Dying Emotions Domain

Astrofaes is a black metal project from Ukraine that has an interesting history. They're mostly known for their epic style of metal that's been compared to that of Hate Forest and especially Drudkh. Even their guitarist Thurios went on to join the latter band. But in the early days of the band, however, they had a more fierce and crazed sound that was established as early as in their first demos, but would be expanded upon in their first album "Dying Emotions Domain" from 1998.

The album opens up with an ambient track "The Black Woods Theory". It's fairly standard as far as ambient intros in black metal go, but the melodic synths do a good job at providing a beautiful atmosphere. However, this calm scenery won't last for long, as in the next track "Fiery Mysticism", the whole thing blows up. The guitars sound very raw and aggressive, and they play an extremely fast riff that's a bit reminiscent of Marduk and especially Hate Forest. The drumming is also primitive in sound, as the snares especially sound loud and clingy, but the beat patterns are technical enough to lead the tracks. And in the middle of it all, you can hear some keyboards in the background flowing with the guitars. It's a nine-minute epic that starts off the album strong, and this strength only continues on as the album progresses. Tracks like "At Nightfall" and "Ad Infinitum (Dark II)" not only continues on with the raging atmosphere, but they also offer an emphasis on atmosphere, making the chaos seem grand and vast. The only weak instrumental is in the cover for Celtic Frost's "Necromantical Screams", as while it's decent, it does feel more like filler and something you can skip. Otherwise, the rest of the tracks have some intense instrumentals, and will leave you psyched.

The vocals are also really good. Dalver was the vocalist of the band in their early days, and is only featured in this album as well as The Attraction: Heavens & Earth. However, his vocal performance was good in both releases, and this album especially showcases that. They do sound a bit standard at first with the high-pitched shrieks, but given the intense natures of the guitars and drums, his vocals flow surprising well to the crazed riffs. It's especially true in the track "Dying Emotions Domain", as with its more epic approach to the riffs, Dalver's shrieks further emphasize the impression of fighting a bloody battle. Dalver's vocals might not be groundbreaking in terms of style, but paired up with the instruments, they're really good.

Even the lyrics are great. Three of the four main members wrote lyrics for each track, and they're all really good. Take the lyrics to "Path to Burning Space" for example, where this verse quotes:

Wake up!
Do you hear a noise of surf?
They are alight together
As summer lighting
Stars is burning

Basically, the protagonist is woken up by burning stars combining to make lightning. The details of the events happening are direct and to the point, and are enough to paint a vivid picture of the stars. These lyrics are also fitting to the instrumentals and vocals, as the loud riffs and synths do a great job at replicating the spatial themes in the story, and Dalver's vocals enforcing the intensity of the events. There aren't a lot of issues in the songwriting, as they tell some fantastic stories that are fitting to the album.

Astrofaes's debut is a lot more intense and extreme when compared to their more epic-driven albums later on in their discography. Despite this, the composition and songwriting is done really well with some intense riffs, harsh vocals, and poetic stories about the stars. If you're looking for some wild Ukrainian black metal in the vain of stuff like Hate Forest, then you have to give this album a spin.

The first reviewer is in a way partly correct and partly wrong. It is correct that this album is really heavy and has some great riffs and just pure headbanging action with a slight folk taste mixed in, a long the lines of Dub Buk almost. But anyways, another thing he had correct was the lyrics, but who really cares, the lyrics do make sense but they certainly arent well written in English, this does not in any way effect the material on this album, lets make that perfectly clear! The thing the first reviewer was most incorrect about was the synth. The synth is rarely dominant, its not all in your face and distracting or anything, its alot more calm than Nokturnal Mortum synth or Dub Buk synth, definitely alot more calm. The synth and guitars work well together, there is no clashing, so i dont know where the first reviewer got the idea that it sounds like they are working together, ive listened to this album so many times that i can certainly say it all fits together smoothly to in the end create one great album of total heaviness. There is a Celtic Frost cover on this album but well, its done with a highly Astrofaes type of sound so its really hard to notice, feels like just another fast heavy Astrofaes track.

Great album, first reviewer shouldve taken the time to REALLY listen to this rather than crack some jokes about the keyboardist and the lyrics.

Funny how expectation and reality so often sit at right angles to one another. I was compelled to buy into this Ukrainian black metal project by the presence of Saturious, one of the Nokturnal Mortum keyboardists, only to find that he is the major blight on this release! He was brought in as a guest performer, perhaps to garner some attention for the band, but this clearly is a marriage that was not meant to be.

Dying Emotions Domain could have been a killer release. Surely, few could deny that the main riffs of "Fiery Mysticism" are pure class. At its heart, Astrofaes is a raging, raw black metal band that churns out some very powerful and heavy rhythms, catchy blast beats, hard-hitting snare beats and good (though fairly standard) snarled black vocals. Unfortunately, every time Saturious chips in with his little contributions, things become awkward - he seems to be in constant conflict with the rest of the band. Unlike the more folk-styled keys of Nokturnal Mortum, these are synthetic attempts at grand symphonic something-or-other, and they're pretty fucking lame... certainly not congruent with the vile savagery going on around him. On "Path to Burning Space" we see some improvement as the intro features a more appropriate melody including my most hated of instruments, the saxophone. Kudos to the band for making such a shitty instrument sound good. But minus points for some of the cheesy shite we hear emerging from Saturious's Casio throughout the remainder of said song.

While the keyboards may prevent this from being a highly recommended release, I can at least assure the reader that Astrofaes is fundamentally a sound band, and well worth keeping tabs on as they progress (and in the case of the keys, hopefully regress a little too). Note also that they do a very fine cover of Celtic Frost's "Necromantical Screams" - keeping the old school vibe alive while adding their own touches to the interpretation. Since the CD release has a fairly demo-level production, a safe bet would be to buy the original tape version, which usually goes for just a few bucks.

One final note - this album features some of the most atrocious butchery of the English language I have ever seen. I won't quote the lyrics out of respect for the band and their non-Anglophonic roots, but seriously guys, if you can't speak English just speak Ukrainian! There really is no point trying to communicate your message when the delivery is so embarrassingly awkward.