Колесо Чернобога (Wheel of Chernobog)

Butterfly Temple – Koleso Chernoboga

I decided to do a song-by-song review for this album, because there’s just too many styles mixed to compare to one another.

The Pathway: Starts off with some ambient keyboard riffs, and some poetry reading. Which works as a nice intro to the next song.

Khort Yamy: Starts off with some blackish sounding, yet very melodic and with a hint of breakdowns guitar riff, with some folk keyboard melody. In the chorus, both, clean female, and Lesyar’s screams are used simultaneously. Some nice bridge, mixing melodic death, with some folkish tunes on keyboards. Another head banging riff, with a hint of a bass solo.

Demiurgs of Extasy: Starts off with a sample from a soviet movie, with a girl begging for forgiveness, and Orthodox Church singing in the background. Moves into a mid-paced riff with almost whispering vocals. Then some clean male vocals, followed by clean female, until mixing both clean vocals at the same time. The music slows down a bit, with the girl following the keyboard melody, and then it breaks down into a fast paced guitar melody with space-sounding keyboard effects. Followed by a black metal bridge. Some screams, followed by a nice keyboard interlude. Another sample from the same movie of a girl screaming nicely finishes the song.

Hounds of Chernobog: Some swampy sounding keyboard intro followed by a sudden breakdown. Some clean female vocals on top of another swampy, sad keyboard riff, which blends so well into the next song, that at first I didn’t notice the transition.

Lo Satano!: Starts off with a guitar intro, followed by a perfect progressive metal with some folk melodies on top, which are later abandoned, and the song turns into progressive rock song, with some metal overtones at times. Lesyar’s screams mixed at times with clean male vocals, and some samples. All of which turns into a fast paced WEIRD progressive metal with a lot of some timing changes, and LOTS of slides. Followed by another sample from a movie. Turning back into a progressive song, with clean male voice following the guitar melody. On top of the progressive song, some slower paced black metal guitar solo. The last riff continues into the next song.

The Turn: Only keyboards and drums, with some poem read on top. The keyboards lead into the next song.

Paschal Murderer: Some more standard early Butterfly Temple. Blackish guitars with a folk melody, and screams. Some clean male vocals in the chorus. Some happy sounding riff with laughter on top after the chorus. Some harpsichord solo, and again blackish guitars with folk keyboards, but still kind of laughing vocals. All of this followed by some VERY headbangable riff.

Kaleidoscope 69: Starts off with a clean guitar intro, which gets faster, then drums, bass, and eventually keyboards come in before turning into another prog song. When the vocals finally come in, the clean male voice is higher then usual early Butterfly Temple type, singing in English. A saxophone comes in for a short while. The outro is similar to the intro riff, and rings into the next song.

Letargy Terror: Starts with a girl reading something, and an industrial drum machine riff, and then more or less standard early Butterfly Temple, but the guitars and drums are a bit more black metal then usual. Some slower chorus, followed by a kickass guitar solo, and a surprisingly catchy riff, before going back to the black metal verse.

Mystery: Some tambourine and chanting background, with another poem reading. With some sort of wind instrument playing a folkish tune, and another sample.

Triumphator of Will: A more standard early Butterfly Temple song with a hint of a bass solo, followed by a fast paced chorus. Another short guitar solo. A very catchy whispering part of second verse.

We are Two Wings: Starts off with a sample of some Russian traditional singing, followed by a poem reading. The music starts off as another prog song, but after a few seconds turns into a more doomish Butterfly Temple, not too different from their latest album. Some catchy clean female vocals on top of whispering screams. A very catchy chorus, with some very folk bridge leading into second verse, which is sung by the girl alone. Back to the chorus, which is repeated until the end of the song. A guitar solo. This song is my favorite on this album, and possibly one of my favorite Butterfly Temple songs of all.

Lullaby to the Dead: A sample of some folk tune, with another poem read on top.

Overture: Most of this song is pretty much Khort Yamy without the vocals.

Overall this album is one of my favorite albums of all. The production is excellent, and almost each song blends into the next one so well, that its hard to say when one ended, and another one started.