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Reviews for "Zorny Maroz"

Voices From The Darkside-webzine

VIETAH - “... the old moon of Belarus” is another band which is confirming the fact that the East European scene is getting stronger and stronger. With “Zorny Maroz” the band is presenting their tribute to the dark night sky and the five songs are an atmospheric bastard of their Ukrainian brothers NOKTURNAL MORTUM (but not as aggressive and much more important without the political rubbish) plus an essential portion of the former ARCTURUS cosmos. Antarctis is the only driving force behind this band and he is - even if we are talking about his debut - in the position to create a dark atmosphere which is leading through the whole album. Especially the three long main songs getting further atmosphere through the vocals in his mother tongue but also the two dark instrumentals are fully integrated in the lyrical and musical concept. The Belarus lyrics had been fully translated and the grey layout (by Mr. Vinterriket) is more than suitable for this release. A great release by this young band and for sure is VIETAH’s debut a more than suitable album for the coming winter.

Metal Crypt-webzine - 4.25/5

Vietah is yet another solo act from a multi-instrumentalist, strengthening my belief that Black Metal arts are where to look for talent! Zorny Maroz is the debut album of this solitary musician better known as Antarctis, hailing from Gomel City, Belarus. All the lyrics on this disc were written in the author's native tongue, but English translations are included in the booklet. I liked the music right away when I first started listening this album. I had a little bit of a problem, nothing big though, with the vocals. I think that the tortured/harsh vocals were too forced and upfront, whereas a discrete and ghostly rasp would have suited the chilling autumnal mood of this release. Being categorized as Ambient Black Metal, Zorny Maroz has some sort of a depressive and intense aura floating around. A combination of highly distorted guitars (lead/arpeggios and riffs), ambient keyboards, symphonic here and there, and mid paces worked together very well to reproduce the black and gray scenery shown in the booklet. Two of the tracks on this album are instrumentals. "Vietah Dy Samotnaja Zorka" is made exclusively of a distorted lead being repeated over and over, while the closing track, "Adczuzanasc" is a calm/ambient piece played on keyboards. The music of Vietah has a tendency to be repetitive, in a mesmerizing way, suiting the grey-ish /depressive mood of the album. My favorite compositions are the long lasting piece of darkness called "Tliennie" and "U Prastoru Pa-za Inszym Bokam". Zorny Maroz is a great opus of Ambient Black Metal, bound to satisfy the fans of Burzum and the likes.

Metal Revolution-webzine - 70/100

My friends from Russian-based Stygian Crypt Productions have sent me a bunch of new releases from this label. One of them is with a band that I’ve never heard of before.
Vietah is an ambient black metal band/project of Antarctis, a guy from Gomel (Belarus). This kind of one-man projects aren’t out of the ordinary, yet I always had huge respect for the people who do all the things by themselves, taking different path without compromise, just do what ever they like.
Zorny Maros is his first full-length album with only five tracks on it, but they are all very long with app. time of about 8-9 minutes each. The whole atmosphere on this album is somehow dark, cold and chilly, feeling like you’re left alone in the deepest of the forest. The music is dark with grey natural landscapes inspired by solitude. Actually it reminds me of some of the other bands previously reviewed here on the pages of Metal Revolution, but also some to bigger well-known names such Burzum. Having that in mind, I don’t think this music is very original nor is it unique in any way, but there’s something catchy and appealing to it anyway.
The vocals are rasping, but they aren’t that harsh either. The whole sound and production fits very well to overall atmosphere of the album, it suits the nature of the record. The songs are played in various speeds raging from some slow to more faster and catchy ones. The keyboards also play a big role in this kind of music esp. here with their role in the soundscape often depicting destruction of pain, sorrow etc. When it comes to guitars and the riffage produced on them, again it reminds me a bit of Burzum and other mainly Scandinavian bands.
The lyrics on the other hand are not supplied here, but judging by the song-titles they are all written in their native Russian language, dealing with typical depressive black metal themes and subjects. Having in mind it is Vietah’s debut album I must say that the overall quality is more than satisfying and it surprises me by its final result presented here. I think Stygian Crypt has done a wise thing signing Vietah as a new member of their ever growing family and I’m already looking forward to hear his new album, a follow-up to Zorny Maroz, which is about to be released soon. For more info go to www.stygiancrypt.cjb.net or write directly to the band.

Encyclopaedia Metallum - 80%

One man projects aren’t out of the ordinary. Society suggests that we humans are doing more and more on our own and for ourselves. The concept of helping others, or doing things together is lost in the fast, free-flowing modern world. There is no reason why the music industry should escape this surge of selfishness. Or is it intelligence? Instead of filling the position of such instruments as bass and drums with other people, why not just learn how to do it yourself? That way the creative freedom is solely in your hands. Sounds like a fantastic idea. No one but yourself to answer to is, in many respects, people’s ideal situation to be in. Whether that be in the form of their love life, or in a working environment, being your own boss is the ultimate goal so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that more one man projects are springing up. Belarus isn’t the first place I think of when I envisage the strongest black metal community. Russia, it’s neighbour, could be considered a leading nation in the race for black metal supremacy, but Belarus is lagging behind in it‘s own challenge for the crown. Belarus seems to be stricken of talent, or perhaps the necessary means to showcase that talent, so in step Vietah, a band who will receive attention for one reason or another for different reasons. Let us deal with the main issue that we have all come here to hear. Is ‘Zorny Maroz’ worth it’s weight in gold? Yes and no.
For a number of reasons, I am apprehensive about this act. First, due to the similarities, there is no doubt in my mind that this band will receive the ‘Burzum clone’ treatment, like so many others have done. To be fair, Vietah’s music does sound incredibly inspired by different era’s of Burzum, but most notably the ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’ and ‘Filosofem’ records. This fact brings into question the originality of the music. It isn’t very original, that’s it. The similarities to Burzum are far too obvious for anyone to class this as an original piece. Though, of course, the songs on this record aren’t a like-for-like copy of the songs of the aforementioned Burzum records, they do sound alike. First, the vocals are very similar to that of Varg’s though they are not as quick to the punch. Typical rasping vocals are to be found here, with a drawn out nature. The vocals aren’t as harsh either. They sound drawn out to me, which suit’s the nature of the record. It consists of generally long songs, which play out at varying speeds, from slow to fast-ish, so the vocals fit into the mix nicely, without ever really excelling. Whilst, yes, they are rasping, they don’t contain the same edge that Varg’s do. The keyboards, well, this is where the main similarity is, to me. The keyboards play a very important role in the soundscapes, which are stunning in many respects, often depicting destruction of beauty or pain and sorrow. The difference between Vietah’s use of keyboards and Burzum’s is that Varg used the keyboards as a driving factor throughout the ambient songs, not the songs with vocals. Vietah, on the other hand, use the keyboards consistently which is more pleasing to me than what Varg decided to do with the keyboard sections of his songs. The guitars, much like Burzum too. Even the riffs the guitars create remind me of Burzum. Whilst I do consider this act to have many similarities to the Norwegian act, I do not consider them clones. I think that tag is ridiculous in itself.
In terms of the other aspects of this record, apart from those Burzum similarities which even pass on to the drums, the lyrics are not supplied so we’re left to decide what those are by ourselves as the vocals are indecipherable, and perhaps in another language to my native language. Lyrically, one would imagine that Vietah express the same ideologies as most black metal band’s and depict the same emotions too. Raw anger, subtle pain and unadulterated sorrow all seem to flow through the vocal expression by the band’s leading man. Considering the lack of information on Vietah, it is damn near impossible to give any sort of opinion on previous material, as this seems to be the only material that exists in the public eye and it’s even more difficult to give any information on the man behind the music because his identity is very well hidden. Considering those things, one must appreciate the high standard of material laid out for us because, for a debut, it is good. Though the Burzum influence is too noticeable and the percussion is controlled by a drum machine, or so it seems, the material present on the debut is solid and strong. Although it won’t compete with any of the top acts out there, it will be pleasing to those die hard fans of depressive black metal.