Krst u plamenu

Yes, there are moments when music reminds you something utterly different. When to the sane mind comes the idea that there are phrases out in the great wide open that could very well applied to the piece of art, one is currently listening to; even though the thoughts have drifted into other regions. A once existing gap between the two differing disciplines has been closed in the blink of an eye. Such is the case of Maroth and the thanks for this go to the great performance of the vocalist, whose urgent and 'limited' need to communicate ruins a good deal of the atmosphere.

"Will you stop screaming! Thank you!" (*)... such is the case here.

Well, it would be unfair to reduce everything to this one aspect and to pinpoint the band’s performance to this one facet only and neglected everything else that might torment the listener in one or another way. In fact, there is even more that is left to be desired, especially in comparison with releases from other bands (Dark Funeral, Setherial, Perditor), whose performance is somehow alike that of «Maroth». As «Krst u Plamenu» is the first output of this band, it would be unfair to overwhelmingly criticize the band for their performance as it is likely that a good deal of it is due to their lack of experience.

Music needs to fascinate, needs to be catchy and special in some sort of way. The latter can be compensated through the other two aspects, but a balancing of all of them is always preferred. «Maroth» play aggressive and fast black metal or better said their attempt can be categorized as such. Over the whole length (!) of this demo, the band, or better said Bojan "MAROTH" Stambolija as this album is a one-man show, hardly offer any variation to the blasts; the only real (!) example would be on Sudbina; the five-minute fade out at end of the last track does not count as with it the demo closes. It is hard to get the ideas behind the compositions as the vocals are the dominating aspect, while all other facets suffer from this. This impression does not change to the better as motives are repeated excessively and the music can be described as 'unnecessarily' limited and bland. Evolution of ideas? Forget it. Neat interludes? Nearly nowhere to be found.

A good example for what is going wrong on this release is the last track. Fifteen (!) minutes long, of which the last five minutes are ambient, gives it a good impression of the capability of the band to write music: nice but endless blasts, minimal variations, other vocals styles, choir and croaking, are simply drowned by the screams. By listening to it one gets the impression it would never end. Another but quite widespread flaw has to do with the production; especially of the drums. Snare and cymbals (some of them) can be identified, while of the bass nothing can be heard.

Would the music not be merely limited to the fast and aggressive play, would it offer more than the blasting and the annoying vocals, then Krst u Plamenu could be an interesting demo. As the late Bojan "MAROTH" Stambolija decided to keep it rather simple, the flaws appear at a larger scale and can accordingly not be compensated in one way or another. When the patience of the listener already reaches a limit after three minutes have passed, on the first son (!), due to the style in which the band performs their art, then there is certainly something going wrong.

Overall: it is not bad, just gets tiring pretty soon. The oeuvre of the band is simply too limit to fascinate in any respect over a longer period of time.

Imagine: Perditor from Belgium, but faster and more monotonous.

(*) taken from Rowan Atkinson's «Welcome to hell»