These days, admitting that you are a heavy metal fan is not an easy thing to do. Unfortunately, heavy metal has gotten a bad reputation, associated with cheesy bands in the 1980s sporting absurd hair and bad makeup, or for supposedly “influencing” people to either commit suicide or worship Satan.

When I was younger, I listened to quite a bit of metal myself. I would frighten friends and family with the music I listened to: band with names like Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden and songs with titles like “Harvester of Sorrow,” “Wake Up Dead” and “The Number of the Beast.” The album covers would reflect the titles, with pictures of skeletons, demons, graveyards and similar imagery.

Most people figure that it is just a teenage thing and it passes, but I enjoy listening to heavy metal whenever possible. And I am glad to say that I have neither committed suicide, nor do I worship Satan. I like the aggressive music, the bleak lyrics and the blunt attitude of many of the bands. This kind of music helps get out your own aggression, or close off the rest of the world when you want.

Heavy metal is quite popular in Latvia. Most every time I walk around Vecrīga, I see many posters advertising heavy metal bands that are playing in the area. Their shows are well attended, too. Most of their recognition comes through word of mouth. Though heavy metal is popular, many of these bands don’t have the resources to put together a complete album. Thankfully, Gailītis G (of all labels!) has provided an outlet for many of these bands to reach a wider audience.

The fourth volume of the Black Friday metal compilation album collects 15 tracks (totaling about 70 minutes of music) by a wide variety of bands from Latvia. Most of the songs are in English, some are in Latvian and some I can’t tell what language they are in!

The quality of the songs is quite varied. Some are still in the demo phase, but some are release-quality recordings. Regardless, it is still an interesting journey through the rugged landscape of Latvian heavy metal.

The album begins with “Angel’s Tears” by the band Heresy from their EP Heresy. The song begins with a disembodied female voice chanting some Latin words in the style of the “industrial metal” sound of groups like White Zombie. The only words I can make out are the chorus of “God is dead, and no one cares!” It’s a good song.

Also in the industrial metal vein is Huskvarn’s “Save Your Soul,” but the song reminds me a bit too much of Marilyn Manson, although the vocals are hard to hear.

Next is Skyforger with “Sešas ārprāta dienas” from the album Latvian Riflemen. Skyforger’s claim to fame is that they sing songs about Latvian warriors and even dress the part, judging by their picture in the liner notes. Their Web site lists them as being “deeply inspired by their native folklore and pagan heritage” and their lyrics being “poetry based upon the stories from times of the World War I.” Very good guitar work in this one, especially aggressive music, but the lyrics are too far down in the mix for me and I can make out few words.

“Autumn” by Sanctimony, from the album Eternal Suffering, is up next. This is a rather generic “death metal” song. Death metal is characterized by bludgeoning, extremely distorted guitars and drums, along with growled, incoherent vocals (sort of like an angry Cookie Monster). Fans of the genre (bands like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass) will probably like this, but it’s a bit dull for my tastes. The same applies to the group Preternatural with their song “Presence” from a demo tape of the same name. I like the guitar work, but the high-pitched guttural growling makes this song sound like any other death metal song.

Plenty of death metal is found on this album. Songs include Brute Chant’s “Olympiad” from their album Killer Each of You, The track sounds like the production was intentionally made muddy, as the vocals are routinely drowned out by the noisy guitars.

Moving further back to the mainstream is Fatum’s song “We Are Dreaming of Peace.” The hard driving bass line and the harmonies in the guitars remind me of Iron Maiden. Once again the vocals are mixed too far back, making it hard to understand the words. I liked this song, though. Hopefully, Fatum will be releasing more some day.

One of my favorites on the album is Rainmaker’s “Lietus dziesma.” From the great opening bass line, to the rythmic assault of the guitar, to the menacing (and understandable!) vocals, this is one of the standouts of the album.

Heresiarh’s “Higher Than Hills,” from the album Mythical Beasts and Mediaeval Warfare, is what the band on its Web site calls “Latvian dragon metal.” This is due to the fantasy themes that are throughout its songs. One of the latest trends in the metal world is to add female vocalists, perhaps to counterbalance the roughness of the male vocal. However the female vocals in this one are indecipherable as well.

Another favorite on the record is the Dzelzs Vilks song “Ledus,” which balances an extremely rough guitar part with a lighter keyboard part (sounding like raindrops!), as well as a techno beat and howling vocals. This is the most professional sounding song on the record, but that is no surprise, as Dzelzs Vilks’ lineup is just about the same as Deus (S)ex Machina (who released the soundtrack of the rock opera “Fausts”). They have just released an album, Lai arī tu būtu ar mani, that I will assuredly be purchasing next time I am in Latvia.

“Tu jūti” by Apēdājs is another good, straight-forward metal song, with some great guitar effect work. The Quarks’ song “Dziesma par reklāmu” starts off with an extremely deep bass sound, then brings in some crunching guitars as well. Sounds a bit like the grunge-metal style (a la Stone Temple Pilots). Moral Free’s “Bangin’ on the Radiators” is another straightforward song.

Sliede’s “Vēl prasīts” starts off with a very Van Halen-ish guitar intro but then becomes a Black Sabbath-ish (slow and deliberate guitar riff) song.

The most bizarre track on the collection has to be the last one, “Māt, es gribu būt nevainīgs” by the hardcore band Inokentijs Mārpls. Flying along at 100 miles per hour, the song features a rather unearthly falsetto shriek by the lead vocalist. I presume that they are not trying to be serious in this song, but I’m not entirely sure. Unique, for sure, but an assault on the nerves of the listener.

Liner notes are pretty sparse: a picture of the bands but not much else. For these kinds of compilations, information about who is in the band or a Web site address would be useful. Having the lyrics would have helped, too, especially for the unintelligble death metal songs.

Quite a few tracks here are very good. However, many of the tracks are highly derivative and sound very similar to other, more popular bands from the United States and Europe. And a number of the tracks would benefit from a bit more polishing of the sound and music. However, the album does provide a thorough snapshot of the world of Latvian heavy metal. From listening to this record, the future of this style is very bright (though I’m sure most of the groups would prefer to say that the future looks very dark!).

The musical output of Latvia has become more and more varied through recent years. Beyond the standard styles of rock and folk, other styles like dance, techno, rap, and rhythm and blues have been heard being played by Latvian groups. Some styles are particularly hard to define. One example is the group Kopējā izteiksme and their release Putni maina virzienu. One would be quick to label it as "New Age," but it does not fit neatly into that category.

It is an entirely instrumental album, full of textured sounds and many different kinds of instruments. It is very heavy on synthesizers (maybe a bit much so), but a varied lineup of musicians keep the album from sounding overly synthesized. It is also very atmospheric, complete with ocean sounds. Much of the music sounds like it belongs in a film sountrack.

The main musicians in Kopējā izteiksme are Jānis Brūveris (on keyboards and programming, as well as composer of eight of the 11 tunes on the album), and Ainārs Paukšēns (also on keyboards and programming, as well as the cello). Joining them are Michael Nagy on acoustic guitar, Juris Kulakovs on accordion and Artis Gāga on saxaphone. Also appearing is a string quartet, made up of Lāsma Muceniece on violin, Signe Šteimane on violin, Jānis Lielbārdis on viola and Paukšēns on cello.

As with many "New Age" groups, Kopējā izteiksme’s music is very influenced by nature. One of the main themes of the album is about birds, their ability to know where to fly when they migrate and how they know where to return to.

Of note is that there is nothing particularly "Latvian" about the music, besides the fact that it was produced by Latvian musicians.

The album opens up with "Tuvums," which starts off with a very pretty introduction on acoustic guitar.

The song "Pirmais gads" reminds me a bit of the music of the Indians of South America (the kind who always seem to be playing in the Times Square subway station), mainly due to the synthesized, flute-like sound.

"Sniegs (akustiskais mix)" with its piano theme, is a particularly haunting song, simple but eerie. It reminds me of the theme to the Halloween horror movies. The strings provide a nice balance to the piano melody.

This theme returns in "Sniegs (paplašinātais mix)," which for the most part is simply an extended version of the original, but diverges near the end, where bass and drum sounds are added.

My favorite track on the recording is probably "No sevis sāc," perhaps because it sounds more like an actual "song" (but without words, of course) and has a melody that can be hummed along with. I particularly like the way the acoustic guitar sounds in it.

The album packaging is on the simple side, with the obligatory nature pictures in it. Text relating to the theme of the album asks Zen-like cosmic questions such as "Kur putni maina virzienu? Tu zini? Un kāpēc? Tu zini? Pastāsti man!" (Where do birds change direction? Do you know? And why? Do you know? Tell me!)

Putni maina virzienu is a great-sounding album, full of many styles and textures. It is a pleasant listen when one needs more mellow music to relax with. Listening to this music will make people light up their incense and start meditating. But it is not the kind of recording that I would buy. Listening to the album made me sleepy (but perhaps that is one of the intentions of the artists). Enough variety is on the album for fans of this genre, though it does seem at times that a few of the pieces on the album start to sound very similar.

As with many of these kinds of recordings, the human aspect is missing. The music sounds very "mechanical" at times, as though it was entirely performed by a machine (which I’m sure a lot of it was, because both Paukšēns and Brūveris are credited with “programming”). However, if you like your music atmospheric and heavy on the synthesizer sound, then you will most likely like Putni maina virzienu.

Imants Kalniņš is one of the most beloved composers in Latvia. His music is listened to and appreciated by all types, whether they are casual music fans or devout music theorists. What is it about his music that seems to strike a chord within most every Latvian? Perhaps it is the variety of styles he can compose in, or how his music can convey just about any emotion—from happy rejoicing to being stranded in sadness to exuberant nationalism.

The past few years have seen Kalniņš once again take center stage in the public musical eye. Popular works in recent times include the re-recording of the film score to the movie "Pūt, vējiņi!" and the success of the rock group Autobuss debesīs, whose music was composed entirely by Kalniņš.

This year also saw the release of the retrospective Dziesmu izlase, containing an assortment of his popular music, recorded by the many artists who have worked with Kalniņš’ music throughout the years: Menuets, Turaidas roze, Jauns Mēness, Aigars Grāvers of Jumprava, and Renārs Kaupers of Prāta Vetra.

The disc conntains 16 tracks, compiled by Kalniņš and Ainars Mielavs. Coincidentally enough, seven of the 16 songs are songs that involve either Mielavs or his dormant group, Jauns mēness. But no matter…

The album starts off with two songs by Menuets, "Viņi dejoja vienu vasaru" and "Alvas zaldatiņi," both of which have lyrics by Māris Čaklais. The first song is a very pretty but sad piece about two lovers who had a brief romance. The chorus to the song reminds me a bit of "Memory" by Andrew Lloyd Weber. "Alvas zaldatiņi" (Tin soldiers) is one of Kalniņš’ more popular songs. It is a "military" style song about children who are playing with tin soldiers. It also offers the advice that "a dead Napoleon should be buried so he doesn’t smell, but a cat should be fed with warm milk"!

Another group that played songs by Kalniņš was Turaidas roze, and they have four songs on this release : "Svētku diena," "Nelaid, māte, bērnus mežā," "Apvij rokas" and "Mežā." Of the four, my favorite is "Svētku diena" (for which Kalniņš also wrote the lyrics), a celebratory song about the return of a loved one: "Every time that you are next to me is day of celebration!"

Another favorite on the album is "Es šodien jūku prātā," featuring Jauns mēness and lead vocals by Renārs Kaupers. I especially like the mandolin part, as well as the lyrics by Mielavs: "Nav vērts ja tikai tāpat par velti zvaigznes krīt" (It’s not worth if it if the stars fall for no reason).

Many of Kalniņš’ compositions are richly textured, a good example being the very beautiful song "Es redzēju sapnī," with its very lush keyboard part. It is almost symphonic in its style, and it is complemented well by Mielavs’ vocals. However, the very next song, "I Love You," is a straight ahead rock song that makes the listener want to sing along with its very simple but effective chorus in English, "I love you, do you love me too?"

The new "sensation" in Latvian music these days is Autobuss debesīs, who had the honor of closing out the day of rock music at the Rīga 800 festival on Aug. 18 (they played right before the amazing fireworks display). Part of the reason the are so popular is Kalniņš’ music. The group’s lead singer is Marts Kristiāns Kalniņš, the composer’s son. Dziesmu izlase contains two Autobuss songs, neither of which are on their album Logs puspavērts. They are "Sitiet bungas, mani mīļie" and the song called "Autobuss debesīs," another favorite of mine on this record. The lyrics for both songs were written by Viks (just Viks—no other name given!). The Autobuss songs are also a good example of how Kalniņš is capable of writing music that appeals to a younger generation. Kalniņš truly has cross-generational appeal.

The final song on the album, "Apturi mani," is a beautiful duet between Ainars Mielavs and Rēzija Kalniņa (who, besides being a well-known Latvian actress, is also Imants Kalniņš’ daughter).

Of course, you couldn’t possibly fit all the great Kalniņš songs onto one CD. One song that I particularly missed on this release was "Veltijums LTF" (dedicated to the Latvian Popular Front), probably my favorite Kalnīņš song.

The major disappointment in this release is the packaging: besides the CD cover, there isn’t any! You’d figure that with an artist with the popularity of Kalniņš, UPE Recording Co. could have at least included the lyrics and maybe a bit of history about each band (what albums they released, who were the members of the band, etc.) since it is not just Kalniņš music itself that is important. Besides, Kalniņš being such an interesting person, a bit of biographical information wouldn’t have hurt either. For those interested in more about Kalniņš the composer, I would recommend reading the book Jaunā mūzika pēc divdesmit gadiem by Ingrīda Zemzare and Guntars Pupa.

This CD is essential listening for anyone interested in Latvian music. There is good reason Kalniņš is considered a national treasure, and this CD goes a long way in confirming that standing.

As for the lyrics being absent, I think a Latvian friend of mine had the best explanation for that. "Why would you need the lyrics?," she asked. "These songs are already such a part of the Latvian culture that everyone knows all the lyrics by heart anyway!"