‘Mysterious duo ‘. Oft used words but in this case well used as aside from the record label sheet and webpage, I could find very fuck all about them. They are apparently Russian, this is their debut EP and it is that black ambient/modern black metal desolate land inhabited by such terminal head-fuck entries as The Axis Of Perdition and Blut Aus Nord. There are four tracks here, four phases, that together form a twenty odd minute soundscape. Weapons are guitars, synths, keyboards, muttered and rasped vocals buried way down in the mix; atmosphere and disorientation the targets.
‘Phase I – (Void)stare’ is the harsh first movement; sheet metal riffing with a heavy bass, muttered and stretched vocals and a concise rhythmic structure. A scene setter very much in the vein of pre-Urfe Axis stuff though much less chaotic, less destructive. Dark though, very. Crumbling buildings, dead city dark, simple guitar interludes like water from dripping pipes. Nice start, not too long either. Attention grabbed we move to ‘Phase II – Inner Distortion’. A quieter affair with curious synth intrusions of almost space rock style but the guitar, with discordant notes scattered throughout the repeated riff theme and the breathed vocals keep it sinister while the synths hollow out the inner space. ‘Phase III – Death And Decay Of Your Identity’ leads us into quieter spaces, a drifting refrain with the nattering voice in your head stripping away your core as discordant notes play counterpoint to the synth music. The end comes with ‘Phase IV – The New Embodiment’ which drifts through tonality towards a slow fade.
Four movements. There is nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but it is very well composed and executed with real atmosphere and in a commendable concise manner as I have heard too many debuts stretch this idea out over an hour before. This all bodes well and is well worth a listen.
(7/10 Gizmo)
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