Review: GERZOLTH – Порывам сердец в ледяную мечту

Year: 2024
Label: Заиндевевшая Рябина
Rating: 7 / 10

Of all the pretenders for the BBH laurels that I received from the Frosty Rowan label, the Siberian GERZOLTH band looks the most convincing. When I first came across them online, I didn't like GERZOLTH at all, but after getting the tape, I gave them another chance, and it paid off.

Musically, GERZOLTH is closer to the 3rd and 4th albums of FOREST. Some of the riffs are so authentic, as if they were written by BBH members back in those days. However, if you take the whole thing, it turns out that GERZOLTH does not shy away from independence and attempts to develop their own style. They have - a very rare phenomenon for russian metal these days! - a distinctive sound. which is somewhere between early and late BBH. That is, it has an ancient crispness and magic, but also a modern quality. I would like to emphasize the very expressive bass! No wonder the band caught the ear of the owner of the good Portuguese publisher Signal Rex.

Moreover, GERZOLTH really know how to play. Looking at the photos, I conclude that the guys are still very young, about 20 years old, but there is a sense of skill and understanding in their music. Unfortunately, it didn't work out without errors: for example, there is a very sloppy lead guitar part in "Герцольта исток" song. But still, it is mile better than, for example, SLAVIC FRONT. Obviously, there's a difference in approach: GERZOLTH's first recordings also sounded terrible (the first demo was absolutely ridiculous nonsense), but they turned out to be capable of a fairly rapid evolution. The next step is to learn how to write more interesting songs. After all, GERZOLTH's stylistics are already fine, but the musical component on the debut resembles an oscillogram: long seconds and even minutes of not very inspiring material often go between bursts in the form of very strong fragments. It should be understood that the monotony of the BBH bands' music worked largely due to its special transcendent sound. If you can hear everything well, you either need to make dozens of brilliant riffs, or somehow hide the less successful segments under the additional arrangements.

The main negative feature of "Порывам сердец в ледяную мечту" for me is the vocals. Mr. Incusond has a very specific way of, um, shouting, and an even more specific voice. For a peculiar taste, so to speak. Some will like it, some won't. I didn't like it at all. There is also such a problem that he shouts out every phrase with a strong feeling, but for some reason the entire vocal line turns out to be the same, without a glimpse of dynamic. The same Kaldrad, even if he didn't sing, but only growled, tried to diversify his vocals: a little higher there, a little lower here. And about the lyrics... Lads and lasses, don't get into the skaldic style, come on, stop being silly. At the very best, you get ”Nitsanger" by NITBERG, which is the worst thing that Kaldrad has written for the Hall in the entire history of its existence. However, even the worst of Kaldrad's verses had an internal connection, coherency and meaning in each line, understandable not only to their author. Alas, I can't say the same about GERZOLTH.

The cassette edition from Frosty Rowan turned out to be beautiful and of a very high quality. The 4-panel inlay has all the lyrics and necessary information. The tape also has a nice little exclusive in the form of an intro and outro tracks which are not available on other editions. Details on a video.