It is time to step into our musical Tardis and arrive pitched up in Russia in the 17th Century when the Orthodox Church saw a divide between the traditionalists resisting changes and progress believing them to be the work of the Antichrist and clashing with the Zealots Of Piety. It was a time of great turmoil, one we are told that saw “families fleeing their homes and even walking into fire as they saw the end of the world approaching.” We can dispense with this to certain extent and just follow our guides, Historians of their past Motherland. This is not a split album but a collaboration between Horthodox who are known for Death Industrial / Dark Ambient / Noise / Power Electronics and Goatpsalm who add to these styles with a doom-laden orientation. Horth is among the players and is a crossover point in both acts and also included in Goatpsalm is Vaarwell, well known to us via Frozen Ocean among others. This is a 63-minute instrumental trip and one that is fascinating to explore.

‘The Last Day’s’ are upon us and this massive opener is a slow journey into arctic ice on board what sounds like a ghost ship in distress. The creaks of rope and wood are the sound that atmospherically fill this hypnotic ambient venture along with massive percussive bangs and thuds. Perhaps it is not a ship stuck in ice drifts but the sound of construction or the opposite, the slow tearing down of the old traditions and the building of the new. It’s a fascinating sound added to by the subtle introduction of traditional instrumentation. The players utilise Bowed Strings, Gusli, Rozhok, & Flute over the course of the album. We move eventually to the “Fragile Walls of Salvation’ but will never shake the cold from our bones. Purely acoustic the guitar is picked taking us into the realm of darkened folk, so far so chilled, literally as the sound of freezing wind picks up. It’s a solitary and minimalistic journey, one that should be respected solely alone without distraction to fully experience its lonesome beauty. ‘When God Went Silent’ brings a loud droning sound to fill space complemented very gradually by the traditional instrumentation, a knocking on wood block, the sound of what is reminiscent of a musical box. It could be described as world music to a large extent, it has certainly taken us to a very different one. A piped instrument coils round us full of mystery and we are caught like a snake, it’s all completely fascinating.

So far it has been acoustic, that is all about to change at ‘The House With No Windows’ as drums, jagged guitar, keyboards and what sounds like a jaw harp upping the tempo and drama. A mournful pipe and howling gale, it’s ‘Night Over Onega’ close to the White Sea in Oblast. The squeal of an electric guitar is surprising perhaps but the old has met with the new by now and styles flirt over the rest of the trip. Devilish sounding strings and thick bass sound take over on ‘Horned Shades of His Servants’ hypnotic and beguiling is this sound from a different time and era when mixed with the modernism of electric guitar. It’s expertly co-ordinated taking us to the finale, title-track ‘Ash.’ Don’t expect it to gently drift down though, devastation and ruin are illustrated by the sheer stridency of the cataclysmic instrumentation here, we are shaken by what is a complete contrast to how gently the album started. Perhaps it is time to get in the Tardis and get the hell out of here but it may well be too late.

This really is a fascinating album and one for the coming cold Siberian winter nights. Light up a fire, round up the zealots and check out the links below!

(8.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Goatpsalm

https://www.facebook.com/horthodox

https://goatpsalm.bandcamp.com

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=5204