Мраморные тона отчаяния

So, here we have the debut album of Otkroveniya Dozhdya. They exist from 2001 yet this is their first release. No demos were released prior this debut album. I was pretty lucky to find this one as this one is pretty rare especially if you live in Greece like me (I do not know about the availabilty of this one on Russia, the band's homeland, but I assume it must be better than it is in my country).

I like discovering new music. So, when I saw this release at a bazaar I decided to bought it. I had to choose among several releases (namely Ekklesiast - Holod, Ea - Ea Taesse and several other doom releases) and I decided to pick this one. At the end of the day I was pretty satisfied of having picked this one up.

Otkroveniya Dozhdya is a band that mixes doom and black metal quite effectively. Well, to be sincere they concentrate much more to doom than black metal with some hints of doom death bands (like old Crematory, old Pyogenesis and old Paradise Lost) especially in the vocal department (where the antithesis between low growls and spoken parts as used in many doom death bands is pretty obvious).

The doom metal parts of the album overpower the black metal ones. However, some tremolo picking can be heard in the first, the third and the seventh song (in which black metal vocals can be heard for a while too). I kind of disagree with the description they have in this given site. I consider their music funeral doom metal not doom black metal. However, that doesn't matters at all. What matter at the end of the day is the music. And Otkroveniya Dozhdya are good on that aspect.

The music never speeds up much. The pace remains slow throughout the albums (with two or three bursts at the pieces that care some black metal influence). Their music is slow (as expected of course), melancholic and well-constructed (you'll never find a part that you would think that this aspect shouldn't be there). Everything is placed where it is supposed to be placed. However, that makes their music predictable which is the biggest flaw of the release (and I pretty much think that that's the only flaw they have).

The riffs presented here are mainly slow, doomy riffs with some occasional tremolo picked ones. The bass is quite audible and it enhances the music when needed (especially on the seventh song, Dorogi Sudby). The drums fit the overal feeling of the band. Do not expect blastbeats here. What you'll find here is slow drums played in a very precise manner. Keys exist but they do not overpower the guitars. They exist only to set the atmosphere. The vocals are mainly a mosaic of low grunts and spoken male vocals. However, you get to hear some female vocals (in the last song) and some black metal vocals (in the seventh song). The production is good for what the album represents.

Overally, that's the impression you get from this one. It is good for what it represents. Nothing more and nothing less. Otkroveniya Dozhdya is a band with potentials. I want to see them trying to make something more diverse. That's the only advice I can give them for the future.

If you like doom metal then you need this one. If you like black metal then you'll probably like this one (especially if you are a fan of the slower bands of the genre). If you like death metal in the vein of early Crematory and Pyogenesis (in other words doom death) you'll like it too. However, if you're not a fan of the aforementioned bands and styles you're not going to find anything of your liking in this one.

Highlights: Dekabr, Rekviem (an instrumental track)