Reviews: SAT370
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Seven years have passed since the Russian black metal band Wardra released their debut album Небо медного цвета, but at last a second one is on the way, now set for an April 17 release by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Onism Productions (UK). The name of this one is Страж звёздных склепов (“Warden Of The Stellar Crypts“).
While the band’s first album could be considered an amalgam of traditional black metal and primitive mysticism, they’ve moved in a different direction on their new release — a movement into the endless darkness of space. As they describe it:
"This is a story about the death of worlds on the endless fields of nuclear harvest and about a silent witness who will endlessly wander through the carpet of fragments of time, waiting for the beginning of a new world that writhes in endless convulsions of sleep, without hope of awakening."
In keeping with that conception, Wardra‘s new music is more atmospheric, more melodic and dark, but it’s also raw and ravaging. You’ll understand that for yourselves when you hear the song we’re premiering today (with a video) — “Сатурна разящие лезвия (Saturn’s Сutting Blades)“.
The riffing swirls in electrifying fashion, surrounding the listener with a melody that’s both majestic and distressing, expansive in its sound but almost dismal in its mood. Wardra drive the music to further intensity with hammering drums, vocals that growl and roar like an enraged but strangling beast, and even more heated and harrowing riffage.
Thunder rumbles in the low end, the pulse of downfall throbs in the midst of celestial firestorms of sound, and waves of mid-range melody channel deep sorrow as the vocals gnash and howl. Big thumping beats and a steadily cracking snare shift the momentum, but not the mood of the layered instrumentation, which remains heartbroken and hopeless — a sonic vision devastation on a sweeping scale.
Warden Of The Stellar Crypts was recorded in 2023 (drums and percussion at Mindcrusher Labs Studio, vocals at Rofocale Rec, instrumental parts at CDM Records), and it was mixed and mastered by Sergei Lazar. The album features cover art by Rotten Fantom.
Satanath and Onism will release it on CD — Jewel Box (400 copies) and Digipak (100 copies) — with a 16-page booklet. It’s also available digitally. Find more info through the links below, and after those you’ll also have the chance to hear the new album’s first single, “Тот, кто видел (The One Who Saw)“.
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2024/04/05/an-ncs-premiere-wardra-saturns-cutting-blades/
Wardra are a band from Russia that plays an atmospheric mixture of black and doom metal and this is a review of their 2024 album "Warden Of The Steller Crypts" which will be released in April as a joint effort between Satanath Records and Onism Productions.
A very fast and raw black metal sound starts off the album along with a great amount of tremolo picking and blast beats. Vocals are done in more of a growling style while screams can also be heard at times as well as the riffs also add in a decent amount of melody and the music also has its atmospheric moments.
Throughout the recording you can also hear a good mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts while the slower sections of the songs also bring in elements of doom metal. along with a couple of the tracks also being very long and epic in length, clear vocals can also be heard briefly and the solos and leads are also done in a very melodic style, all of the musical instruments also have a very powerful sound to them.
Wardra plays a musical style that takes atmospheric black metal and mixes it with doom metal to create a sound of their own. The production sounds very dark and raw while the lyrics cover darkness themes.
In my opinion Wardra are a very great sounding atmospheric mixture of black and doom metal and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this band.
https://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2024/03/wardrawarden-of-steller-cryptssatanath.html
En esta ocasión escuchamos el nuevo disco de los rusos Wardra, una agrupación que viene batallando en la oscuridad desde el año 2016 con su propuesta de black metal con tintes atmosféricos y algo de doom metal.
Tras la edición en cassette de su primer material, titulado “Copper-colored Sky” en 2017, un EP al que llamaron “Ancestor of the New World” (2018) y un split junto a Logos (no confundir con la banda argentina de heavy metal) al que llamaron “Aberration of the Abyss” (2020), podemos encontrar un buen álbum lleno de oscuridad, maldad y algo de melodía.
La banda en cuestión nos presenta su segundo larga duración titulado “Warden of the Stellar Crypts” bajo el sello Satanath Records, a editarse el 17 de abril del presente año 2024 en donde los comandados por Vladimir Snegotsky (alias “W”), quien oficia de líder y se desempeña en la guitarra junto a “B” en el bajo, K” en las voces sumando como invitado a Dmitry Fiskin en la batería, nos demuestran la evolución en esta nueva entrega.
Durante poco más de 43 minutos, podemos encontrar en los 8 tracks que componen el material, una buena dosis de black metal, voces de ultratumba que se mezclan entre partes a medio ritmo, otras a pura velocida y un tanto de ritmos atmosféricos que amalgaman la calma entre tanta tormenta sonora. Las canciones que integran el álbum rondan en promedio los 6 minutos y tienen gran calidad.
Es de destacar el trabajo en la guitarra y el bajo marcando el ritmo de la batería. Como puntos altos se pueden destacar los tracks “Star Crypt”, “Essence of the Void” y “Silent Witness“.
La producción suena cruda pero a su vez con buenos arreglos que hacen disfrutable el material. Las voces son claras, los solos de guitarra adentran al escucha en el disfrute de cada nota.
Como información adicional, podemos comentar que el álbum fue grabado en 2023: la batería y percusión en Mindcrusher Labs Studio, las voces en Rofocale Rec, lo instrumental en CDM Records, en tanto que la mezcla y masterización estuvieron a cargo de Sergey Lazar.
El arte de tapa fue obra de los artistas Elena y Vladimir del estudio Rotten Fantom.
En definitiva, un muy buen álbum hecho para fans del más crudo black metal, de bandas como Darvaza, y para quienes también admiran los sonidos calmos que el doom puede otorgar, haciendo que la conjunción funcione a la perfección.
https://tracktohell.com/wardra-warden-of-the-stellar-crypts-2024/