Doska

The Black Metal scene has been flooded with daily releases over the past few years. The "fault" is the increasingly accessible home studios as well as tutorials on the internet, allowing anyone to produce their music (good or not) without necessarily going through an expensive recording studio. I'm personally a "gold digger" on Bandcamp or even YT: it takes a lot of patience, putting your hands in the mud and digging, before sometimes finding tiny little ones. I'll stop the metaphor there, but I must say that we feel really lucky when we discover a project like Doska, by chance, on the internet.

I was attracted by its B/W cover in the first place. Mountains and a valley, peaceful in appearance, drawn in carbon pencil with great delicacy. We are in the same spirit as the covers of the 1st Satyricon or Burzum. It's impossible not to also think of Necrolord and his mountains, but without plagiarizing his style seen and seen too many times...

Then came the music. The Ep begins with a very peaceful acoustic track but which exudes great sadness. Then, Detth'rya arrives and there we are launched into a very melodic RAW black metal (these haunted arpeggios are so effective), very clear despite the "necro" sound but also very black and sad. When we listen, the language is unknown, impossible to recognize it. So I went to read what the artist had written to accompany the music... and I discovered that it was not only a concept album telling a story but above all, that this story is told in a language "fantastic” (invented by the author).

I'm not a fan of Tolkien and all that heroic fantasy stuff, but I must admit that I was taken directly into the dark and desperate atmosphere of this short story ultimately speaking of the total eradication of something beautiful and peaceful. Nothing heroic here, just hatred, the occult, melodic violence then, on this last acoustic track, total despair. I have to say that the title "Forschinn", reminded me of Gustavo Santaolalla but more gloomy. I got chills hearing this end the EP, imagining a devastated landscape, burned bodies carried away by the wind...

In a register where it is quite common to trivialize death and war, without necessarily having experienced it oneself, this EP gives the impression that the artist himself experienced total destruction and delivers it to us. Although the style is different, I also thought about the pain that could be caused by the first albums of Shining, Bethlehem, etc... If you like the poignant melancholic anger of Drudkh, Burzum (that of Filosofem or even that of Belus/Fallen), I recommend you this EP.

I discovered this EP when it came out and I listen to it again when my mood is sad. However, for those who are interested in the sequel, the 1st album which followed (and tells the same story but differently) is superior in every way.

Hail Aarunda.
Hail Doska.