bio - RELEASES - INTERVIEWS - REVIEWS
- Country of origin:Russia
- Location:Ulyanovsk, Ulyanovsk Oblast
- Status:ActiveFormed in:
- 2014
- Genre:Atmospheric/Depressive Black Metal
- Lyrical themes:Apathy, Darkness, Depression
- Current label:Wolfspell Records
Name | Type | Year |
---|---|---|
Блуждая по тёмной стороне | EP | 2014 |
Иней чёрного рассвета | Full-length | 2015 |
Янтарный погост | EP | 2016 |
Skogsande / Darkeater | Split | 2016 |
Что помнит лес | Full-length | 2017 |
REVIEWS
Depressive And Celestial - 75%
When you’re a writer for a magazine or a website, you can sit back and wait for promos from the labels or you can try to – occasionally – find unknown bands. What happened between me and the Russian band Darkeater was precisely a coincidence while I was scrolling down at a social network. I’ve heard a song, found a way to get the entire album and decided to publish a review on their debut “Иней чёрного рассвета” which was independently released.
After an ambient intro, the melancholic guitar riffs take us into depressive black metal soundscapes – not only because of the rhythm guitars, but also because of a brief lead guitar moment that’s followed by a passage comprising echo effects united with rain which puts us in a desolated landscape. This connection with a human isolation characteristic can be found all over the record due to the mentioned guitars, but also due to the inclusion of suffering vocals, for example in the track “Чертоги опустошения”.
Darkeater are also able to remind us of other projects like Lustre due to the slow and celestial keyboards that can be heard in tracks like “Зов мёртвых звёзд” or “Без воли к жизни”. Concerning this comparison, some differences can be found between both bands since the organic instruments are more perceptible with Darkeater than with Lustre who, a lot of times, use the guitars to fill the background just like noise. The repetition of these elements can create space for introspection and sadness without verging on suicidal tendencies. However, not all ears, perceptions and feelings are equal among people, so it also can create a relaxing atmosphere.
Talking about that atmosphere, it’s in the cover song “Rhubard”, originally composed by the electronic musician Aphex Twin, that Darkeater emanate an esoteric and even transcendental sensation in a track that’s purely ambient in which calmness reigns. The nature sounds are heard once again in the final song in which echoed guitars are over thunder and rain.
As a final note, the production is not the best out there, but having in count that this band is, till now, an independent one who wants to spread his own music, I do admit that the raw and, sometimes, synthetic production is acceptable since not all of us have the same possibilities.
Originally written at www.againstmagazine.com
A repetitive and lethargic endurance test - 60%
Although the music is billed as ambient depressive BM, and its creators in Darkeater write music with a theme of depression, parts of this EP (whose name in English translation is "Amber Graveyard") are actually quite soothing even with the chainsaw-buzz guitars and lethargic percussion. The overall mood is one of sorrow, hopelessness and tiredness throughout: the guitars don't play so much as get stuck on a few chord sequences and drone away and the drums, hanging far out in the mix under a blur, bang away listlessly. Even the vocalist sounds as if he can hardly be bothered to get out of bed. Much of the music is very repetitive to boot.
The elements that might hold listeners' attention are the keyboards which sometimes include church organ (giving the music a slightly rich tone) and a sunny tremolo guitar sequence that comes halfway through the title track. A small ray of light, a tiny bit of hope appear and the riffing sounds more positive. The musicians' performance is not much improved but the mood does change to something slightly less bleak.
Even though this EP is an easy piece at about 16 minutes to become familiar with Darkeater, I can't say that it will have much appeal for most people unless they're already diehard fans of ambient depressive BM and are interested in collecting in this genre. Darkeater don't bring anything new to this genre that fans wouldn't be able to anticipate. The band's sound is good with a sharp grinding edge but that's all I can really say for the duo. There really isn't much in the music that attracts and maintains attention and the repetition makes the recording a bit of an endurance test.
Russian ambient black metal - 65%
Not a long time ago I had a pleasure to hear “Иней чёрного рассвета”, a very good debut album from Russian black metal band Darkeater. Now they’re back, coming with their new recording which Wolfspell Records released as a split CD with Skogsande.
And about Skogsande I will write first. I had to dig a little to find some information on this project, as it turns out Skogsande is not metal enough to be on Metal Archives haha. What I found out is that it’s another project of Nokken, who is also responsible for Is (which I already know from the split CD with Hermóðr). And Is was very good. Skogsande is OK, but honestly I don’t like it as much as Is. On this CD you’ll find three tracks (all are titled “Vintervindarnas tillhall”, but I don’t know why Nokken uses Swedish, instead of his native language), which can be described as ambient black metal. The dark ambient side is typical – melancholic, sorrowful passages of keyboards that some of you probably don’t tolerate and consider boring, and some others like a lot. I’m somewhere in between, sometimes I like to play such sort of music, but Skogsande’s ambient is just nothing special. It’s very much like Vinterriket for instance. It’s good in small doses, but in more extensive presentation I can die because of the boredom. Skogsande mixes that dark ambient with black metal. And black metal is usually very fast, furious, hateful… What I don’t like about this part of Skogsande's music is the lack of ideas and general one dimensional, monotonous playing that doesn’t impress. And more so, it’s also the production, because the keyboards are definitely way too loud and they just sound out of place with the wall of buzzy guitars, unreadable riffs, furious screams and blasting drums. Don’t get me wrong, Skogsande isn’t bad, but surely not something I would be delighted with.
And now Darkeater. Their “Иней чёрного рассвета” CD was an awesome, very good black metal album. Here they present their new EP “Янтарный погост”, which is another fine release from Darkeater. First there’s another ambient track that creates the cold, melancholic atmosphere for six minutes before the title song appears. This is raw sounding black metal with that characteristic cold, sorrowful and eerie aura. The pace is much slower than in Skogsande, but the production is better; so are the ideas, arrangements and diversity of this song. I really like it and again am quite impressed with the works of these two guys behind Darkeater.
Summing it all up then, I have to say that if I was going to describe the roster of Wolfspell Records, in what sort of music this label specializes in, then it would be with bands like Skogsande and Darkeater. This sort of dark, melancholic and gloomy black / ambient metal appears on this label most often. Of course some releases are better (Hermóðr's stuff, previous Darkeater CD), and some worse (Dun, Paths). This particular split CD is not bad also, but not my favourite one. I’m glad though to have a copy and surely will come back to it sooner or later.
Final rate: 65/100
What the Forest Rememebers - 79%
Darkeater is a Russian band that formed in 2014. The band recently unleashed their second full length album, Что помнит лес, in December of 2017 through Wolfspell Records. The project is a duo consisting of Eljah D. (guitars, drum programming) and Kolodum (vocals, guitars, keyboards), who have both performed on all of the band’s material, with their latest offering being no different. The album title is loosely translated as “What the Forest Remembers”, which, when coupled with the fact that this is released through Wolfspell, should give you a fairly good idea of what Darkeater was going for here.
First, a little background, as I stumbled across Darkeater a little late in the game. It wasn’t until their 2016 split with fellow Russian band Skogsande that I took notice, as they stole the show with two tracks of cold and melancholic atmospheric black metal on that split. I corrected my mistake and have since spent time with most of the project’s earlier material. To those familiar with the band’s previous stuff, there aren’t many surprises lurking within Что помнит лес. Darkeater still employs those frigid atmospherics surrounded by a melancholic aura.
The album unfolds, quite slowly to be honest, over forty-two minutes. The packaging employs lush greens and earth tones, which might seem a tad out of place given the cold tones employed; that is, until you sit with the album for a bit. The cold, underlying tremlo riffing washes through like the last cold breezes before spring finally takes root. The slow moving, programmed drums plod forward steadily, like the last bits of snow finally being claimed as the sun finally starts to warm the ground. It’s like the promise of warmth in the spring, though the frost refuses to loose its grip. The sweeping keyboard backing provides a lush, gentle heat, allowing growth despite the lingering cold.
Though Что помнит лес has a lot of black metal elements, harsh, shrieked vocals and cold tremolo picking, the album doesn’t evoke angst or anger or darkness. It’s an homage to nature and verdant beauty, even when we’re a trying to remember what it was like before the cold started. It embodies a forest struggling to over the final grips of winter and remember the lush greens of the previous year. Imagine the chill of ColdWorld meeting the lush soundscapes of Lustre and you’ll be able to visualize what Darkeater is reaching for here. A really cool, chill album to have playing in the background (pun only half-intended), this one may take a few spins to sink in, but it’s well worth the time if you want to lose yourself in the growing spring.
Written for The Metal Observer.
.