I rarely get to review metal albums from my native side of Europe. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Firstly, I am always ideologically suspicious. Call me a cynic, but coming from Eastern Europe doesn’t give me a great amount of trust in Eastern Europeans, particularly on the topics of racism and misogyny. Secondly, I just don’t find it very interesting (no, not you, Poland – but maybe also you). Perpetually on the crossroads between East and West – rejecting the former and being continuously rejected by the latter, Eastern Europe’s regional folk music practices seem unable to penetrate through to contemporary music genres – at least not creatively. Exposure to audiences is lacking on a local scale due to lack of venues and music education, and dismal internationally due to few of these projects surviving long enough to release material – much less good material. It’s truly a vicious circle.

Bear with me though, I do have a point to make. I was this years old when I found out that Gorgoroth has had a Serbian vocalist – Atterigner – for nearly 10 years now. Not necessarily because of Gaahl (the Myth, the Legend), but because I just don’t really listen to Gorgoroth. So, when I saw a Serbian band/album name and heard the not too shabby promo track, I jumped at the opportunity. I’d have thought the experience of being the frontman of one of the most well-known black metal bands would have led to some kind of growth in creative expression, ripe to be poured into a new more personal and less restraining project – as is normally the case. But I ended up being a little disappointed.

Slovo meseca i krvi is a simple album. Veni, vidi, not quite vici. The focus on the vocals is a little extreme, and doesn’t help the overall sound. I do actually rather like them, but they do not vary much throughout, and that ends up making the sound a bit too same-y. The tracks blend into each other monotonously, and I just keep on thinking: was this really the intention? While I do like the vocals, it feels like they’re forced onto the listener. Omnipresent and monotonous, they overwhelm the sound and obscure the melodic elements. Had this not been the case, I’d have found this album infinitely more enjoyable. It starts off strong with Vihori boja, but I swear, the guitars give up on life within the first 30 seconds. The drums are much in the same vein: monotonous and omnipresent. Despite them being very precise and constant, the volume levels have been adjusted in a way in which the drums, together with the vocals, overwhelm the overall sound.

And this is an interesting aspect I just have to mention. I am not sure whether it was on purpose, but the album itself seems oddly mixed. Vocals and drums preside over everything like a thick blanket of sound, with guitars and bass seemingly unable to penetrate through. The Bandcamp promo track that I first heard had much more va-va-voom. Raw and chaotic – but definitely not lacking in guitars and bass. It’s quite perplexing honestly. I thought my headphones had broken but the sound was very much the same in my spare pair as well as plain air listening.

The next standout Vaznesenje Zveri (cool name) starts off with a great guitar intro and I just wish they had kept up the guitar levels the same throughout the rest of the song, because, and, here’s the real kicker, I can faintly hear them and I really like what I’m hearing – but it’s like a perpetual slow burn.

By the time the final track – aptly named Trijumf Silnika – smrt sveta – rolls in, my frustrations have taken the best of me. This one does some nice things with the vocals every now and again, enunciating parts of the lyrics quite rhythmically. The added operatic passages towards the end create a grandiose atmosphere – a glimpse of what the rest could have been. It is truly bittersweet and I feel very torn on this album. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way – and it certainly won’t contribute to raising the profile of the Serbian black metal scene. Yet a much more pleasant listening experience is just a good sound equaliser away. But it shouldn’t be.

(4.5/10 The Flâneur)

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/slovo-meseca-i-krvi