The Eastern European cuisine is known to be solid, but with a certain finesse. And the same goes for the music of the Belarusian LJOSAZABOJSTWA. Solid on the first impression, but with finesse when you take a deeper look. “Sychod¸annie” is the second, very long EP of this band from Minsk after “Stara¸ytnaje Licha” from 2015. And it’s a very diversified record full of intensity and atmosphere. Musically, LJOSAZABOJSTWA are walking on the edges of Death, Black and Doom Metal, combining these genres to a dark brew from the depths of those places you might not want to know about. The haunting instrumental intro piece ‘Pozirk U Biezdan’ is played on a church organ only. It sets the stage for the sinister ‘Zhuba’, a creeping monolith of blackness with rude eruptions that captivates the listener with its atmosphere and unexpected twists and turns. ‘Piekla’ translates as “Hell” and bears this name with a reason, for this pitch black song is a hellish Doom tune that is accompanied by more church organs in the doomiest parts. The intro section of ‘Šliach Na Miehida’ reminds me of VENOM’s ‘Manitou’ and the inventors of Black Metal are a pretty good hint on the basic riffs of this song as well, since the feeling is similar. But LJOSAZABOJSTWA surprise here with sudden breaks again, like the calm and sinister break in the middle of the song. Another short and gloomy instrumental is the title track ‘Sychod¸annie’, a kind of intro to the final epic ‘Zabojstwa Ljosu’. This one is a Doom / Death Metal maelstrom with some very blackened breaks and again the church organ adds to the very obscure feeling. Thus ends one of the greatest surprises of the year. With “Sychod¸annie”, LJOSAZABOJSTWA released an monster of a record, that will surely get more rounds in my player. Find out more about this very promising band at https://lszb.bandcamp.com or get the record at www.hellthrasher.com