Malokarpatan – ‘Krupinské Ohne’ [Album Review]

The 1980s birthed a rich (if troubling) tradition of machismo-laced, testosterone-fueled metal music spearheaded by the likes of Manowar: oiled, muscular brutes straight from a Frazetta painting, hammering out loud, powerful anthems to war, glory and mythology. Fast forward thirty-odd years, and Bratislava, Slovakia’s Malokarpartan are here to deliver an unanticipated response to this age-old call to arms…

Yes, their focus may lend itself more to witchcraft and folklore than Norse mythology; yes, their garb may be more sensible than furry loincloths; and yes, the music they produce shares little more than instrumentation with that of the founding fathers of power metal – but the instrumental passages on Krupinské Ohne so faithfully recall De Laurentiis fantasy epics of the 1980s that I cannot help but make the association.

This only represents the softer side of Malokarpatan, though – the rest is a grizzled hybrid of blackened thrash bordering on black-n-roll that carries with it equal parts nihilism and nostalgia. If Aura Noir dropped their tempos, if Korpiklaani had less drunken fun while making music and if Immortal got lost in a forest and survived by eating squirrels, you would achieve a sound comparable to Malokarpatan. Factor in some hugely unexpected shifts in pace and atmosphere, and you get Krupinksé Ohne. A strange, yet unique production of five long, shifting songs (the shortest clocks in at a hair under seven minutes) that despite its peculiarities still hits the right chords.

The best term I can think of to describe this album is ‘mature’ – not only in terms of its accomplished creation and delivery but also in terms of the audience to which it will most likely appeal. Malokarpatan’s nod to the past – NWOBHM, Master’s Hammer and Motörhead moments abound – may pass over the heads of younger audiences and the frankly unsettling mix of folkloric instrumentation, orchestrations and lo-fi metal may be too layered for the attention-deficit generation to get their heads around. Interludes like the organ on “Na černém kuoni sme lítali firmam” are surprising, yet somehow fit right in, making one song the voice of the album as a whole.

Malokarpatan

In the end, it’s the cohesive narrative of “Filipojakubská noc na Štangarígel” with its fully-realized introduction-complication-resolution structure that stands out as the star attraction, though, evoking goblins, forests and menace (all nuances already well captured in the woodcut-style cover art) more effectively than any other song on Krupinské Ohne. If you’re on the lookout for something that’s still dark and brooding, yet entirely out of the ordinary, you could definitely do worse than choosing Malokarpatan.

Krupinské Ohne Track Listing:

1. V brezových hájech poblíž Babinej
2. Ze semena viselcuov čarovný koren
3. Na černém kuoni sme lítali firmam
4. Filipojakubská noc na Štangarígel
5. Krupinské ohne poštyrikráte teho

Run Time: 48:18
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Record Label: Invictus Productions