This Russian band's 2021 album "Rotten Garden" ended up in the top 10 Black Metal albums for that year, so expectations are high for them to either meet or exceed their previous success. The first song feels like there is more overt aggression coming from them than I remember from their last album. There is almost a more Dissection-like layering to the guitar here. The vocals are more anguished with the black metal shriek doubled by a lower death metal growl. The production is great, it's a stellar mix with nothing buried. For some black metal purists, this might be too much of a sell-out, despite the fact we should be well past that point of contention by now. But we should thin the heard now because if that is too produced then the atmosphere that seeps into the second song will be a deal breaker for cvltists as well.
The theme of this album is to honor Taiga the spirit of the Siberian forest. If these guys are from Siberia, I can only wonder what it's like getting to band practice as it's pretty harsh there. This is their 6th album so they have been doing this awhile and it's apparent in how things flow in their playing. "Skull Gatherers" finds things growing darker and colder with the more melodic elements bleeding into the song's attack in a very effective manner. The vocals fall against the guitars more purposefully than you average black metal bands that find the vocals as an obligatory scream that is more of a layer of human hatred expelled than the nuance occurring here.
"Impending Death Premonition" is more straightforward black metal, with sung vocals chiming in at the end to help break things up sonically. There is a marginally darker touch to the more deliberate throb of the title track that follows which holds more emotional weight. It was "Where We Are Lost' that my attention got lost and I had to go back to give another listen to decipher for the purpose of this review. This one makes me think of what Cradle of Filth might sound like without all the symphonic cheesiness. A dark melodic throb broken up with accents with great purpose. "Curse of the Void" finds a melodic ambiance setting the stage for another dose of very deliberate black metal, which I will take any day over being blast-beaten numb. Even the sung vocals work well here. There is more of a pagan metal feel which works considering the subject matter. They do employ varied folk instruments throughout the album which factor in prominently here.
The last song "Mist and Fog" is one of the moodier more melodic moments, I would not say this is accessible to non-black metal listeners but it points them in that direction. Six albums in I do not hear them making any drastic changes as far as that goes, but each album feels like the next step intended. The dynamics of 'Mist and Fog" display this. The folk instruments step forward in the mix, making this song more of a summary of where they are heading. I'll give this album a 9.5, it's another step forward for the band and a stunning listen. Drops of Napalm Records.
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