Mysterya – “Symbiont” (2013)

Label : Metalism Records

Review by Vard Aman

This was one of the most anticipated releases in a year full of highly anticipated releases, and Mysterya (from Kiev, Ukraine) did not disappoint one little bit. Actually, it was even better than I was expecting – I always knew this band was good and would release a good album, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this good. The time and the effort that went into it has certainly paid off!

Mysterya play catchy and melodic Symphonic Metal, not too unlike “The Silent Force” era Within Temptation but with a heavier overall feel and with a different vocal style. Mysterya‘s vocals are quite unique – there can be no mistaking Irina Vasilenko (aka Anyri) for any other vocalist, nor is there anyone I can think of to even compare her to (OK, maybe a little bit to Adele Ri, the new singer of Semargl – and they kind of look similar too…). Continue reading »

Delia – “Recollection” (2013)

Label : Ravenheart Records

Review by Vard Aman

Back in 2010 a band called Delia, from Kiev, Ukraine, released an album called “Spogad” (“Спогад”) – an album which I regard as one of the best Symphonic Metal albums ever recorded and released; an album that if it had been released by a band like Within Temptation or After Forever or any one of the other top bands in the genre would have gone down as one of the ultimate Symphonic Metal masterpieces of all time. But it wasn’t, it was released by a Ukrainian band called Delia; and the question I’ve always asked and am still asking is: does it make any difference whether it was released by a well known act or whether it was released by a less well known act? My answer to that question is “none whatsoever” and so “Spogad” goes down in my books as one of the ultimate Symphonic Metal masterpieces of all time. “Spogad” was sung in the band’s native Ukrainian, which may have counted against it (I know of at least one so-called “promoter” in the social media that exhibits an open and quite bigoted dislike of any bands that sing in languages other than English, flatly refusing to give them any promotion or even mention whatsoever). Continue reading »

Marvel – “Black Stone” EP (2013)

Independent Release

Review by Vard Aman

Perhaps the only thing that can be relatively safely guaranteed when it comes to Marvel is that anything they release will be totally different to anything they have released before. This is down to the fact that Marvel have never limited themselves to any one style as a band. Marvel play by their own rules, and they are rules that they make up as they go along. This has, and continues to make them one of the most original bands out there. I described them as a musical journey when I reviewed their last EP and single, and with their new EP, “Black Stone”, their musical journey continues… following, as usual, their own GPS. Or maybe I should rather say that their GPS follows them, you just never know with Marvel. Their last EP, “Reduce My Pain” and follow up single “Naiti Sebya” were driven by impressive melodies that took the listener through a series of musical nadirs and zeniths with the raw power of the band subtly keeping it all afloat. Continue reading »

Onatra – “For Your Soul” EP & “Lies” SINGLE (2012)

Review by Vard Aman

Onatra was founded in 2009 in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, and is the brainchild of drummer/composer, Marta Medler; and despite being a somewhat troublesome child at times (breaking up and reforming), Onatra has made some fairly sizable waves in the Female-fronted Symphonic Metal pool. When you hear them, you’ll understand why. They describe their sound as “Modern Symphonic Metal” but you might as well read that as “Symphonic Metal”, because that’s really what it is: good, powerful, multi-layered Symphonic Metal that you can both listen to with your ears and feel with your diaphragm. I have no idea where the “modern” part comes into it, not by its genuine definition (modern as opposed to what? Old fashioned?), and certainly not by its weasel-word definition (no something-core or screamo here). I should add here, however, that Onatra are by no means ordinary Symphonic Metal; they have a distinctive “oomph” that many of their compatriots in the genre lack (but “oomph” in no way equates to “modern”).

In January 2012, Onatra released their debut EP called “For Your Soul”, consisting of three songs. All three are examples of excellent compositions and display great musicianship, especially instrumentally: powerful guitars and drums interlaced with intricate symphonics (and other bits). Musically, I can’t fault any of this and I can’t praise it enough, so I’ll just say “do yourself a big favour and listen to it” and talk about the vocals instead. On this EP (and the following single), Onatra was fronted by Iryna Vitiv. She is not a bad vocalist by any means, but against the backdrop of the power and the stand-out quality of the music I can’t help but feel she is just a little out of her comfort zone. On the title track, “За Твою Душу” (the only non-English track), her voice has a rich and powerful feel to it, and is her best performance on the EP. On the other two tracks she seems to lack the same confidence, and the main reason for this I think is that the other two songs are not suited to her voice or to her style of singing – her vocals are too mono-dimensional. (That said; she excels in the whispered sections of “Shadows’ Steps” and in belting out the chorus). “With You” is the main culprit. In my opinion, this song should have been sung in Ukrainian or Russian, or the vocals should have been written in a way that would have better complimented the nature of the music – the first verse especially is a real anti-climax to the way the song built up from the intro.

Continue reading »

Amily – “To All in Graves” (2012)

Label : Solitude Productions

Review by Vard Aman

When I first came across Amily (from Rivne, Ukraine), they were marketing themselves as Funeral Doom – slower and bleaker than traditional Death Doom / Gothic Doom, (but not quite as slow as Drone Doom – a kind of Doom Metal where the drummer has time to leave the stage, go to the bathroom, buy a beer at the bar, drink it, chat to a few friends, update his Facebook status, return to the stage and still be 10 minutes early for the next drum beat…. so he goes off again to buy another drink, has a few shooters while he’s at the bar, gets drunk, forgets the time and ends up missing the next drum beat altogether totally messing up the timing of the song and throwing the rest of the band completely out on sync… pffffft… drummers! Well, OK, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration there…) Anyway, the first two songs I heard from Amily were the demo versions of the title track to their then upcoming album, the bleak and heavy “To All in Graves”, and the immense and beautifully crafted “Fading Image of My Own”: both songs that made Amily a name to keep a very close eye on in the future. So the release of their album when it came was cause for some excitement.

Continue reading »