Digital Update
(February 2009)
Reviews Archive
News Archives
|
Site Location > Reviews Archive > K > SLP007
KOB' (Rus): “The Ancient Shroud of Primeval Ural Woods” CD
(Serpent Lair Productions)
It has proven rather difficult to get hold of sufficient copies of this album to be able to review it, but, as usual, patience has paid off, and we are finally able to bring this magnificent opus to your attention. As the album title suggests, KOB’’s Black Metal is concerned with Nature mysticism. The songs are mostly slow to mid-tempo, but they avert monotony through high velocity bursts, which may last for several minutes. Although the band avail themselves of synthesisers to invoke dreamy atmospheres, the emphasis is on the guitars, which buzz along a stream of slow, nostalgic melodies. Indeed, a brooding, melancholy brand of nostalgia, suggesting virgin forests and longing for a distant past, are essential characteristics of KOB’’s sound. Presented in a framework of nature photographs, anti-rationalistic references (Kob’ means ‘witchcraft’, ‘divination’, ‘knowledge’, ‘wisdom’), and quasi-Pagan references in the graphic department, we have here a release that reflects well the more emotional facet of the conservative revolution. Notable are the discrete use of traditional folk instruments and the fact that lyrics are in Mediaeval Russian. KOB’ remind me somewhat of THY REPENTANCE, another top-notch band to come out of Russia, who back in the mid 1990s created a couple of Pagan Black Metal albums very much in this vein. Since this will not be available forever, and is difficult to source reliably, you are well advised to grab yourself a copy while it is possible, lest you discover KOB’’s majesty too late, and end up pulling your hair off your scalp in desperate searches amidst collectors unwilling to part with their zealously guarded copies. Reviewed by AK-47.
|
New Releases:
Forthcoming:
|
