Волшебство живой природы

The first time I heard this several years ago from a friend, and I ended up playing it on repeat for countless days after. With the song titles and lyrics in Russian, which is already a heavy and intimidating sounding language, the vocals somehow feel more powerful and meaningful. Within the lyrics, you’ll find descriptions and metaphors of nature that give it a sense of liveliness and emotions. Every song feels like a day; transitioning from a bright dawn to a chilling winter night of harsh snow, only to reset on the next song.

The instrumentation is captivating with a mystical and fantasy-like sound that makes this album feel truly magical. The vocals throughout are in the classic black metal style; raw, harsh, raspy, and distant vocals, along with sickening blast beats, fast tremolo picking, and dissonant, ambient pianos. But what separates this album from just plain black metal is the piano-lead songs with complementing spacey synth for bright ambiance, and the constant changes of both guitars and drums that give this album a some-what happy sound. The twinkling, bright piano melodies accompanied by dark echoed, dissonant, ambient piano, gloomy, slow tremolo picking, with even slower drum beats and the occasional fill keeps the album balanced and melancholic. Almost every track has a simple but alluring piano solo, and a few stanzas of lyrics that leaves the last half of the songs solely to the grand instrumentation.

The intros of every track are all incredibly atmospheric and different. The first track, “В Снегах” starts with deep, ambient synth, and what almost sounds like distorted ocean waves, then “Волшебство Природы” comes in with a dark ambient, chorus-sounding hum in the background of dissonant electric guitars. Track 3, “Сияние Звезд” starts with quiet whale-like sounds mixed with spacey twinkles like a digital wind chime. Next track 4, “Природа Застыла Во Сне” comes in loud, with blasting guitars and drums and track 6’s intro, “Приближение Весны” follows suit shortly after sounds of wind and soft synth. In track 7, “Когда Вновь Начнется Дождь” there are sounds of rain and thunder in the intro that continues throughout the entirety of the song.

Track 5, “Последняя Зимняя Ночь” has to be my favorite track, which starts with a happy synth melody that often gets stuck in my head. Nothing feels more tranquil, but after only 20 seconds of bliss, a sudden interruption of a long, loud, dissonant, tortured scream breaks the silence and absolutely kills me. The slow, doomy drums and guitar follow, and the twinkling of the pianos continue over the harsh vocals. I love the piano solo and the final scream near the end which is even longer and more tortured sounding than the others; like the sound of one who’s given up hope.

The final song, “Холод В Душе” has all those same, beautiful piano styles with an orchestra of synth which completes this track, leaving this album feeling whole. And the album ends with the chilling, final stanza, (Forgive my rough web translations if anyone here knows Russian), “I dug into the soul of the cold, leaving no trace. From the joy of life and bright smiles, I gasp in the gloom. The cold night won't take away my pain... Only the cry of a dying echo will freeze. No one will remember me.”

To define this album with a single sentence also taken from final track’s lyrics, “Здесь царствует только зима.” “Only winter reigns here.”