Review Summary: From Russia with blood red love.
Russians don’t fuck around. Say the wrong word at the wrong time, do the wrong gesture in the wrong place, share the wrong opinion on the wrong media and you can kiss your precious life goodbye in a whim. The last music critic that wrote the wrong review for a Russian band was Alexei Navalny and look what happened to him. Poisoned to oblivion, folks. There’s a very palpable chance I don’t live to make it to the end of the year, but I promise that hereby I’ll speak the truth and nothing but the truth, about a young Russian blackgaze band, and their promising debut.
Vdjuga is a five piece from the land of vodka who believe they do blackgaze, and it might be true, but not entirely. Their music reaches to the likes of Alcest or Deafheaven with loving arms but barely touches them with the tip of their fingers. On the other hand, and this might be accidental, Vdjuga’s sound phases between early Deftones with some softer Vision of Disorder influence or even post metal, sporting a strong early 2000s influence vibe that sometimes erupts with the sporadic blast beat here and there, which I guess is where the blackgaze self-tag comes from.
Their hidden weapon is sadly also their weakest link. Lead singer Natasha has the perfect voice for a band like this, all things considered. Sweet, haunting... Her vocal melodies, which at times sound like she is improvising them, work really well when harmonized. The effect is mesmerizing, like being subdued by a covenant of witches, but it’s when she’s left alone in the forefront that her shortcomings as a singer surface, going in and out of tune like a drunk driver drifting on ice. She shines specially on the second half though, with special mention to “Nurtured in a House Sin”, a song she makes her own with withering beauty.
The music is solid, not revolutionary, but it stands on solid ground, with a robust and clear production on drums and bass allowing specifically the four strings to make their presence felt. Guitars are sharp, heavy when needed and spacious when the band focuses on atmosphere building. The seven minutes of the fake closer “Closeness” show the best side of Vdjuga on this debut, with the band moving between blackgaze and tense doom passages on the way out. The opening intro, “Aeternum”, makes quick work of presenting Natasha’s voice as your guide through this record, with her ghostly harmonies luring you into the first proper track, “Rotten: Thousand Times “Good Night””, the first of many post black metal gaze conundrums along the album.
The second half of
Aeternum is notably superior to the first half, thanks to the two tracks previously mentioned, “Closeness” and “Nurtured in a House Sin”, with maybe the exception of the third cut, “Rotten: Godforsaken”, which is one of the most cohesive tracks and also one of the clear highlights of the album.
I’ll write these words to finish, and I hope I don’t find a horse’s head on my bed when I turn off the PC after I publish this review, but I do believe Vdjuga is a group you want to keep an eye on.
Aeternum illustrates a band with some really nice ideas, still not aware of their own potential as they explore different ways of expressing their music through a wide spectrum of genres, but it’s a matter of time they find their comfort zone, with Natasha perfecting her singing and the band pushing their limits even further.
(Now, can you lower the gun and let me go to sleep? Review’s done; I swear.)
