MITSOne man bands in the extreme metal world have proliferated in the past decade as small labels have been able to find a worldwide audience online. They have also become something of a hit and miss affair veering from focused and inspirational to one dimensional and dull. But when they can cobble together something decent it somehow makes it all the more enticing that the whole package comes, more or less, from the work of just one pair of hands. Russian doom stalwart Vladimir Andreev is an excellent example of this.

He’s released a couple of works under previous names, including 2010’s Different Realms which he recorded as On The Edge Of The NetherRealm. The core of the …NetherRealm sound was doom/death with breaks for piano and guitar interludes ebbing in and out of the songs passing for emotional variation. But bands that overuse these shoegazing effects leave me a little flat and it was a journey that at times meandered a little too much for my tastes. Thankfully, his new outfit takes a more direct and purist approach to the whole death infused doom sound and I can see why he’s chosen to make the departure under a different name.

More or less doing away with the quieter passages that held back Different Realms, Horizon Of My Heaven relies much more heavily on more orthodox doom arrangements, almost exclusively using growled vocals (with the exception of a few spoken word passages) and funeral-doom style lead guitar melody over the top that very often takes on a life of its own. It’s also as heavy as a squat full of hippies on a bad trip.

The first half of the release feels to me like the heavier half, less compromising and darker. Then the final four tracks, where I think the album really soars, manage to do what many of the best funeral doom bands do so well which is to merge the darkness of loss, mourning and death with the light of infinite possibilities that come thereafter. The result is a euphoric crescendo. Then the final track at first feels like a step back to Different Realms territory but brings in much more melody and turns into a superb finale. In fact, there is admirable variation throughout the release which is something the doom/death genre so often chronically lacks.

I must admit I spend far too much time returning to gothic doom/death bands every couple of years looking for something interesting and so often these sojourns throw up too little to keep me entertained for long. This is actually what I’m after. Doom, but one with anger and energy and an irrepressible power bubbling under the surface. Doom has a new rising star and his name is Vladimir Andreev.

(8/10 Reverend Darkstanley)

http://myindifferencetosilence.bandcamp.com