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Deviator > Mighty Black Inner Flame > Reviews
Deviator - Mighty Black Inner Flame

Mighty Black Inner Flame - 71%

Fulgurius, September 14th, 2009

"Mighty Black Inner Flame", the debut full-length album of Deviator, was originally self-released by the band as CD-R and later released on CD by the Russian labels Northern Lights Prod. and Cyberborea Records. The album consists of 7 songs and in some of them one may recognize some themes from the previous releases, but here they were essentially reworked and improved. And generally, I'm sure that no one will deny the major improvements the band had undergone comparing to the earlier works, but still there are few things that, in my opinion, could have been better.

First of all, there's synthetically sounding rhythm section... The programming was done quite well and there is nothing to argue about, but the band that has full line-up (when I write these lines, Deviator has become one-man band once again, but they were the full band in the time when this album was recorded) could put more effort and time and record everything as it should be. Another thing is some repetition in riffs, not that the songs are identical, quite the contrary, but some songs become a bit boring due to the repetition of the same riff, like in the eponymous to the album third track, I think it's time for Deviator to add more variety into riffs. But after all guitar sounds quite good, there are two guitar lines at some parts and it makes the sound more powerful and intense. Besides there are some tasty melodic parts, for example the instrumental "Raw Symphony of Sorrow" sounds almost like melodic death metal. And of course the opening track - "Forgotten Hope" - melodic melancholic piece, which is the best song on the whole album, in my opinion. Acoustic guitar tune at the end of the same track is also the most memorable among the few other acoustic parts throughout the album. The tracks 2 to 4 are mostly tremolo-picked black metal with some death metal influences in "The Last Day of Mankind", while "Undying Darkness" (which can be found in two versions on this album: one features guest screams and clean voices by Pr. Sergiy from Moloch and the other is an instrumental version with guest solo guitar by Oleksandr from Begotten) is the melodic theme with heavy metal-styled riffs. Also some keyboards were used on this album to make the sound more atmospheric, but I cannot say that there's something special here.

So, with the debut full-length "Mighty Black Inner Flame' Deviator has passed a milestone in its history and has to move further. I hope the author is satisfied with the result, despite some shortcomings that I have mentioned above, and I wish the band good luck in their future development.

Solitude and Darkness - 85%

Phosphorous, September 13th, 2009

Deviator is a folk/black metal band from the Ukraine. They've been releasing demos and splits until now, as they finished their newest output and first full-length “Mighty Black Inner Flame.” They’ve worked with musicians from fellow Ukrainian acts Moloch, Imperial and Begotten, all bands specializing in solitude and darkness. After forming in 2005, Deviator began to grow from Hastner’s solo project to a three-man band statefor “Mighty Black Inner Flame," which still contains the ambient/folk themes incorporated into extremely raw black metal that the young band is known for.

The first track, “Forgotten Hope,” builds up and slowly pulls in clouds of organic density from start to finish. You can envision the sun rising above snow-tipped mountains, a running creek, forests of trees with light pouring in through their roofs, classic folk instrumental images. “The Last Day of Mankind” starts to crack into the black metal stockpile when Hastner’s vocals come in. His screams are legible to the point that you can tell they’re in Ukrainian, which adds more to the densly forested folk impact of “Mighty Black Inner Flame.”

The overall tempo of the album is fast, but stops at times when the folk parts decide to make their appearences. The title track "Mighty Black Inner Flame" aptly reflects the album as its variation shows how hard it is to pin Deviator down to one genre. It induces listeners into a melodic coma, with mesmerizing beats that seem unending. Another track, “Undying Darkness,” is a medley of vocals, both spoken words and screaming, manifesting a powerful atmosphere.

The folk/black metal formula on “Mighty Black Inner Flame” is unique to Deviator. Though many bands may straddle the lines of these two genres, Deviator are in a completely different spot than all others. You can’t escape the black metal half, but at times, you may not even think to really label them as such; though they manage to maintain a recognizable cold malevolence throughout. “Mighty Black Inner Flame” seems to test the waters of many genres. Parts sound black metal, but don’t really have the correct atmosphere. You want to call it folk metal, but then you hear the vocals and the music speeds up like any black metal band would. Deviator certainly doesn’t want to bore you, but some more coherence and unification would be appreciated.

Sifting through the blunt chaos of Deviator and the basement/home production complete with notorious scratchiness, the quality of song-writing is obvious. Deviator is a band to take note of as they have continually progressed in strides with each release. On “Mighty Black Inner Flame,” they’ve made their blackened mark and they’re still in search of more pyre for the flame.

- Written for Tanin'iver Zine