p>Year of release: 2020
Label: Der Schwarze Tod
Rating: 8,3 / 10
The second full-length album of the Ural ВИХРЬ turned out to be genuinely long-awaited - for seven years Hlad ad been carrying his new brainchild. New in every sense, as ВИХРЬ has undergone changes again. On the first album, it professed unholy nordic metal according to the canons of OLD WAINDS, on a joint release with ВСПОЛОХ - Ural metal, and on "Кощунство" ("Blasphemy") perhaps, simply unholy metal, and just a little bit nordic. There is even symbolic song - "Unholy Metal", sang in English.
At the same time, ВИХРЬ is still not Black Metal but is, one might say, its twin. The album is still more about spiritual rebellion and liberation, and not about Satanism. Having fought with the laity and danced with naked witches by the fire, at the end of the album Hlad leaves the mortal shell and directs his spirit to the stars, "Following the Perseids". The sublimity of thought permeates the album at all levels: the music ignores restrictions, the sound has purity and volume, the lyrics are replete with exclamation marks.
The eclecticity of the musical component overwhelmed me at first. Hlad said in a private conversation that the songs turn out very melodic, and I mentally prepared for something like the Ural version of DISSECTION but it turned out quite differently. This is metal, not experimental in any way. Moreover, it is purposeful, where all songs have one goal. However, approaches to this goal vary greatly, sometimes changing several times in one composition. The album takes off from the traditional Eastern European-style track Guardian of the Foggy Ridges”, where there is a steady rhythm, monumentality, proud vocals - all on the principle of a split with ВСПОЛОХ or, for example, the Ukrainians KHORS and YGG. Or WALKNUT, KRAHNHOLM, etc. You know. But already on “Unholy Metal” the picture changes. The song has a low tempo and evil sound, sinks into memory with an atmospheric chorus. And the riffscome to the forefront. I don’t want to say that ВИХРЬ didn’t have riffs before, it’s just that in the type of metal that the band played, they play a secondary role. But on this album, the further it goes, the clearer it becomes that Hlad was inspired by traditional metal - thrash, and even Hard'n'Heavy. The song "Во веки веков" (Forever) continues to spin the flywheel: first blast beats and anger, then a purely thrashy fast riff with ringing keys beating on the ears, a short bass solo followed by a beautiful intense piece with a synth background, rushing into the cold heights like flames... On "Ведьмин костёр" (Witches' Bonfire) the keys pull the blanket over themselves, emphasizing the sabbathic-dancing character of the song. The sound of keyboards, frankly, is not the most familiar to extreme metal. That is, this is not the case when a musician holds down one key for ten seconds, then the next one, and so on. No, the keys behave insolently, much like with the gothic rock metal projects from the turn of the century. Only they are made not according to the "let it be" principle but for the benefit. Surely not everyone will like it but to each his own.
It should be understood that all this time the guitars continue to play riffs, without going down to recyclable monotonous tremolo picking. The song “Storm” takes this trend to perfection, offering a rhythm so old-fashioned that it's just a stone's throw from SAXON with their wheels of steel. And there is a solo, how can you go without it? The track "В ледяных чертогах" (In the ice halls) in my opinion, turned out to be unsuccessful. Probably against the background of the variety of other things. It resembles "Forever", only without bold decisions. Just blasts and screams, plus a few keys. The final track "Following the Perseids" expectedly came out epic and dreamy, although a little more pessimistic in sound than I thought. There are two great guitar solos here, and a verse with clean vocals is offered for a snack.
As I finish writing these lines, I have to admit that "Blasphemy" is a big and outstanding album. Although I did not chew it right away, and I am sure that most of the listeners will also have some troubles. The modern extreme metal scene, both major and underground, prefers to work like a blueprint, using a set of ready-made compositional and sound solutions for all occasions. Actually, like any direction of modern culture. We all get used to it imperceptibly, including myself. Listening to dozens and hundreds of high-quality, carbon-copy albums, it becomes more and more difficult for us to listen to music,as we did it before, when we just started getting into metal. We focus on atmosphere, sensations, images, evaluate sound and cover, look for stylistic patterns and references. And according to all the rules, “Blasphemy” should have turned out completely the same as the first track, and everyone would have praised it, shook their heads, even uploaded it to YouTube channels about "atmospherick" shit. But Hlad decided otherwise. No wonder he pored so much over this record. You really need to listen to music here. And you will be rewarded if you pay attention to the album, and not just play it in the background during Internet surfing.
The album was again released by Der Schwarze Tod, this time in jewel case with 16-page booklet. The cover and all the songs are illustrated with pictures of some blasphemous ritual of cross burning gonar czornaga staba during the clear evening that quickly turned into night. Lyrics are included. Details on a video.
P.S. Read the interview with Hlad very soon.
English (UK) 
Крыўская