SVARTSTORM “Иллюзия Выбора”

Requiem Distribution, 2017

Music: Extreme Metal / Melodic Death Metal / Gothic Metal / Modern Metal
Website: https://www.facebook.com/svartstormband/
Duration: 45:44 minutes (tracks)
Country: Russia

Russia is a place where most of the people assume as one among the metal-rid countries. The problem of such misconception is that the one saying this might not be aware of Underground scene. By Underground I mean Underrated or Hidden – from-people’s eyes. Svartstorm is one such act, Hailing from Russia this band has always been hidden and underrated for the music they make. This self proclaimed Extreme Gothic Metal act released their debut full length album entitled “Illusion of Choice” in the year 2017. In order to explain their rhetorical background, I have to use some of the fancy terms that we music monitors, use. So here it goes: – A perfect blend of mesmerizing Synth, Relentlessly heavy drumming, chainsaw alike guitar riffs and extreme vocal style with a tinge of melodious clean singing. It doesn’t get any better than this.

The album art is genuinely designed because the moment I saw the artwork it brought back some of my memories of childhood drawing some dark stuff and naming the art something obscure. Anyways, the artwork can be interpreted in many ways. At first you get to a see a dark themed lady holding a case which caries two guns. Well here is my little plot twist, the thing about the artwork is that it is your choice whether or not to choose the gun given by an Imaginary lady (Illusion). That’s not the sole story one can come up with.

Moving onto their setlist, the songs are well arranged and features numerous guests along the way. Even though the lyrics are written in Russian the appealing Instrumentation got me hooked to their album. Even though I’m not at all familiar with Russian language, some parts of the songs were catchy enough to sing along. One such song is “Black Color of Lies”. The chorus part is super catchy and sounds spectacular while double kick pedals are integrated at the background. Melodic, Catchy, Heavy… What else is required for one to get hooked to an album. One might get perplexed at some points of the album when the melody doesn’t match the extreme vocals done by the extremely talented Vocalist. This is reflected in “Dead Town” where some of the growls doesn’t match the euphony of the Instrumentation. However this might be due my preoccupied playlist towards English songs alone. “Them Synthesizers… Exquisite” this is what I thought about the Instrumentation of “Damned”. Damn, I really need more of that… The song itself is immersed in the mature works of Elena – Utterly impressed with the Synths. The more I listen to this album the mors I get attached to the Keyboards. Well Apart from that beautifully executed synth notes the opening riff of “Irrelevent People” is equally splendid as that of Synth notes. Just when I thought they require a female vocalist to completely utilise the Sympho sound – Ksenia’s prensence in Irrelevent People totally changed the pace of album. Even though the band could use more complex time signatures rather than circling around the same speed (Not Complaining).

After a different expedition through the depths of Russian Metal Scene, We are now left with the last section of the album. Even though the band claims to be “Extreme…” its Errors of the Creator where the band show the true face of brutality. Hard hitting Blast Beats accompanied by chainsaw alike guitar riffs, this song is arguably my favourite song. The Dark synth notes in the background made those transitions perfect. The album ends with yet another solid performance from Elena on Keyboards, as the intro of the track In Eternal Oblivion showcases swiftly done synth notes intertwined with harmonic guitar passages to make a perfect combination which leads to the end of Illusion of Choice which flaunts 9 tracks in which more than half of the tracks executed properly. The only flaw I encountered with is the transition from Mellow Vox to Extreme Vox which creates a sense of ambiguity. Other than that this album is pretty decent. Considering the fact that this is their debut full length album – I can’t ask for more perfection. But in a competitive field these guys desperately need some maturity. However it will take some time for a band to expand their musical caliber so definitely looking forward for their upcoming records.

Tracklist:

1. Мы просили у вечности рай
2. Чёрный цвет лжи
3. Мёртвый город
4. Проклятые
5. Ненужные люди
6. Ветер февраля
7. Стены этих домов
8. Ошибки творца
9. В вечном забвении

Lineup:

Aleksandr Tolgaev – Vocals
Vladimir Bratkov – Guitars
Dmitriy Udalov – Bass
Peter Fateyev – Drums
Elena Sukhodoeva – Keyboard

Rate: 8.0/10