[Reviewed by: Iaha Crax]
This is a mini-album of resonant details, a succession of bright black metal, jewel-like structures and poetic images.
For such an unknown band some patterns of recognition are unavoidable, but fortunately the breathless rhythm of the melody gives room to a dainty homogenous perception; still, that clear-cut duplicitous sound, confident for the modern machine age, we first indulge on “’Tis The Soul On Wayward Path”, which suggests the Dødheimsgard vibe. On their past two albums, Sigil Rust (2008) and Deeper the Fall (2010), let alone on this pregnant Norwegian simulacra, Kozeljnik played with a force yet unreached by the Serbian scene. The band is in fact the brainchild of the musician dubbed Kozeljnik, who is at the roots of the two most appreciated metal bands from Serbia: May Result and The Stone. He is doing everything here, except the drums, handled by The Stone’s drummer, L.G. .
However, Kozeljnik reveals a fascinating and distinctively new insight for an unsettling, exciting and modern way of descanting metal. Take “Scarring the Entities”, unmistakably contemporary with blazing progressive and death-black chords, more Hades-tinged than fresh stars like Tribulation.
The way Kozeljnik converts intense emotion by means of such disciplined music is brilliant. On “Bitter Libations To The Unnamed” they show off this great knowledge of rhythm, that is ever shifting, apparently spontaneously, from MDB doom black evocations to blasting orgiastic riffs, products of a deeply harmonious emotion.
“Absence And Seclusion Of Spirit” creates another splendid dark metal melody following a piano introduction. Besides the Virus similarities on the first song, here there are touches of Hail Spirit Noir, but Kozeljnik is emitting a vigour that is both gorgeous and opulent.
This apparition, made possible by Possession Productions from Belarus, would shatter more than you think inside your psyche. The reaction comes immediately, for the pieces are always accompanied by a live sensibility, taking you in and enriching you with something enigmatic and luminous. The coming album should be awaited for with ears and eyes wide open.
Kozeljnik – Death Gives Unto Life
Possession Productions, PS110
CD/Digital 2016
Santa Sangre 