A while back Brutalism featured a video titled "Tak, Kurwa" from the Black Metal outfit as a taste of the newly refined Semargl and their take on "Satanic Pop Metal," which is the title of their latest album effort as well. It was sultry, sexy, brutal, and ugly because usually Pop and Metal are hypothetical war with each other constantly. So fans might be skeptical at just how good 'Satanic Pop Metal' is. In a nutshell, it is damned catchy like Pop with tons of electronic influence that is akin to bands like HIM, one of the more popular 'Gothic Pop Metal' artists around, and the brutal lyrics and themes of hatred, anti-religion, and nihilism from Black Metal. As a result, the lovechild of such two genres is pretty impressive. The production is excellent, letting everything sound balanced so the blackened Death Metal vocals sound crystal clear in conjunction with the rather more Pop/ Symphonic Metal oriented female vocals which are better than used as a background instrument due to the faded effects to go along with the electronics and still stand strong when actually singing on parts of the chorus. Tracks like "Drag Me To Hell" show a well oriented balance between both male and female singers/ snarlers and also demonstrate the generic, but catchy Pop elements of the instrumental work.
Also drawing on Pop influences is the song structure of the entire album. As lots of people may complain that Pop sounds all the same these days, either between artists or the albums they release, Semargal follows the same suite which may be a bit of a downside for the album. Track by track the music is awesome, but the lyrics are a bit repetitive and generic with a lack of insightful concept (perhaps the band did this on purpose just to poke fun at how easy it is for someone to write junk lyrics but since they can auto-tune or create a melody that is the 'thing of the times,' it justifies them as a 'talented musician' in the Pop world), so this is a bit of a culture shock. Some metal fans may throw on "Suck My Dick" and really get into the music and rhythm and then look at the lyrics and wonder "Wow... did I really just enjoy that? The lyrics are downright dumb! I've heard worse music with better lyrics from a Death Metal band!" Semargl are teaching a rare lesson to listeners with 'Satanic Pop Metal' that merging divides between music genre fans may be easier than thought, and that Pop fans may discover they have a bit of Metal in them, and vice versa. Keep and open mind when listening to this one; it may be a welcome surprise.
