Strength and Vision

This is a quite dramatic album. I'm afraid that I listened to it way too many times upon first getting it, so now I'm rather sick of it. But the reason I listened to it so many times may be the reasons others may want to hear it, so here goes:

Slavia play a rather distorted brand of black metal. The guitars are vocals are noticeabely distortion-soaked, similar in content and sound to Disiplin, but actually even MORE distorted by just a hair. Despite this totally mechanistic approach, there is much gritty personality to Slavia. If this were not black metal, I might say a human presence within the utter INhumanity. But I won't say that!

There are many great guitar parts to sink one's fangs into, many exciting bridges and segues, many interesting arrangements. It is difficult to fathom which song is which, as, at least on my copy, the track numbers don't seem to match up with the listing, but no matter. It is not an album that one picks out the "hit single" and ignores the rest of!!!! Ha ha ha, that is a very funny scenario when it comes to this sort of music. Anyway, an extremely cool classical intro savagely erupts into the first track, which melds into an amusing/disturbing outro of WW2-era marching music along with vague dialogue. There are many highlights throughout, and many different approaches to black metal, though all sounding like the same band is performing them, rather than having a disjointed schizophrenic feel to it. The pace of the album demonstrates a nice variety, though for the most part it is rather fast. And don't forget those bludgeoning, memorable riffs! The overall impression one gets is of a very thick, buzzing blanket of razor sharp drillbits burrowing into the brain, and what more could you want from a metal release?

There is a lot of spite on this album, as it should be. I can't find any flaw with it, and most people would enjoy it unless they are concerned about the sound being not nearly necro or kvlt enough for them. If any other flaw could be found, it may be that the vocals are too distorted for some listeners. But it should satisfy experienced black metal listeners, especially ones who enjoy Disiplin, or even Hiems (but please don't get the idea that they are sound-alikes!) Remember, I enjoyed it so much I got sick of it!