A grim and grey industrial landscape cheerlessly greats us from the album cover here. I am not sure what Bryansk in Russia where this obscure entity come from is like and indeed image search shows it to be nowhere near as desolate as this place but it is where they dwell in darkness and seclusion. It would appear that there is not that much info available about the artist here but I am guessing that it is probably a one man act. This is the debut album following on from a demo simply entitled 1 and contains four tracks of rugged funeral doom spanning a near hour long playing time.
First track title Мёртвый город seems to translate to Dead City which is kind of perfect to put you in the atmospheric stance of the music. There is instantly a feeling of abandonment about the acoustic guitar lines that lead us in to this place but there is a feeling of beauty within it as well. Probably the most difficult part here are the vocals which come in next and they are going to determine how much you like this. They are low intoned growls and weathered like rotting bark. They feel somewhat alien and you wonder if they can possibly be forming actual words and they are an acquired taste to be honest. It took me a while to get used to them but after a while they do fit in with the slow ponderous mood of the music itself. This is going nowhere actually fast but building slothfully until another rather unexpected facet, the twang of a Jews harp is brought into play lightening the mood a slight bit. The next to enter are some eerie keyboard lines and drums take up a slightly faster beat around everything. It’s austere and sorrowful and a dark place to find yourself visiting as is the whole album but it is also a peaceful one rather than horrible and you could easily imagine yourself visiting this abandoned graveyard of twisted steel and ghosts and wandering around marvelling as you take it all in. It’s like an urban exploration in musical form and with this as your soundtrack and a camera in your hand you really want to go and check it all out documenting what you see before it all collapses into complete ruination. Рисунок has the keyboards wraith like shrouding things in mist as the Jews harp again twangs away, you will be used to the sombre approach by now and lost in it as guitars weep away in its midst. There is a large emphasis in the melody here and it comes close to drowning you. There is another surprise in store after ten minutes or so when the trill of a flute makes an appearance adding to the sorrowful melody and draping things with a bit of a pagan feel to the otherwise funereal tones. It’s another clever trick that after a few listens will have you waiting for it to crop up. It’s not overused either just there for a short period before the track slowly shuffles on to conclusion.
Метель (Blizzard) is the shortest track at 10 minutes and is the one with the most force about it with big elongated riffs, slow drum pounds and roaring vocals. The place we are in may still be deserted by people but the weather is visiting tearing through things and giving it all a right old battering resulting in wood, timber and glass to bend, bow and shatter in its wake. The keyboard frostily accompanies the barraging tumult making it clear that everything is icy cold too. Then everything except Jews harp and flute are dropped turning things momentarily into a winter wonderland, perfect! Last track Она mixes all the elements together vocally it seems angered and all stirred up. The keyboards pompously parp away and there is a huge sense of gravity amidst the rest of the trembling instrumentation. It’s the longest and most epic track and a fitting epitaph before this place is again enshrouded in mystery and silence to crumble into dust and rot once again in neglect and solitude once more.
The label has once again trawled places that others would fear to tread and come up with another work that is rich in atmosphere and imagination for those who seek to walk such paths.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply