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Lunar Dawn Kolovrat Neogoa Tracklist: 1. Perun's Stones 2. Golden Arms of Kresnik 3. Svantevit (Part 1: White Horse and Prophecy) 4. Svarog's Celestial Fire 5. Metamorphosis Of Veles 6. Svantevit (Part II: Temple of Arkona) 7. Zorya 8. Rebirth of Jarilo 9. Blessing From Irij (2015 Mix) 10. Into Morana's Cold Kingdom (feat Jasmina) "In our opinion, goa needs something out of the box - not always the same old story, same mantra going on and on and on. Our story with this album began with one idea that Saša and I have had since we got in music production... to be exact, material was meant to be oriented on old forgotten Slavic pagan beliefs... we got into a new idea of making an album in this manner... for next three years there was lots of researching about this particular theme by us all and we all contributed to evolve the music to a concept level." - Kristijan, Lunar Dawn Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, though not as far for some, the Croatian duo of Lunar Dawn released a track called "Blessings From Irij," a magical piece of goa filled with energy and imagination, where the usual euphoric layers of melodic enlightenment of the style was paired with some truly inspired medieval flavors, adding a whole new dimension to the listening experience. "Blessings From Irij" is a great track, one that impressed me quite deeply when Neogoa released the EP two years ago. Quite surprisingly, however, was the Lunar Dawn follow-up - releasing a full-length album filled to the tippy-top with more medieval leanings, groups of merry minstrels celebrating throughout and live instrumentation and ethereal vocals that transport to another time and place, or, if you'd prefer, a mythological fantasy where the ten tracks visit assorted Slavic gods for merriment, celebration and adventure. There is likely a narrative to the tracklisting, a plot that follows along to these separate visits and the highly energetic aural adventures that Lunar Dawn have created here but that plot is for the listener themselves to fill in. As it were, the tracklist is the rough outline and one's imagination can provide the vivid details that these tracks will no doubt help to inspire. This is Misted Muppet by way of Neogoa's The World Beyond concept compilation with a wildly full and bombastic Trinodia-esque melodic approach. Kolovrat is epic, ambitious and damn, damn good. Though Kristijan from Lunar Dawn says, "This album is influence-free from the beginning, if you refer to influence by other artists. Only influences included were what made us goa heads in first place, I call them subconsciousness influences, artists like Astral Projecion, Talamasca, Hallucinogen and other old goa guard knights. You can hear all sorts of stuff in this album, my sense for melodies and Saša´s sense for deep atmosphering layers, from dark ambient to light panoramas and rhythmic games of his great mind but I think the goa essence prevails. Not in that pure oldschool way maybe, but in some weird so called new school flavour salted and peppered with everything a bit on top." "Blessings From Irij" gets a "2015 mix" on this album, perhaps not as good as its original, but definitely the rousing highlight of the album's second half. "Perun's Stones" and "Golden Arms of Kresnik" are a perfect one-two opener to the album, setting the tale's tone with majestic melodies and rollicking song structures - they set the bar pretty high but the remainder of the album delivers. Following the cinematic break of "Svantevit (Part II: Temple of Arkona)," an evocative work filled with lovely orchestral melodies, very nearly a down tempo offering, the pairing of "Zorya" and "Rebirth of Jarilo" open up "Part II" of the album in uplifting fashion. "Svantevit (Part I: White Horse and Prophecy)," "Svarog's Celestial Fire" and "Metamorphosis of Veles" are winners in grand goa fashion, where quite often impressive minstrel music appears almost magically between the excellent 303 layers. "Into Morana's Cold Kingdom" is the sweet, mysterious story end where one can almost picture the credits rolling on this tale. If Lord of the Rings or (shudder) Clash Of The Titans were made by goa-heads, Kolovrat would be the soundtrack. The scope of both its ideas and its sound is massive and ambitious, even a bit daunting for casual listeners. But adventurous and persistent listeners, like the Russian medieval knight of the title, adventuring through these encounters with the Slavic gods, will be rewarded handsomely by saga's end. This is a massively ambitious undertaking. It is also an excellent one. Available for free play or download at Ektoplazm