Year: 2026
Label: Skon
Rating: 7,1 / 10
Meet the new trio of Skon releases. I already wrote about one of them, the debut album of the new band UDUŠŠA, and now let's listen to our familiar pals in a new combination.
ACWEALD (the project of mighty Bauglir, the creator of BONEHAMMER and PINEBLOOD), on this release offers his probaly most “punky” material in terms of sound quality. The noisy and softened (as in damp-softened) sound contrasts very strongly with the beautifully clear acoustics that sound in the intro and finale of the first track. It's almost impossible to hear a word in them vocals. It's not a total mush in music, but the guitar absorbs everything else a little. Even on the demo, everything was much cleaner. But maybe that's the way it should be when you are into punk. The song "Śmierć prychodzić z zołkam" is a dynamic track traditional for ACWEALD with a melodic line and long lyrics about an evil that dwells in the forest. "Tonucy u ahulščynie" is an intense cover of the legendary band DOOM, from which I have not heard a single song. It sounds very angry and furious. Taken as a whole, the ACWEALD side on this split is at the level of two random tracks taken from the album “Archaic", for example. This is good, but it can be done better, especially since the splits from Krywian scene have recently accustomed us to very high quality. On the other hand, Bauglir and I have a very different understanding of music, so it's possible that this is the right approach for him, and I don't understand something.
As for FAUSTBRUHIEL, it is simply impossible not to notice the rapid growth here. For obvious reasons, I have been listening to this band very often over the past six months, and therefore I can easily follow its development. Demo and debut album were example of large, but unpolished ambitions. On the split with PESTILENTIA, the guys, obviously influenced by the more experienced residents of "Jama", dropped everything unnecessary and recorded a long track based on pure metallic riffs without any additional elements. It turned out great - I listened to that split last November, and the song from FAUSTBRUHIEL is still playing in my head. On ”U Zmroku", the band tried to do the same thing, but with their favorite fancy things: rich lead guitar parts, spatial effects, interludes, and so on. And I will say that it turned out very well again! As soon as FAUSTBRUHIEL learned to play smoothly, their music gained tremendous power. The basic fragments of both tracks are determined by a powerful onslaught that cannot be contained. Obviously, the collaboration with PESTILENTIA has not been in vain, as they are the ones who know how to create a from a seemingly standard tremolo-blasting composition a high-speed train that rushes like an arrow through a black tunnel without deviating from the course by a single centimeter. FAUSTBRUHIEL works with broader strokes, but now their music is much more focused than on the debut the album. The lyrics, fortunately, have lost all the ridiculous "slavicness". Both bands on the split now sing exclusively in Belarusian, which warms the soul and ears.
"U Zmroku" was released on pro-tape in a small print run, which has not yet been sold out. The cover was drawn by Vaiug, the rest of the design was made by Greek. The j-card, made in green, looks remarkable, but I didn't quite understand why there was suddenly a fragment of some other art inside the last fold. I suspect a mistake here... otherwise, the tape looks great. Details on a video.
