Style: Blackened Doom/Thrash (mixed vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: Russia
Release date: January 29, 2021
Hello reader! It is good to be back, after a pretty long 2 month hiatus from reviewing I’m hungrier than ever to see what 2021 has lined up for me in the underground stratosphere. And what better way to return with an album from my favorite land of obscure prog?
That’s right folks, we’re back on the Russia drug with Wowod, a band that’s somehow both Blackened Doom and Blackened Thrash. You may ask yourself, how the hell do you even combine the slowest and fastest genre of metal into a song? Well the answer is… they don’t?
Allow me to explain: If you take a look at the track list, you’ll realize that every song placed on an impair number (1,3,5,7) is longer than the ones on a pair (2,4,6). This is because the album works as a sort of hybrid within itself, for every doom track, there’s a thrash track. Now if it’s hard to get one genre nailed, imagine two and adding a coat of black metal on top it all… yeah, doesn’t sound particularly easy, right? But against all odds, Yarost’ I Proshchenie is amazing.
The very first track takes 5 minutes and 20 seconds to completely build up, and what a build up it is with a climax heavier than a thousand bricks with production that absolutely melts your face. The harsh vocals are massive, nearing on a sludgy kind of flair without being an angry guy burping into a toilet, the riffs are thick and crushing, and the drumming is juuuust what it needs to be; it’s simply a fantastic track where even the clean Russian vocals that come into place for the ending add a very refreshing change of pace. So I was, to say the least, shocked but not sad when the album completely did a 180 on me and turned into a black/thrash album, because it was also amazing! The elements built up on the opener are preserved, but with the BPM and overall insanity cranked up to 11, and this constant change of pace from one track to the other feels very well balanced and polished, with me not wanting more (or less) from either style.
I certainly had never heard of a structure like this before, which made it so unique to my ears. It is a great album to just binge and spam-play, its unique build, tight musicianship and production, not to mention fantastic vocals, guarantee that the first release I review for 2021 will surely be a contender for a top album this year.
Recommended tracks: Rekviem, Tanec Yaroski, Top’
Recommended for fans of: Cult of Luna, Sodom
Final verdict: 8.5/10
Related links: metal-archives page | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Church Road Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Wowod is:
– Gerbert Liskin
– Mikhail Zhuravlev
– Kostantin Borisov
– Anton Toshny
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