Style: Progressive Death/Folk Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Orphaned Land
Review by: Sam
Country: Iran
Release date: 1 April, 2023
I am a sucker for folk in metal. When I sample through Metal-Archives to find obscure bands to review, and I find something folky that is at least somewhat competent I immediately lose my shit and add it to the review pile. And more often than not, I end up reviewing it myself. Folk music has a way with melody that’s magical to me. There is an enthralling sense of wonder and mystery that comes from its local character. It’s a glimpse into a time long past before globalization when the world at large evoked a bigger sense of wonder. Anoushbard is the latest instance of my weakness for all things folk.
What caught my attention with this band were the folky guitar melodies and super-pretty clean vocals they incorporated. But what caught me maybe even more is the fact that this band is from Iran, where heavy metal seems to be illegal. How they pull this off – while having all band member’s (what I presume to be real) names listed on Metal-Archives – is beyond me. So regardless of whether this ends up with a high score or not, kudos to the band for having the guts to produce this type of music in their political climate.
Upon closer inspection of the music, I was a little bit disappointed. The meat of their sound seems to boil down to Opeth worship, but now with a Persian flavor. I found myself recognizing borrowed riffs more than once. This is compensated for by strong compositions, but most of the songs lack direction and pay off. Riffs that get repeated far beyond their worth, random folk interludes, and way too much midtempo in particular make Abandoned Treasures a slog to sit through at times. The second half especially is plagued by these problems, with “Blacksmith’s Apron” in particular exemplifying everything wrong with the band despite the ideas that make up the song being enjoyable by themselves.
But not all is bad with Abandoned Treasures. There are multiple stellar ideas on display and the first half of the record shows a lot of promise. “The Righteous Ardaviraf” is a wonderful suite enthralling you with gorgeous Persian folk melodies interwoven with bouncing percussion and beautiful clean vocals. It could use a better climax as it spends a lot of time building without too much pay-off, but sometimes the journey itself is good enough. The next track “Destructive Spirit” is a great, thrashy, high-intensity piece that brings the climactic value the opener lacked with a whirlwind of a guitar solo. And speaking in more general terms, the harsh vocals are rough but well-performed (think of Akerfeldt on early Opeth), and the band has a fantastic sense of melody and rhythm. Some of the record’s strongest moments come from when they lean into these qualities. The lyrics are also worth mentioning. I’m not quite sure if it’s a concept album or not, but there seems to be a common theme of good vs evil with mythological imagery and it’s all written in first person. You can look them up on Metal-Archives.
Overall, Abandoned Treasure is an amateurish offering, but it’s not without merit. For whatever good quality the band has, there seem to be an equal amount of times where they fail to make it as impactful as before. Should the band hone their craft more, I can see a real gem in the making. They have lots of great ideas and their incorporation of Persian folk is often wonderful. Do not let my low score detract you from giving this a listen, because I’m keeping my eye out for their next offering and so should you.
Recommended tracks: The Righteous Ardaviraf, Destructive Spirit, Abandoned Treasure
You may also like: Obsidian Tide, Orpheus Blade, (early) Subterranean Masquerade
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Anoushbard is:
– Sherwin Baradaran (vocals, guitars)
– Siavash Motallebi (guitars)
– Arman Tirmahi (bass)
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