Тингов наслаждаясь распрей

Originally self-released on tape in 2000 during Branikald's most musically fruitful, yet also most obscure, period this album (known in English as Ravaged By The Battle Of Things) finally sees the light of day on CD. Viewed alongside earlier efforts (essentially everything from debut Varg Fjerne a Tornet up until Жизнеотрицанью жизневероломство/A Life Betrayal To A Life Denial) there is much less emphasis on lengthy compositions and droning Norse-style buzzing darkness, and this album definitely figures into the 1999 til 2001 creative burst for Branikald where it once again for the first time since the demos became a solo project of Kaldrad.

That phase was bookended by 2 releases on Stellar Winter records, firstly the all-time genre classic Хладавзор/Blikk Av Kald and the swansong of Триумф Воли/Triumph Des Willens, but the core of it was a trilogy of ambient-leaning self-releases in 2000 that to this day even with the aid of the internet are hard to find in either hard or digital formats. Раздувая Тинг Ветров/Rising Up The Thing Of Winds was reissued on CD in 2011 by Stellar Winter, and now this leaving only the first part of the series, Струн Натянутых Вдохновенья Сталь/The Strings Of Inspiration Sing yet to be unearthed. That of course means that this is not the last piece of the Branikald puzzle, but for fans of the BlazeBirth Hall sound, especially it's musical and spiritual heights, this is just as essential.

Aside from the total straight-ahead Black Metal blitzing of the title track here (distinguished by its unique and distant crashing drum sound) which is actually pretty refined this is the rawest effort of the 3 Branikald albums from 2000. After a brief haunting piano intro track “By The Surf Of The Waves Of Inspiration” takes flight with a rawness that is very similar to the Kveldulv album, but also an undeniably epic strain in the rough melodies and vocal style that is equal parts Moonblood, Bathory and even early Falkenbach. Along with the raw, blustery and quite hypnotic track that follows, “To The Spirit Of Valour” you can really see where this band had major stylistic influence on raw melodic acts of the future like Pagan Hellfire and the whole Metal Noír Quebecoís scene in Canada. Aside from an admirably seamless blending of the second of two 6-minute long ambient interludes to bridge between the title track and the closer “Of Will And Fury” there is not much to shout about in the second half of this album, and it also suffers slightly from the fact 13 years on it is beginning to sound a little dated. I would definitely not recommend this over Kveldulv or Blikk Av Kald as an entry point to this band or style, but for anyone looking for a more in-depth initiation, for a complete collection or even just an important piece of Black Metal evolution this is definitely an album to pick up. [7/10]

From WAR ON ALL FRONTS A.D. 2013 zine- www.facebook.com/waronallfronts