Vspolox - Sorrow Of The Past

Vspolox's debut, 'Sorrow Of The Past,' is not one's typical pagan black metal album. For one, it is very raw, almost doom metal like, with a thick atmosphere. The tracks are lengthy and epic, focusing more on rhythm than much of a diverse musical structure. The opening song features some folk singing samples and then jumps into lengthy, sorrow drenched chords of reverb with drums that plod on every once in a while, but mostly stay silent. The vocals, when they make their appearance, and crying and tortuous and not as cleanly produced as most bands, which really gives the group a bit of an edge in drawing listener attention. As for folk elements, every so often on the track they use a few acoustic strums akin to Satyricon, but mostly expect a lot of electrified tremolo picking. Other tracks like "Smerti..." are much faster in pace as far as the black metal goes, but also features lengthier folk sections with acoustic guitars and even flutes to really bring an organic feel to the music than just pure distortion and raw power. "Dolgie..." emphasizes this as being the only sole 'folk' track on the album by continuing the acoustic guitar and flute duo, but it really is a pleasant track to listen to, like being in the middle of a forest clearing and catching a breath before picking up the search again to find one way out of nature's maze.

The chaos continues with "Chuzhebesie" which picks back up on the extremely fast guitar strums, but there is a bit more rhythm to the music overall that flips back and forth so it doesn't get too repetitive. Oddly enough, the vocals don't start until the middle of the song and then taper off a bit before adding a few momentary shrieks again. This, once again, goes against the grain of usual blackened pagan metal/ folk metal and allows listeners to focus more on the instrumentation. The bass also shines quite clear on the track, along with others, which is a surprise because usually in raw, atmospheric productions the bass is the last thing one hears in the buzzing mix. "Zov" closes the album in a furious tempest of tremolo fury with the vocals actually sounding a bit more less anguished and more angry, which perhaps grants a more emotional impact. There is an acoustic interlude, but it isn't much of a safe haven from the black metal bits that just pummel through the song before somewhat evening out for a somber, gritty catchy rhythm the carries the song out. Overall, as a result, this is some pretty decent pagan metal that keeps an old school feeling but at the same time will appeal both black and folk metal fans alike with a new spin on how to merge both genres while not being too predictable in their musical structure.

  1. Skorb'


  2. Smerti I Zabveniya Hlad
  3. Vechnost'
  4. Dolgie Lesnye Tropy Rusi
  5. Chuzhebesie
  6. Zov