Year: 2024
Label: Decadence Within Records
Rating: 7 / 10
To your attention, the first recording of the COSMIC STORM band and the last of the SMOŬŽ band. Behind them, among others, are the men and the steam locomotives A.B. and Somber; Decadence Within Records, Crypt of Black Fog, Black Curse Zine, the band FALLEN HORIZON - all these are their doings.
COSMIC STORM is presented to the listener as a "dirty and filthy stoner doom” in the style of "Dopethrone" of ELECTRIC WIZARD. To my limited understanding, stoner is a bit more lighthearted music, and I like the alternative definition of "apocalyptic cosmic eerie doom" better. But I'm not an expert or a fan of this music, so I won't argue about definitions. COSMIC STORM is quite similar to FALLEN HORIZON in terms of aesthetics of performance: here, too, it seems that the guys fighthing through their own parts. But the struggle is easier for them now - probably, the material was recorded a bit later. There's even a very clumsy and vague, but still a guitar solo! The tempo of all three tracks is very slow and broken, and their climate is very gloomy. The sound is really stoner, with obligatory fuzzy vibrations and smoothed corners. I liked FALLEN HORIZON more, but COSMIC STORM has, so to speak, a second bottom, something vague and intimate, for which it is worth returning to this record to understand what it was.
The EP "Vypramieńvańnie" of SMOŬŽ was recorded at the legendary Jama Piekel studio in 2021. Compared to the debut “Rotting”, this EP has taken several steps forward in all aspects at once. First of all, it's not exactly a traditional sludge anymore, which is a good thing. The track "Jadzierny Fakieł" is even quite fast and cheerful, and “Koryjum” in some places resembles BEHERIT's immortal “Gate of Nanna”. The sound is still dirty, but in the right style, in which it is clear where the guitar sounds, where the bass is, and so on (on “Rotting”, there was a mess, and the mixing was absent altogether). Both tracks are very strong, you can immediately feel that they were not made by sludgers, but by metalheads. But I didn't appreciate the title and final track "Vypramieńvannie". It's a huge techno improvisation for as long as 12 and a half minutes, and you get bored listening to it after the 4th minute.
The split was released only on cassettes. The print run is 50 copies. The tab has 5 panels and is actually two tabs, since one side is reserved for COSMOS STORM (purple-dreamy), and the other for SMOŬŽ (gloomy black and crimson). There is a lot of space, so the panels have all the texts and all the necessary information, including the fact that COSMIS STORM logo was drawn by Vaiug. Details on a video.
