Year of release: 2020
Label: Handful of Hate
Rating: 7,4 / 10
The well-known Ukrainian Varagian continues to move along his creative path at a frightening pace. In 2020, two albums of DO SKONU were released at once, already the sixth and seventh in a row! First came “Hesychian Noise”, which we'll talk about today. On this album, DO SKONU demonstrates the next aesthetic changes, and not all listeners liked it. According to my observations, the “first era” of DO SKONU ended on the album "Ад" in the lyrics of which the theme of death found its final embodiment. The 2019 album "Black Asceticism" was an independent work about some kind of pictorial drug addiction. On “Hesychian Noise,” DO SKONU refers to a brutal realistic aesthetic. Pseudonyms were discarded (Maxim Rodin and session drummer Dmitry Gerasimov replaced Varagian and D. Kim), and in place of unhealthy ritual events in the light of the rotten moon came dark prophecies promising the inevitable, sorry about the pun, skon (demise) to the whole world.
Contrary to the conviction formed among the exalted faggots of Metal Archives based on the cover and the song about Africa, this album is not about “conspiracy theories of white genocide" or "racism". It really is about genocide, but universal, the one that humanity is already preparing with its own hands for the joy of Satan. The album has a message that can be called political, but the things that are said in the lyrics have long gone beyond politics. While one part of the human race degrades, ignoring what is happening around in the pursuit of comfort and satiety, the other is gaining strength, taking advantage of thoughtless globalization. A collision is inevitable, and the result, as they say, is a little predictable. Most of the album is devoted to such gloomy predictions from Maxim.
What does "hesychian noise" have to do with it? This title refers specifically to one track dedicated to another misfortune, about the same vile - the Moscow Patriarchate. The text to the song hits not in the eyebrow, but in the eye - I advise you to read it. After that Maxim relocates to St. Petersburg but with the opposite goal - to pay respect to BLACKDEATH with a cover of “Blood and Ashes”.
What about the music? In my review of "Ад" I predicted DO SKONU a quick transition to a higher stage of development, but so far Maxim's music still lacks some ingredient to say - now this is a bomb, the best album. In general, everything is in place, the dynamics are good. There are the usual slow-poisonous fragments, there are fast ones. Not without rocker cunnings with distinct bass lines. The ending of the title track contains an almost rapper recitative. There are also a couple of good melodic sections. In short, the album is rich in variety. It should be noted that DO SKONU's music has already gone very far from the traditional Black Metal, having acquired its own style and squeaky voice. The sound has become a bit better. Again, all of this lacks some component to make this painting a real masterpiece.
The album was released as a six-panel digipack at Handful of Hate in Belarus and on cassettes at Bloodred Distribution in Ukraine. The digipak was designed by Horth, with whom Maxim has developed a very fruitful collaboration. It came out strict and beautiful - details on a video.
English (UK) 
Крыўская