Review by Felix on January 20, 2024.

It was the last thing I expected to happen, but I bought an album full of folk music. Latvian folk music. Too bad that I forgot to gather information about this release before I ordered "Zobena Dziesma". The album has nothing in common with Skyforger's other full-lengths, because metallic elements are completely missing. People who like the more or less traditional songs of Korpiklaani may have an affinity for folkloric songs and therefore they might be able to like the melancholic tunes of "Zobena Dziesma" as well. But I don't think so. Perhaps fans of medieval music will find a new treasure when listening to this work, but once again, I don't think so.

Generally speaking, the polyphonic vocals are expressionless and the melodies sound, well, very Latvian. Yet the main shortcoming is that the flutes, the jaw harps, the acoustic guitars and all the other instruments, that the musicians use so carefully, do not generate any kind of atmosphere. No camp fire is kindled, no heroes ride through the dark forests and the sword - "Zobena Dziesma" means "Sword Song" - remains in the scabbard. The only atmospheric element is constituted by the great artwork.

The booklet tells us that Skyforger "are not a professional folk group". I am not surprised. Many parts of the album are free from any instrumentations. These sections sound terrible. I just hear bearded men - and, even worse, I see them before my inner eye - that mumble archaic wisdoms in a language I do not understand. The eleventh track also features female vocals and I must face the truth: the pits of hell are bottomless. Okay, I do not rule out that the songs create moments of magic, but only Latvian ears are able to realize this enchantment. "Migla, migla, rasa, rasa" takes the bun. Listen to its metallic version, released on "Thunderforge", and than compare it with the here presented design. Depth, power and expressiveness are gone. And it goes without saying that the clean production of "Zobena Dziesma" does not possess a grain of metal.

It is no crime to be a patriot, but this does not give you the license to declare war on clueless metalheads by releasing such an album. Five percent for the patriotic intention, five percent for the artwork and two percent for the music, but this is just because I am very generous today. Or, to be fair, this is because I have no doubt that the likable band has put heart and soul into this record. Nevertheless, it's a waste of time for ordinary, slightly narrow-minded metal freaks. Love your country, but please express your love in another way.

Rating: 1.2 out of 10

Review by Mladen on December 8, 2023.

Back in the day, and we're talking about a very distant, Pagan age, there were quite a few things we miss today. The bond with Nature was one. The facts that the length of the blade you were allowed to carry wasn't determined by law, and one horsepower was all you needed to look cool are some of the others. And Christians? Really, who were they? Some strange men speaking a strange language and trying to make you become one of them. All you had to know was what you parents told you about strangers: that you have to beware of them.

What we have today, but wasn't around back then, was distortion. Let's not discuss whether it's a good or a bad thing, but before the Gods invented the mighty Pedal many of today's noises weren't around anyway, so there was no need to fight them with a stronger weapon. Voices and a few non-digital instruments were all you had. All you needed, as well. Also, they were easy to carry into war.

Zobena Dziesma was originally released in 2003, as Skyforger's (acoustic) interpretation of the songs of their Latvian forefathers. Some of them are songs of war and mythology, folk songs that have been sung through generations, and are still enjoyed today. Some are re-worked songs from the three previous Skyforger albums.

Recorded with the support of Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, and featuring six guest musicians and vocalists, Zobena Dziesma is a coherent piece of work with no pretentiousness about it. Just fifteen concise, evocative, poignant and tremendously anthemic pieces of art sounding like... well, there's nothing to say about the sound, really. The recording is so great that it feels like the band is simultaneously right here and somewhere else, in a forest, by the campfire, near the battlefield, before or after war, anywhere under a clear, unpolluted sky between now and a thousand years ago.

My version of Zobena Dziesma comes re-released by Skyforger themselves, with two bonus tracks (originally there were thirteen). Once the listener gets used to the melodies, of which some are quite unusual and not associated with what one might hear in his own country, there is still a story and a feeling behind every one of them. The title track evokes a dance around the fire, slowly increasing in speed. "Perkons Brought the Bride" brings some ancient vocal harmonies you've never heard — but, once absorbed, be ready to start humming any of them when you least expect it.

The galloping feeling of "Ready to be a Warrior" shows how to create heaviness out of just voices, a stellar flute melody and something that sounds like a cello but probably has a weird Latvian name. It's probably useless to describe each and every song, the beauty and the eternity of every one of them — after all, they were remembered for so many years, and it's almost as if you can imagine generations of fathers teaching their sons how to sing and play them.

Out of the two new tracks, one is called "A Crested Bird Sings" and the local funeral band better start learning Latvian, to have it ready for me. The other one is a complete version of "Usins Rides Over the Hill," part of which you've heard in the intro to Thunderforge. Also, if you're into Skyforger, you've already heard "Oh Fog, oh Dew," and "Neighed the Battle Horses" — but you haven't heard them done like this.

Speaking of Usins, Perkons and a number of others, you can read the explanations of some Latvian deities and festivities in the booklet, as well as correct translations of all the songs to English. Reading those, Zobena Dziesma just gets better. Damn, while the "ethnic" songs in my country just go on about working in the field, getting laid and singing about how lovely their villages are and washing their laundry by the river, these people have battle horses and thunder gods — and when they ask Perkons where they can wash the cloak stained with their enemy's blood, he tells them that it'll be destroyed in the war, anyway.

You can't miss with this one. Anyone into genuine folk, ethnic or ambient music will thoroughly enjoy it, and a Skyforger fan who doesn't "get" Zobena Dziesma never understood what Skyforger was about in the first place.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10