Раздувая тинг ветров

Yeah, I'm gonna call it right here. Branikald's "Раздувая тинг ветров" is the last album that I generally consider good. Beginning with the next two albums, Branikald would end up losing their special touch as the music started to become more and more politically charged. But that's a story for another day. For now, this album is a bit different from the last two albums, but still retains that fantastic musical quality.

Starting with the first track "Опаляя души грани", it consists of an eerie-sounding guitar that evokes a creepy and disturbing atmosphere. But don't worry, as that ends with the next track "Vargkampf". Except that something is wrong here. Like, the production in my copy is really bad. The guitars and drums sound really quiet, almost as if they recorded it 10 feet away from the microphone. While that's a bit of a pain, the riffs the guitars play does make up for it. Unlike the last two albums, the emotions emitted from the guitars are more epic-driven then depressed, and the mood of the track is more upbeat and triumphant, especially with the drumming further enforcing that idea with its slow, but fierce playing. However, there's still some scrapes of the more emotional riffs, especially in tracks like "Закон очищения крови и духа" that feel more like leftovers from the last album. The terrible production does affect the instrumentals a lot, but otherwise, the more epic style does work well.

Then there's the vocals. Honestly, what can I say about them that I haven't already said? Kaldrad's vocals not only work well with the emotional tracks, but with this epic/atmospheric style in this album, his vocals are still as strong, as they flow well with the tensed riffs and maddening drumming. However, much like with the instrumentals, the vocals suffer a lot with the poor production, as they still sound quiet and soft. But even with such low volumes, Kaldrad's voice is still able to power through with his epic shrieks.

At this point, Branikald seems to have already did everything under the sun, and that you'd think there isn't much to do. However, they yet again impressed listeners with their more epic-driven riffs and drumming. Despite this, I still can't give this higher than an 80% due to the atrocious production that neuters much of the atmosphere, though a remastered repress could help this one quite a bit. If you can get pass the quiet production, you can still be amazed by this.