84th part of short reviews.
ДО СКОНУ – …and Darkness was over the Surface of the Deep
Year: 2022
Label: Zazen Sounds / Crypt of Black Fog
Rating: 7/ 10
Having received a promo of the newest DO SKONU album from my friends from Crypt of Black Fog, I intended to do a full review on it. But after a certain number of listenings, I decided not to force myself anymore and throw it into Blitz section. The albums isn't weak or bad; the problem is, DO SKONU doesn't really work in this format. There is almost nothing here from the previous works; this is a very high-quality modern Black Metal with indefatigable blast beats that does not have any distinctive features. And this greatly confuses me, since almost all of Maxim's works have always had unusual characteristic features, even if they were not to my taste. But "... and Darkness" could equally well be the work of a Scandinavian, German or Finnish band. I have heard such music so many times that it no longer has any effect on me, and I have nothing to write about it. High–quality, dark, angry, intense - yes. Interesting? No. But, perhaps, there should be such a work in a diverse DO SKONU discography.
RIFT – To Quench the Thirst of Wolves
Year: 2021
Label: Seance Records
Rating: 7,1/ 10
Atmospheric Black Metal from the members of NAZXUL and ORDER OF ORIAS. It has shitty programmed drums, terribly mixed vocals, but very melodic, beautiful and melancholic guitar parts. It turned out to be a good album, which would have received a much higher rating from me if not for this crappy sound.
FURIS IGNIS – Decapitate the Aging World
Year: 2022
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 7,2/ 10
German blackened metal, aesthetically very close to "vampyric", but in fact mostly dedicated to war and black magic. Raw sound, gloomy solemn synths, croaking vocals, curtsies towards the old Scandinavians. Fine stuff.
BEKËTH NEXËHMÜ – De fornas likgaldrar (Forna nordiska besvärjelser omfamnat i tre kapitel)
Year: 2021
Label: Purity Through Fire
Rating: no rating
FUCKING HUGE (almost 2 hours!!!) album from the indefatigable Swedes. I have a lot of respect for the creativity of these guys, but for me, their music always lacked strong foundation; through compositions of exorbitant length and certain features of sound, their music is being perceive more like a super-intense ambient rather than metal. In particular, BEKËTH NEXËHMÜ is PAYSAGE D'HIVER with balls. Unlike the meaningless Swiss shit, there is something to listen to, but not everyone can stand two hours, because these are not synths, but guitars and blasts. With all responsibility, I say that my spirit and body are too weak for this.
ANCIENT NORTH – The Gates
Year: 2022
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 6/10
Here is a sad example of how the absence of even the rudiments of good taste and style can affect someone else's perception of your work. When I started listening to this album, I was collecting my first impressions: "A good Norway-worhsip, partly in the vein of old IMMORTAL, but there is something from DARKTHRONE as well. The sound, of course, is amateurish, but it can be forgiven". Then I decided to look at the photos of the musician, where he poses in a classic combat image... in the hallway of his apartment. "Another useless shit from mother's bedroom!". Of course, ”The Gates“ is still rough and primitive metal in the best traditions of ”Pure Holocaust“ and ”Under the Funeral Moon", but these photos left a deep wound on me. Them, and this idiotic “ov" in the names of the songs. And - separately - the dumbest song name "Deicide Warriors ov The Abyss". Seriously, what the fuck?
English (UK) 
Крыўская