Since I did write several reviews before for this project, I will not go too deep into the discography or biography of this solo-outfit by Aleksey Korolyev, who is residing in Georgia nowadays. I will directly focus on this re-release / compilation.
Multi-instrumentalist / composer / lyricist Artem ‘Voidger’ Kilka did form the outfit U Kronakh (also known as Ukronakh or У Kронах) in 2020 as an outlet to transform his ideas into sonic format. Since he originates from the Carpathian area (actually, the band is located in the city of Chernivtsi, in Ukraine, close to the borders with Moldova and Romania), he wanted to tell ‘a story about the spirits of antiquity who wander the forest paths of the Carpathian mountains in oblivion and find no rest’.
(released a year ago, but too great not to get reviewed…)
[brief review, yet based on another release from 2020 / 2021 that deserves all additional promotion, in a dedicated series about Satanath Records, GrimmDistribution, Symbol Of Domination Productions]
Being inspired by the combative spirit and the pristine wilderness of his homelands, being the region of Novosibirsk, Nikolay ‘SiN’ created an eighth full-length that goes on in the vein of the past. Active since 2005, Astarium did create an own approach of Atmospheric Ambient Black Metal; but I’ll go deeper into the matter immediately. First some details about this album’s administration.
I did mention the name of Vladimir Prokofiev a couple of times before. However, this was linked to his visual art for cover paintings / drawings. Vladimir is the guy behind the famous Paint-It-Black Design, known for his works for albums by bands like A Thousand Sufferings, Taiga, Vehementor, Ethir Anduin, Istina and many more.
The Russian outfit Ethir Anduin was formed about fifteen years ago (2006) by some Alexey Veselov aka Fenrir. He’s also in Bestial Deform and very recently he joined Atra Haeresis. Throughout the years, Ethir Anduin did release more than a handful of full-lengths, quite some EP’s and some digital singles. I have not always been the biggest ‘fan’ of this act, yet as from a couple of years, the evolution is remarkable; at least, that’s my personal opinion, for what it’s worth.
Even-though it’s been more than a year, I will write several reviews on stuff released by GrimmDistribution (and the sister-labels involved) from ‘back then’. Mártír is one of those releases that does deserve any additional support by undersigned (for what it’s worth).
I had not heard of this band before, but apparently that is not that strange. You see, this combo from Israel was formed in 2017, but they did not release anything ‘huge’ and ‘official’ yet. But hey, they might put their moniker on the international map as from now on. Why? Because of Corroded By Darkness.
In 2018 some East-European musicians joined forces under the moniker of Monumentum Damnati: Abhoth (music & lyrics, also bass guitars), Athame (synths), Shoggoth (guitars) and Nyarlathotep (drums). Somehow they did prefer to stay ‘anonymous’ (with masks), even though it is said that they are ‘known’ artists from Belarus and at least one other country from the Far East of Europe (and maybe the U.S. of A.).
