Vojstrau – ‘Vaśmikancovaja’ (2016)
Rating: 9/10
Release: 18 November 2016
Label: Independent
If you have been following the site and my reviews then you know that the last Wartha album “Azure Lakes” was one of my favs from 2015. At the beginning of this year it was announced that the Belarus project would be changing their name to Vojstrau and with that, presumably, changing musical direction on some level. I was hoping it wasn’t too drastic a change and luckily, I don’t think it is, if anything it is probably more focused than ever with some parts of their sound cast aside and newer portions emerging. The main change is that Oleg is now solo in this endeavor, handling all instruments and vocals. With his now doing all the tasks, the style is more streamlined with a blend of progressive, pagan, thrash and black metal and I would say less folky. The closest comparison for this transformation would be the latest release from Paganland, adding a new vocalist and changing style to more of a black metal direction. Vojstrau seems more of a logical progression in where “Azure Lakes” was heading than what Paganland has done with their new path. There are certainly connections to the Wartha sound, obviously Oleg’s vocals and guitar tone/style, both in top form here with his guitar riffing and technique more fluid and thought provoking than ever. Vocally, he still employs the deep baritone style with the more death/black metal style in all the tracks and that is one of the defining parts of the overall sound. There are more blast beats here than I remember hearing in the previous releases but not overdone…. only employed when necessary. From the opening title track, one thing I kept noticing was the layering of instrumentation and vocals especially a subtle keyboard/sound effect here and there. The juxtaposing of the guitar parts with the main riff and the rhythm riff is effective from beginning to end here and does not have the traditional black metal chord progressions but has a very traditional metal sound to it, sometimes reminding me of Scotalnd’s Adabroc (also a one-man project) or even some Dissection, Welicoruss or Draugul.
The entire album is in Belarusian this time around (no English tracks) and the 7 tracks average around 5 minutes in length or so (the one exception is the 2-minute instrumental “Auseklis”). I could debate whether this could be an EP pretty strongly given the amount of tracks and length but that is for another day. I love the mix and overall production here with a nice blend of vocals and instruments and with an incredible dimensionality to it making it sound very “visual” if that makes sense. After hearing this I could see where “Azure Lakes” was more experimental and now with “Vasmikancovaja” there is a more defined direction, definitely heavier but with still connections to the Wartha catalog. While I miss some of the female vocal and English tracks, I will just keep listening to “Azure Lakes” for those “Vasmikancovaja” has got my ear for now and with each listen unveils more to be heard. With the recent Saor and Myrkgrav releases, I can’t imaging where I can fit yet another amazing album from November into my top ones for 2016……I will just have to make it work for Vojstrau too… amazing album.
Tracklist
- Vaśmikancovaja 05:30
- Nia źziajuć 06:26
- Dundara žorny 04:34
- Niapieranosnaść 06:11
- Aŭseklis 01:58
- Paŭstań 04:43
- Jak vir ahnisty 05:10