Russia’s Bjarm were formed five years ago in the North-West of this immense country. They hail from Severodvinsk at the White Sea, an era that was called Bjarmaland in several Norse Viking-sagas. That is where they took the inspiration for their band’s name from, as the smart ones amongst you might have guessed…
Anyway, throughout the years, Bjarm had several line-up changes, but as a sextet (vocalist Andrey Vait, guitar players Alexey Miroshin and Egor Vorobiev, drummer Vitaliy Prakhov, keyboard player Anastasia Angie -she does the female voices too-, and bassist Mikhail Shatnyi) they recorded and self-produced their debut, Imminence, with Pavel Korotaev taking care of the mix at the Stone Oil Studio. The mastering has been done, for your information, at the famous Fascination Street Studio with Tony Lindgren (Paradise Lost, In Vain, Kreator etc.) at the helm.
Imminence clocks fifty minutes and opens with an intro (Approaching Of The Close) that I do like a lot. It’s a very dark and orchestral, symphonic piece, and this kind of bombast returns whole the time throughout the album. As from then on, Bjarm perform a mixture of symphonic and harsh musical styles, mingling Gothic, Dark, Death, Black, Doom, Epic and Symphonic Metal, with a profound focus on the school from the late nineties. Okay, it means a total lack of originality, but ignore this statement. Even back then there were not that many bands that were able to create such a grandiose symbiosis of ambiance and aggression. Without sounding to ‘dated’, Bjarm do reach the highest level of this current. Normally, and I am not kidding, I get nauseous by the modern load of bands that try to reach the level of Dismal Euphony, Bloodthorn etc. (these are the few bands that, to my humble opinion, are worthy to mention with pride!). Bjarm, however, are at least recommendable to be listened to. Almost each composition, no sorry, I will be excused…: each single composition sounds majestic without losing itself into pulpy and irritating irritation. Every single track is more than ‘average’. Everything fits. The sound quality is superb. The compositions are above any level. The performance is very professional. The individual details are truly cohesive and, what is of importance, of a convincing nature. And so on…
Forget the scene that makes the glorious past sounding like nothing else but a brief passage though historical majesty. With Imminence, Bjarm are able to create a fabulous eargasm, re-defining what this rarely strongly executed sub-genre could have created. I am really talking about a grandiose Symphonic / Epic Black / Death album, something I have not experienced anymore in years
[I had quite an extensive ‘story’ going on, and suddenly my f*** PC decided to f*** me once again. I am too pretty to start it all over again, and since I want to concentrate on other things right now; my wife, for example, is walking around right here, right now, in nothing but some underwear…; anyway, my middle-finger goes to automatisation, which brings frustration once again, and it is disadvantageous for this review, but since I am so stubborn…] Anyway, this record is toppie! But the review won’t continue. I lost most of it, and that’s sad, for me, and maybe for you? End of story…