Forest (RUS) – Forest DIGI-CD

Black Metal

Titled Outojen Tornien Varjoissa, FAUSTIAN PACT’s full-length debut is the grand culmination of all the gloriously bewitching work they brewed across that trio of demos. Exploding with an effervescence that’s addicting and undeniable, their swords-aloft attack surges and swells, crests and cascades. At the forefront are stained-glass synths whisked from a time – and a fantastical landscape – far, FAR away, sumptuously underlining their heroic/romantic style of black metal deeply steeped in a nostalgic past. Across the album’s 41 minute (fantastical) landscape are spread lyrics of splendorous mythology, swords & sorcery, vast forgotten realms brought to life through wily, wanderlusting black metal betraying a noble melodicism. FAUSTIAN PACT are thus a unique balance of contrasts: orkish energy vs. mystical atmosphere, dungeon rawness vs. castle-top aristocracy, obsidian darkness vs. gleaming light. So, whether 25 years ago or 2500, removed by a reality or two, Outojen Tornien Varjoissa is timeless BLACK METAL MAGICK – dark medieval times have at last arrived!

Black Metal

While largely within the wider umbrella of black metal, RVBBERVVITCH’s unique expression nevertheless evades easy categorization – nor easy consumption. Guitars are harsh and cold, yet seemingly summoned from a post-apocalyptic crater rather than an amp; bass tones are mercilessly overdriven, grinding body and soul into the dirt; cutting out humanity altogether, both blastbeats and doomy stomps pump like pus from a Midi drum-machine; and sinister echoing soundscapes meld with malodorous French vocals, which demonically range heavily distorted screeches to low-pitched grunts. And whereas so many nowadays “black metal” bands play-act, the creator of RVBBERVVITCH matches content with form, life with art: the unconventional, largely taboo visual imagery is a reflection of the artist’s unabashedly hedonistic lifestyle.