Zgard – ‘U vyri chornoyi snahy’ (2017)
Rating: 8/10
Release: 21 October 2017
Label: Svarga Music
Thinking about this album as a one-man project it’s an astonishing realization. In his 7th release (yes, including ‘Ascension: Paramatman’, the split with Prohod), the very talented musician Yaromisl made a great work again putting together sounds from the wind, chimes and folk instruments along with guitars and drums in these atmospheric black pagan 8 songs to enjoy from the beginning to the end. The album had some release delay problems at the label side but is now for sale since October 21st.
The very first song ‘Dive into the night’ welcomes you showing the very basic of the album mood: deep, dense and cold atmosphere -darker than the great cover art- continue this feeling in ‘Forgotten’ where wind instruments fit with the music and involve the sound with energy. Then ‘Confessions of voiceless’ shows more melodic parts and very good choirs making the album a recipe of very different ingredients for a tasteful outcome. This mix is more enjoyable in songs as ‘Frozen space’, ‘Where the stones drone’ and ‘KoloSlovo’ -my favorite- where good guitar riffs along with flutes and rich drum sounds make you forget that this great job is made by one man only.
‘Cold bonfire’ keeps the energy of this release and adds unexpected melody changes that avoid you to be bored of this 8 minutes song. Finally, ending this entire set lays ‘Winter lullaby’ as a soft ending leaving you in a dark windy peace waiting for more from this very talented musician.
For me, in some moments you could feel that the voice need to be foregrounded to maintain the energy and black metal basis. There’s so much talent in the 55 minutes of the album, and if it’s your first approach to Zgard, you probably will let you go in this swirl of black vigor.
Tracklist
- Zanurennya v nich (Dive into the Night) 01:52
- Zabutyy (Forgotten) 06:35
- Spovidʹ nimoho (Confession of Voiceless) 07:54
- Zamerzlyy prostir (Frozen Space) 08:10
- Tam de kamni hudutʹ (Where the Stones Is Drone) 07:26
- KoloSlovo (KoloSlovo) 06:56
- Kholodna vatra (Cold Bonfire) 08:20
- Kolyskova zymy (Winter Lullaby) 08:02