Review Summary: Originating from ambient black metal, blooming into doomy psychedelia. It's snowing in June too.
Windir, hailing from Sogndal region of Norway, have praised the epic beauty and viking-era history of Sognefjord with their hymns.
Vorgashore, coming from Komi region, a remote corner in the deep north of Russia, dedicate their 'songs of unrequited love to Motherland' to the bleak, vast barren land they live in, where 10-months long winters dominate. And in conveying the feeling, they do excel.
Somewhat similar to blizzard-sounding black ambient metal - whatever that means - of
Paysage d'hiver and
Vinterriket, on
Turn Towards Pechora Vorgashore rises head and shoulders above the former in terms of emotion. Drowning abundantly present funeral melodies in walls of thick guitar noise, they immerse the listener into the cold river until he stops sensing his toes and fingers. The atmospheres are quite sparce, as monochrome as the cover photograph.
Coming from the black metal area, Vorgashore stretches far into the realms of gloomy post-punk psychedelia, slowing down obligatory blast beats to doomy tempos, resembling
The Angelic Process more than the origins of the genre they're starting from. Vocals are no more than yet another instrument, hissing something from the outside, as if not caring about being heard or listened to, floating between the dense layers of heavily distorted guitars and background drones.
The first track features a slowed down sample of a local 'pop' song romanticizing simple life in the remote north. The last one is a cover-version of a 'prison chanson' song masterfully turned into a dirge, and as controversial as it sounds, it fits great. Those two pieces frame the album, adding some background reality to otherwise rather ethereal journey.
Such music won't get any popular due to its deeply obscure nature and being completely opposite to what could be called 'enjoyable', yet if monotonous, it is a sombre gem among the blackened walls-of-sound out there, a work by very talented musicians.
Invitation to the unwelcoming territory which was inhabited by force mostly by prisoners during GULAG era, devoid of everything but cold winds, endless marshes, taiga, tundra and hordes of mosquitoes,
'where fearless people build houses among bogs', is not for everybody. But if you know the moist smell of boreal forests where it's snowing in June too - then
'come and see by yourself how marvelous are the vistas of Usa river, and when you come you'll understand and love them.'
