"Rock of the East" is how Slovenian band Avven themselves call their music. They formed almost a decade ago, in 2003, and released their debut 'Panta Rhei' in 2006. It took quite a while for them to get their sophomore full length album 'Kastalija' out. How did this septet manage to do with this, then?

Avven perform folk music with rock and metal ways, so their range on this album is rather wide, but not overwhelming for listener. One thing that band seemingly can do very well is noteworthy songwriting, meaning their music is usually very, very catchy. The band go from epic heavy metal ('Tornach') to pure folk music ('Nuala'), from Spanish music ('sPain') to gypsy vibes ('Ibo'), and from Peruvian elements ('Vvile') to pirate spirit ('Tarak'). As I mentioned, there are a lot of styles presented here! However, the compositions aren't just catchy, they are working well too. The basis of songs are quite simplistic, but there are a huge amount of varying details in every single song. It's fun to discover something perfect in a song, and it only happens once in it! Talk about elegance.

Together with typical rock/metal instruments, there are pipes, whistles, flute, accordion, trumpet, violin, cello, piano, and other percussion. Everything isn't used all the time, of course. The production magnificently lets every instrument and voice be heard. The soundscape can be called as rich and bountiful, but also multilayered, and never messy. The sound isn't very heavy in metal way, but still this packs some good punch.

Vocals are, not surprisingly, varying. Male voice is clean, a bit to "Eurovision", but still appropriate. All but one guy provide backing vocals, which range to a tad more rougher territories. Female voice is some kind of a classical style, which I'm not going to guess here... Choirs are utilized when suitable, and are spot-on. The lyrics are all in Slovenian language. I could not get any translation for the title of the album, and just one, 'Zmaji', which means vixen or dragon. Anyways, Slovenian language sounds nice, so that's enough for me. There are some lines in English, too.

Avven offer a nice flux to typical folk metal styles, so if you're looking for something different, then you shouldn't go wrong with 'Kastalija'. It's just so catchy, filled with good vibes, and simply put: It rocks!

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
08/16/2012 19:31