Вороны несут ночь

For a band playing black metal with symphonic BM elements, А за Солнцем Луна... (in Latin-alphabet transliteration "A za Solntsem Luna …") have quite a raw and primitive-sounding style. This makes the Russian foursome's music tough and gritty, especially with the drums high up in the mix whacking away as if the entire quartet's lives depended on the skins being pounded right through to the floor, giving the impression of urgency and the musicians having their backs to the wall. The vocals, courtesy of Olga Anikina, are incredibly harsh and scourging as would befit a band performing music with themes of witchcraft, vampirism and confronting occult topics dealing with demonic or anti-human forces. For such speedy music, the band plays well and with precision, changing tack quickly and sharply as the songs demand in pace, rhythm and even in the mix of atmospheric / symphonic elements with the fierce BM. At the same time there are some good, even very catchy melodies bordering on rock-pop present on songs on this, A za Solntsem Luna …'s second EP " Вороны несут ночь" (English Google translation "The crows carry the night") which at nearly 33 minutes in length could almost be the band's second album.

After an ambient dungeon synth introduction, filled with sinister malevolence and the blackest darkness, and featuring a solemn occult ritual with chanting, the band gets stuck into business with "Время кровавых дождей" that throws listeners into a cold icy maelstrom of hammering drums, venomous spitting vocals and the music zigzagging from frantic raw BM to more spacious melodic synth lines and atmosphere. The song sets the scene for what is to follow: a tension between the raw occult BM and the more polished symphonic aspects of the band's style which make it very Gothic in attitude, in hard-hitting songs varying in pace and rhythm, and very highly melodic. Fourth track " О, Лорд Ночи" ("O, Lord Night") showcases a slightly more dramatic / operatic aspect of the band's music with both sung and spoken BM vocals and clean-toned chanting, signalling perhaps a change in musical approach.

The alt-mainstream rock-pop tendency comes to the fore in "Позволь испить твоей крови" with distinct, often folk-like melodies that have an exotic air being traded by squiggly tremolo guitars and ethereal synth drone wash over the hurried drumming. I hope the drummer gets extra pay for all the hard work put in hammering away and changing pace and beats at top speeds. While the vocals can be very ugly and raw, the music overall becomes slightly more shiny, a bit less raw, the guitars almost achieving a pure tone. "Позволь испить твоей крови" and the remaining songs on the EP play rather less as raw lo-fi BM songs and more like straightforward 1990s-standard melodic BM songs with cleaner vocals coming into the last track for a rousing chorus and that song building up with chunky riffs and trilling melodies for a big climax.

In a short half-hour recording, " Вороны несут ночь" has something to offer nearly everyone from fans of more raw lo-fi though still melodic BM to tasteful ambient synth wash and dungeon synth to pop-friendly alt-mainstream BM. A major downside though is that most songs, with the exception of "Время кровавых дождей" are not long and so never have the opportunity to develop into complex and subtle works of immersive blackened art. The contrast and tension offered by combining harsh and primitive raw lo-fi BM and an airy ethereal synth-based ambient style with symphonic / orchestral elements take second place to short cramped songs that perhaps pander a bit too much to a more mainstream BM / heavy metal audience, especially in the last track. Some of the chanting seems a bit silly compared to Olga Anikina's vicious and biting vocal style. Listeners can get the impression of the band going out on a limb early on with gritty music and then later pulling back, far back, and settling into a poppy groove with only a bit of the fire the four musicians started out with.

While A za Solntsem Luna … play well together, and have an ear for good melodies and guitar riffs, they need to do much more with their style highlighting its raw, gritty aspect and its more polished, potentially subtle side. Longer albums featuring longer tracks with less singing that explore and push the sonic possibilities of harsh guitar noise, live acoustic instruments, synthesiser and electronics might be one possibility the band could try.