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Darzamat > Transkarpatia > 2005, CD, Metal Mind Productions (Digipak, Enhanced, Limited edition) > Reviews
Darzamat - Transkarpatia

This is why people don't respect symphonic metal - 32%

PhantomMullet, February 9th, 2008

Let's take all the annoying, negative stereotypes from all the typical symphonic black metal bands that have some sort of Gothic touches in them. Then we'll cram them into one album. It turns out such an album exists already - it's called Transkarpatia and it's made by the not too famous Darzamat. There's a reason they aren't too popular.....they've been releasing very mediocre pieces for years now, and this time it's no different.

The production is quite clear and the instrumentals aren't too bad. Each song is a bit reminiscent of bands like Anorexia Nervosa with some very cheesy influences from Cradle of Filth and even the Kovenant. So at this point, if you were familiar with any of the three bands just mentioned, you know how cheesy this album will sound. As a fan of Anorexia Nervosa (and someone who doesn't care much for CoF), I was pretty interested in the album Transkarpatia at first, until I heard the god awful vocals.

The vocals just kill this album and ruin the atmosphere. Songs like Labyrinth of Anxiety, Virus, and even The Burning Times have a cool dark, Gothic atmosphere at first that shouldn't get too much criticism, but then the vocals just kick in and the lameness factor increases a thousandfold. Flauros is just a crappier version of Dani Filth, and that's not even saying much because both are horrible. He sounds like one of those toys you'd give to your dog that squeaks, only the squeaker is old so it just lost its tone. And when he doesn't sound like that, he sounds like, for lack of a better term, flagulation. The female vocals don't help much either. At some points Nera shows that she's actually not bad, but other times she also just ruins the atmosphere and most of the time she has no chemistry with the flow of the other instruments.

But it isn't only the vocal skills we're worrying about - Flauros tries to sound a bit too evil and ends up making a joke of himself. That's pretty much the whole theme of this album anyways. "Hey guys !! Cradle of Filth are gods but we can be way more evil than that!" It just doesn't work like that, and especially not here.

For the most part, the other instruments do a pretty good job. I could see myself listening to this band more if they got a decent vocalist but that may be stretching it There are some worthy riffs here and there for brief moments as well as powerful drumming and prevalent keyboard parts, but while I said the production was good earlier, I have to disagree in some cases. The production is so clear, that the vocals are heard very well and therefore highly distracting from any of the talent exhibited within the guitars, drums, and keys.

In short, this is a very embarrassing album to listen to mainly due to the horrendous vocals. But the other problem is that this genre in particular is overdone by tons of generic bands that all get swept under the rug of mediocrity. In other words, you had BETTER do something new or interesting that isn't too silly to deem yourselves of any value. Transkarpatia is both generic and uninteresting and a disgrace to the few symphonic black metal or extreme Gothic metal bands that actually do present well acclaimed releases. Highlights are Labyrinth of Anxiety, Virus, and maybe, just MAYBE Vampiric Prose because of the half-decent vocals from Nera. But this last sentence really isn't saying much.

In conclusion, avoid this band and album all together. Or just boot the vocalist(s) and see what happens. Should this type of music ever interest you, just stick to something like Anorexia Nervosa, Hecate Enthroned, or perhaps Daemonicium.

Nicely fills the gap between goth and extreme - 85%

Burning_Babies, October 7th, 2006

On rare occasion, I stumble on a band I’ve never heard, that has exactly the sound I’ve been looking for for years. I have always enjoyed female fronted metal acts, but I have generally found them somewhat too soft and syrupy to be totally fulfilling. Darzamat provides an alternative to this, blending a much darker, more aggressive overall tone with rich melodic interludes to find a seductive middle ground between a fem fronted goth outfit and an extreme metal act.


Darzamat’s sound is anchored by Golem’s excellent drumming. While not overly technical, he lays a tight foundation of double bass work interspersed with thrashy accents and mid paced fills. Keyboards and guitars work closely together to drive the song structure. The guitars frequently stick to a crunchy monotonic rhythm pattern and let the keys add the melody, but there are plenty of hooky riffs, trem picking, occasional tasteful leads, etc. thrown in to keep things fresh.


If I were to judge the band solely on the instrumental performance, I’d have to consider them a moderately successful, less epic spin on something like Dimmu Borgir. However, the vocal performance really sets this band apart, and makes this album a keeper. Nera’s voice is beautiful, and amongst the most thick and powerful in the genera. Her delivery is exceptional and ambitious, adding somewhat dissonant melodies to some sections and following them with beautiful harmonization, providing a fine balance between accessibility and edginess. Her range is excellent, and her thick accent adds an exotic twist. Backing Nera up is Flauros, providing a further harsh counterbalance to Nera’s beautiful harmonies. Flauros’ vocal delivery is very reminiscent of Dani Filth, although he lacks Dani’s high scream. Rather than simply providing a nod to extreme metal like many of the male vocalists in this genre, Flauros’ performance is abrasive and featured prominently.


The songs are relatively short for this brand of symphonic metal, ranging from 3 to 5 minutes. Fortunately, the band avoids the pitfall of formulaic song structure that concise songs often corral musicians into, with many songs providing unexpected twists. Most of the album’s diversity is driven by tempo variation within the songs. The pace is pretty consistent, beginning with mostly faster tempo pieces interspersed with a couple short keyboard instrumentals (which are fairly unremarkable). The overall pace slows slightly towards the end, concluding with the dirge-like “Tribute To….”. The oddball tune is “Letter from Hell”, a spoken word piece in which Nera plays both accused witch and inquisitor. While haunting at times, parts of it come off as a bit corny, and her thick accent works against her here more than elsewhere, making it difficult to understand some lines. While they don’t pull off this ambitious song too effectively, it’s a rare exception in overall quality album.

Sucks Like A Black Hole - 18%

GuntherTheUndying, July 22nd, 2006

Darzamat haven't really gained the status of a huge metal band, and there's good reasoning for that. Darzamat have been making some atmospheric style goth that usually contains bland instrumental work and song writing, and they haven't changed a bit from their last album. "Transkarpatia" is Darzamat's new album that shows minimal progression and is horribly dull.

The main thing that kills this album is the instrumental work. Once one riff starts, it never ends or hardly changes. The guitar work sounds like somewhere between heavy metal riffs with a tiny influence of doom, but is played in a disastrous way. Once again, the main problem with the guitars is the lack of diversity and the repetitive nature of the riffs. The drumming is mediocre at best, but easily wins the instrument award. Drummer Golem typically does some easy bass snare patterns, but he has a couple moments of good blast beats and fast double bass pedal hits. Keyboardist Spectre does a decent job. The music is very keyboard laden and he adds some decent classical and symphonic samples into the sound. The keyboards can get annoying after a while, but is ok overall.

As you probably could guess, the vocal work by singers Flauros and Nera is absolutely ghastly. Male singer Flauros is probably one of the worst singers I've ever heard. Remember Cradle Of Filth singer Dani Filth and his annoying, squeaky voice?. It's clear that Flauros has many similar characteristic with Filth in the vocal category, mainly because his voice is so high pitched and is over used throughout the album. When you have a singer with a strange voice like Flauros, it needs to be used on occasion, and his vocal work is a complete disaster because of the overuse. Female vocalist Nera does a much better job then Flauros, but it still isn't very good. Nera does have a good voice and puts it to use on "Vampiric Prose" when she hits the high notes and sings during the course. "Vampiric Prose" made me think that she is a good vocalist, but the narration she uses is completely horrible. On "Letter To Hell," Nera uses a narration style voice that is just awful. Her voice is unclear and very hard to understand. There are some bad moments in her singing as well. During "The Burning Times," Nera begins to force in her vocals that don't fit the song and it seems to become irritating.The patterns of both singers tend to keep looping around until the album is over.

All qualities that an album must contain to be good is absent on "Transkarpatia." The only time I would recommend this album is if you have a bone to pick with someone. Tie them to a chair, put this album in, and make them listen to it. You'll get even; "Transkarpatia" is that bad! Avoid at all costs.

This review was orginally written for: www.Thrashpit.com