Hailing from the frozen forests of Canada we have an artist with a Spellbook. This is a one man entity with everything played and vocalised by Luka Milojica and it states on the biog that themes are “magic, evil, nature and myth.” So put your hand up if you assumed that this was going to be an exercise in grim, misanthropic black metal then. I did but was wrong as it is actually a death metal project which kind of twisted my preconceived ideas and knocked them on their ass. Death metal can however be dark and have a good atmosphere about it and that is no doubt what Luka has gone for here and on previous 2010 demo Plagueswept. It is an incredibly common attribute having one man black metal bands but as far as death metal is concerned I think it is fair enough to say that it’s nowhere near as prevalent a practice. Here we are told that the “execution of the music is a solitary process” and it is “free from outside influence”
One thing is quickly evident that the second we are whipped into opener ‘Lich’ without a semblance of any introductory set up is that Luca can play a mean guitar. At first I was reminded of Arch Enemy but more to do with the complexity and prowess behind his playing rather than anything stylistically. The drum machine keeps time nicely and does what it does and as for the vocals they are well handled and deep, dark and gruff. However having said that they are not used all the time in fact large parts of the album are focussed on the musicianship and you almost forget about the vocals until they suddenly growl back in.
The ten tracks here are honed and precise, ranging from just over the 2 to 4 minute mark. They certainly give the feeling that all fat has been cut from them and they are lean and mean. The one question I keep on asking myself is how this would sound with a complete band behind it. Although I admit this is probably a bit unfair it is hard to shift and things do at times sound like they are played by numbers in a steadfast fashion that simply cannot be deviated from and this does unfortunately give things a feeling of enforced rigidness at times. Tracks like ‘Maelstrom’ have a brutal battery behind them and a destructive windswept and forceful guitar weave. Vocals on it remind a bit of Krisiun which is no bad thing at all and there is a technical edge to things as well. I do like the way the tracks are named as though they are all spells that have been flung at you (Forcefield, Hex, Fire Wield) and I get the impression that the ten sigils on the cover are meant to correspond with them.
There is not a huge amount more to say here. I certainly enjoyed this but again it was hard to shift the underlying feeling of what if….
Haiduk are certainly worth investigating and I will be watching and waiting for any further developments from this isolated muse.
(6.5/10 Pete Woods)
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