Casus Belli Musica

This makes sense… Tamerlan, the solo-outfit of Serbian Timur Iskandarov, signed to Casus Belli Musica, a fantastic Russian label run by a great crew of devoted Music fans. Dmitry and friends: Уважение!

Nowadays it’s quite difficult to create something unique and, at the same time, something great. Some renewing acts bring stuff that simply sucks, that is filled with exaggeration, or that lacks cohesion or a vision. Besides, in mean time it might seem that we’ve reach all borders of the sonic spectrum – since Harsh Noise Wall or simplistic field recording / sounds of nature are considered being ‘musical styles’ (and hey, you won’t hear me complain), it’s almost unthinkable what’s next to come.

The ancient city of Tier, not that far away from Moscow, capital of the Russian Federation, has quite an interesting history. Unfortunately, the old Soviet institutes sort of ‘killed’ quite some elements from the culture and traditions of that era, at the shores of the river Volga. But are several bands out there that try to revive the forgotten glory of that era / area, and amongst those is this one: Kreiviskai. The band was formed in 2013, and soon after their birth, the quartet started working on their debut full album.

The ancient city of Tier, not that far away from Moscow, capital of the Russian Federation, has quite an interesting history. Unfortunately, the old Soviet institutes sort of ‘killed’ quite some elements from the culture and traditions of that era, at the shores of the river Volga. But are several bands out there that try to revive the forgotten glory of that era / area, and amongst those is this one: Kreiviskai. The band was formed in 2013, and soon after their birth, the quartet started working on their debut full album.

When I was looking for some additional information about Iconoclast’s past, I found out that this Russian band (yes, this review deals with the ‘iconoclast’ from Yaroslavl, Russia, and not with one of the hundred other bands with that very same name) was formed in 2003. It is remarkable but this album actually is the first one they did in ten years of existence. But it does not matter, it’s just an objective fact that did ‘absorb’ my attention.

Nidra are quite a young duo from the Russian city of Perm, more than 1,000 km East from Moscow, and 500 km North of the Kazakhstani border, for your geographical information.

Russian warriors Oprich (it’s an old Russian word that means something like ‘unique’, ‘opposite’, ‘against’, ‘isolated’) return with a new epic tale, focusing on the glory of the past, the heroism and pride of Old. It’s called Wind’s Heady Mead, and it comes in an edition limited to 100 copies only (hand-numbered) on vinyl with cover artwork created by Igor Burlakov aka Dartgarry (think: North Diamond, Hagl, Grey Heaven Fall etc.).

Russian warriors Hagl were once formed as Darkomen and about a decade ago, they changed their moniker into the current one. Throughout the years, the band recorded two albums (Nearer To Victory, 2005, and Irminsul, 2008), but in both cases it took many years before being able to release this stuff (respectively 2010 and 2011). This time, however, things aren’t turning the slowest way.

Practically no info is available on this band, except in their native Russian on the band's two facebook pages...so here's what I dó know: