Year of release: 2021
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 7,4 / 10
Slowly but surely, historical awareness and proper national identity are beginning to awaken in the Belarusian people. I hope that the completely false concept of "triunity" is dead by now - let the ill-fated collaborations with imperial symphatetizers KOLOVRAT and commies OPRICH be forgotten like a nightmare. It's time to restore justice. One of the indicators of positive changes is this split, where Belarusian bands finally officially fraternized with the Poles, who are really close to us in spirit and blood, despite some unavoidable frictions in the course of the common history.
Without unnecessary buildup, the Polish project OLD LESHY starts the split; it's a brainchild of ex-SUNWHEEL member. I already wrote about it earlier, and in terms of pros and cons, nothing has changed much since then. OLD LESHY promotes the right ideas his music is atmospheric and rolling. The man has a wonderful command of the synthesizer and knows how to play good riffs, but he still does not manage to glue sane songs out of all this. With OLD LESHY, overall style triumphs over stability of structures and consistency; there are also problems with sound and sense of proportion. You can listen to it with pleasure, but you have to be very unfusst listener to love it. Nevertheless, the music is still good, and at the best moments it sounds somehow similar to (un)holy MARHOTH, believe it or not. The third track of OLD LESHY is performed in English with the involvement of the guest vocalist Wolf, i.e. it could be anyone.
My attitude towards PIAREVARACIEŃ has always been twofold. The project is indisputably good in terms of ideas, but not all of its creative solutions and techniques are equally good. One way or another, PIAREVARACIEŃ has earned respect for its vitality, persistence and desire for constant development. PIAREVARACIEŃ's material on this split is rather uncharacteristic compared to what I've heard before. For me, the project is primarily associated with pretentious folklore metal anthems in a slow and medium tempo, but this time PIAREVARACIEŃ offered rather evil, simple and intense songs with a powerful bass and a slightly thrashy bias. However, there are still usual clean-voiced refrains. The four PIAREVARACIEŃ tracks are based on the theme of esoteric Nazism and for some reason are performed in English. The decision is dubious - after all, the split is dedicated to the Polish-Belarusian brotherhood (this is the official position of the publisher), but we listen to English-language songs about Vril and secret underground bunkers. I suppose that these four songs have been saved in PIAREVARACIEŃ archives for some time because they did not fit into the general direction of the project, and the split became the reason to release them.
STWORZ provided three songs for the split. He does not allow himself hackwork, so all three turned out to be excellent. I would even say that these are the best STWORZ songs in recent years, but, probably, it's because of their small number; there is so much wealth on the albums that the overall impression is somewhat blurred, but here you have the opportunity to chew each composition. It is good to feel where the main idea is, where is the interlude, where is the culmination. For a more detailed description, refer to the recent reviews on STWORZ. As always, everything here is romantic, melodic, deep and piercing. This time STWORZ bothered to provide the lyrics, so you have the opportunity to appreciate his poetry as well.
The participation of ULVKROS on this split was, perhaps, the main selling point for me, since new material from this wonderful project appears very rarely. ULVKROS offered two songs with dark, natural images in the lyrics, without changing his old-fashioned musical style. Synth intro, self-made underground sound, hoarse growling voice, a combination of TTF and RAC sounds in the riffs and rhythm section. The guitar began to behave a little more courageously, performing melodic riffs with a folk flavor. ULVKROS carefully preserves and continues the traditions of True Lightless Metal from Krywia. I hope that the debut album will come soon because there should be more such music. And I hope it won't be released on Barbatos prods..
The split as a whole is not perfect; the first half is definitely weaker than the second, and it also has some inconsistency. Nevertheless, you can and should listen to it. In addition, this is an important precedent that simply must be continued, and I am personally grateful to everyone involved for making “Krąg Kryvi” possible. The split came out on CD with a 12-page booklet containing the lyrics of all the songs. The main design is based on photographs of a certain cromlech; in the middle of the booklet there is a symbolic art. The spreads with the lyrics use blurred photographs as a background, denoting what the music of each group symbolizes. A very appropriate decision. Details on a video.
English (UK) 
Крыўская