Раздувая тинг ветров

This Branikald album, like some of the other more recent ones, begins and ends with ambient tracks. The first, what I can transliterate to "Opalyaya Dushi Grani" (although I don't know its meaning), is a lengthy atmospheric track that repeats the same heavily reverberating notes for about 5 minutes. There's some variation towards the end of the track, which sounds very spacious and indeed sets the mood for the album quite well. The next song, "Vargkampf" (I think means something like wolf-battle), has an heroically epic sound to it, similar to other Branikald/Forest black metal songs. The song kind of breaks apart into a lamenting guitar melody near the end and proceeds into the next track, "Zakon Ochizshyeniya Krovi i Dukha". This song continues the epic sound albeit on a slightly more dismal note and with faster drumming more akin to 'standard' black metal. This melody repeats with short interludes for about 7 minutes before dropping the sound of all instruments but the guitar. Much like the last song, the melody breaks apart for the last minute or so.

The next half of the album starts with a melody played on an acoustic guitar (production quality is still the same) and sounds most like the latter half of the album Rdjandalir. About a minute and a half through this song, a distant, distorted electric guitar fades in and both instruments soon fade out into silence for a brief moment. The distant sounding guitar fades back in playing a different melody alone for about a minute before another acoustic guitar gradually takes its place and plays through to the end of the song.

Next, the album's self-titled song is a much faster, hopelessly bleak, raw black metal song than its predecessors. It at least begins this way, but after the initial melody, it becomes more heroic and epic sounding before returning to the original melody. This alternating between bleakness and heroism endures throughout the song like a struggle between the two forces until about the 5 minute mark where the drums once again drop out. It seems like bleakness is the victor in the last section of the song where a stark melody repeats 'till the end.

Finally, the ending ambient song enters, but it's much more grim (I'd hate to use that word given its connotations in black metal, but it really does sum up the sound) and barren than the opening track, much like the Siberian tundra of Branikald's homelands.

Overall, if you're looking for raw, melodic black metal, this is for you. Kaldrad has also been known to make good ambient tracks (see: Hladavzor), of which there are three on this album and are much more than just transitions from one black metal song to the next. If you're a fan of the Blazebirth Hall, definitely give this album a shot, although it does sound similar to other Branikald/Forest releases (a thing the Hall is notorious for), although I personally don't mind this.