Band:	Bucovina
Album:	Sub Stele
Style:	Folk metal
Release date:	November 2013

01. Spune Tu, Vânt
02. Sub Piatra Doamnei
03. Șoim În Văzduh
04. Zi După Zi, Noapte De Noapte
05. Luna Preste Vârfuri [Re-recorded]
06. Râul Vremii
07. Day Follows Day, Night Follows Night [bonus]

Sub Stele (or Under Stars) is the second album of the band Bucovina, released in November 2013. Bucovina, as you can guess from the name, are a Romanian band (Bucovina is a historical region in Romania). Hailing from the lands over the fir tree's peaks around the city of Iasi, Bucovina are probably the most well-known Romanian black/folk metal band not associated in any way with Negură Bunget. These bands have once again taken their lands and their folklore into their souls and stepped in the recording studio to engender a follow-up to the Duh EP.

Judging from the cover art, we can clearly expect to find spiritually uplifting and enchanting music. As on Duh, the cover is a picture framed in a traditional motif of braided branches. Both the cover and the album title evoke an ancestral and natural atmosphere. But the resemblances with Duh don't stop here! This album also enjoyed mastering and mixing from Dan Swanö from Edge Of Sanity. So, the sound quality is of the highest standard, almost as clear and limpid as springs in Bucovina. As such, Bucovina is among the only Romanian bands enjoying foreign professional help in production, creating material rising to foreign standards. All the best for Romania's chosen ones for Wacken Open Air 2011.

Back to the music, the album starts with an acoustic segment from "Spune Tu, Vânt", which continues as the vocals fill you with love for the land and for mother nature. Then, it happens that the song erupts with a scream which fills you with courage, bravery and lust for defending the land's borders threatened by scornful foes, while guided by the frozen wind ? only that the song has nothing to do with war. Just ? you know ? nature ?

From a stylistic point of view, Bucovina play something very close to Viking metal, almost being able to be labeled as such hadn't they originated from a country where no authentic Viking has ever set his foot ? and if they didn't sing about non-viking stuff. But still, a lot of the time (like during "Sub Piatra Doamnei"'s intro) the music makes feel like I'm on a Viking Drekkar participating in looting and pillaging the lands beyond the sunset.

The album contains a remade version of the song "Luna Preste Vârfuri" ("Moon Over Peaks") from the album Ceasul Aducerii-Aminte (the song which most likely serves as an inspiration for the cover art). Besides that, the album also contains an English version of the song "Zi După Zi, Noapte De Noapte" entitled "Day Follows Day, Night Follows Night", which has also been released as a single. I cannot help but feel a resemblance between the way that Bucovina sing in English and the way that Phoenix sung in English. Truly, the vocals sound alike on other songs, but here the resemblance was most obvious. The resemblances don't stop here, as many passages sound very close to Phoenix (like the intro of "Șoimi în Văzduh"). Therefore: Bucovina=Falkenbach+Finntroll+Phoenix.

A thing that is quite unsettling is the fact that only five out of the seven songs are new, the rest being, as mentioned, remade versions of older songs or English versions of new songs, leaving us with just 25 minutes of original material. Well, this comes to no surprise considering that Bucovina has a history of releasing short (compared to other material on the market) albums. However, if we were to add up all the songs on the album, we'd get the longest Bucovina record so far. It's progress!

In conclusion, it's quite unlikely that this album won't make some people proud of being Romanians, as the music touches and caresses your ancestral sense of patriotic and spiritual pride.