Stara¸ytnaje Licha
(Hellthrasher Productions)
25:43min
At first I was surprised by the incredibly primitive sounding music and production, although I didn’t really think this would necessarily be a bad thing. And indeed, it isn’t. The fact that this demo (now released on CD) sounds as if it had been recorded in a cave actually gives the sound much bludgeoning power, not being muffled or anything. It’s really raw but powerful. The music is rather slow to mid-tempo and with much focus; some sort of Black / Doom / Death Metal with a very low-key and extremely deep and guttural voice. The language (Belarusian I guess) sure fits the effect. The whole thing sounds a bit amateurish; the production, the guitar leads, and I’m even seriously wondering whether this was recorded “live” in the studio instead of each instrument at a time. However, there are some strong points that end up really convincing me, such as the weird keyboards that blend in a contrasting way (yet working out somehow) with the very to-the-point percussion and guitars. I was also much impressed by the remarkable vocals, that are really extremely aggressive (even though of rather invariable tone) and sound like a madman invoking Satan in an underground crypt. Occasionally you have some acoustic guitar outros or an interlude taken from some epic old movie. In the end, what really hooks me is that there is something deeply underground that harks back a lot to the early times of eastern European Black Metal bands like AMON and the likes, and so I must say that even though this will not be to everyone’s enjoyment, it will certainly strike a chord for those who miss earlier times… this music sounds like it was recorded in 1991. Unlike many other records, I’ll be coming back to listen to this one! Well done, o children of Underground Metal! https://lszb.bandcamp.com, www.hellthrasher.com
Ricardo Campos