boring. That’s no matter of course in view of an average playtime of seven minutes per song. But here nearly everything fits. Therefore the album is on an equal footing with the glorious “Nocturnal Arkonian Hordes” and the incontrovertible proof that the band was in splendid form at the beginning of the 21st century.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10