There is no "satanism" or "furiousness" involved in the album, as most of the people take Black Metal to be a product of that. Neither do they inculcate any element of blast beats in here. Desolate and cold scenery is all over the booklet. The subtle CD cover, takes you to an atmosphere of calm. On SMALISTY ZAH distorted arpeggios, crushing riffs and ambient keyboards accompany a deep raspy vocals of solitary artist, Antarctis. The rawness of the distorted guitar does not interface with the melodiousness of the work. A melancholic feel is omnipresent on this release.
The pronunciation of the vocalist is so audible and clear, adding an ultra aggressive stuff. In songs like ZMJARCVIELYJA KRAJAVIDY PRAZ SMALJANY POZIRK KRUMKACHA, PAVOLNY PALJOT PA-NAD LJASNYM KURGANOM the repetitive style of riffing is used, which is not boring, however in the long run the repetition becomes a bit tedious. The song SMALISTY ZAH is pretty refreshing in its blasting approach. The closing track is KVINTSIENCYJ (Quintessence) is a DARKTHRONE cover in Russian Language. The standout tracks would be ZMJARCVIELYJA KRAJAVIDY PRAZ SMALJANY POZIRK KRUMKACHA, VOSIENSKIJA SPADAROZNIKI U NOCZ and an Instrumental PASLJA PAUNOCZNAJA CISZYNJA.
The earlier album was produced in 2008, and the new one, after 2 long years surely has been successful in bringing the bang
back. Though, I like the Instrumentals In this album and despite of them being very atmospheric and effective,the songs are very monotonous and a bit too long to be in the middle of the album. It would’ve worked better as an intro/outro. And definitely, it is overtly influenced by BURZUM. Overall, it’s a good album with a different approach towards music, but this album would definitely earn both negative and positive aspects.
Bottom Line
A one man Belarussian musical extravaganza would surely take you to a different world with SMALISTY ZAH.
