Seductions of the Unbaptized Darkness

All the successful components of a decent 'demonic' black release are apparent in ‘Seductions...’ on heavy doses. And it shouldn't be a surprise either considering the year of release and the icy landscapes a rusian band can access to find inspiration for the frozen hellfire unleashed from their compositions.


Analyzing their songs structure one can discern multiple parts pointing out of the thick rhythmic wall and the constant feverish battering of the skins. The riffing is memorable, solid and deadly. Epic lines played by all the instruments (and not just the typical keyboards) and insanely fast drumming enrich the compositions along with the surprisingly comprehensible menacing howls of the singer. In other words, this album is an excellent specimen of Norwegian black metal in the vein of Satyricon.


Tracks to savor in this album are ‘Seductions of the Unbaptized Darkness’ with its sharp and epic structure and ‘My Moonfaced Empress’ a composition equivalent to legendary black masterpieces of the 90's. The keyboard/piano instrumental ‘At The Gate Of Primary Senses’ (an unexpected surprise, good or bad is up to you to decide) and the epic (with a brief keyboard intro) ‘Darkest Self-Perfection’ are two others worth mentioned songs. A slight ‘guttural’ (typical black second wave) production concludes and underlines the album making it an essential for the ‘die hard’ 90's blacksters.


One last observation, in this particular release there are not evident ‘grind’ traces as the genre description suggests.
Grim on!