А за Солнцем Луна... - Поганки
A synth-driven dance around flames
Laden in references to witchcraft and woodland paganism, Russia’s А за Солнцем Луна...’s latest album is nonstop fun. Continuously cycling between styles, each turn will leave you wondering what else they could have up their sleeve. This sonic eclecticism culminates to a spooky ride that’s as intense as it is playful.
Metal Archives | Bandcamp | YouTube
Russia’s А за Солнцем Луна..., anglicized henceforth as “A Za Solncem Luna” (ah zah souln-sem luna), translates to “And Behind the Sun is the Moon…”
The album’s cover art, depicting forest witches gathered around a fire, carries imagery similar to that of Christensen’s 1922 film Häxan. Whether through direct homage or simply drifting along the infamous film’s persevering ripples, the monotone, low-fidelity photograph looks as if it could have been pulled directly from a German Expressionist* film.
[*] Häxan is a Danish film, but is nonetheless considered alongside the German Expressionist canon for its glaringly similar film techniques.
Häxan was originally created as an adaptation of the Malleus Malifecarum, inversely positioned as a historical documentary to demonstrate the tome’s use towards the superstitious mistreatment of women over the ages. The infamous second part of the film contains depictions of witchcraft, along with retrospectively humorous portrayals of Satan up to no good. His shenanigans include a myriad of mischief, ranging from tempting a woman into adultery to terrorizing monks. While the film was well-received overall, the content nonetheless garnered accusations of blasphemy. As such, many films and bands have since alluded to its style to create a sense of occultic atmosphere.
Polishing off the cover is a superimposed leafy border of crescent moons floating above mushrooms, wherein the album finds its title: Поганки, or Toadstools.
Even if the tracks weren’t listed with English translations of witchcraft-laden allusions, the presentation of the album makes clear its intended aesthetic. This isn’t too surprising however; they’re signed to Hexencave, after all - a Slovakian label with a German/English amalgam of a name meaning something like “Cave of Witches”.
As one should expect, the witchcraft carries fully into the music.
The foundation of their sound sits within “vampiric black metal”, born of Mediterranean black metal bands like Mortuary Drape and Necromantia. Instead of the prototypical blast beats and walls of sound found ad nauseam in Scandinavian black metal, their Southern European counterparts opt for a haunting gothic atmosphere blended with Satanic and pagan ritualism. In the place of flails, battle axes, and overbearing machismo, there are instead candelabras, exhumed corpses, and naked women on sacrificial altars. Mark me a fan.
In a prototypical fashion to vampiric metal, the vocals shift back-and-forth between demonic screams and layers of reverbed vocals. The latter, which sound more like an invocations than songs, add greatly to the haunting atmosphere. Even in the sections that opt for female vocals over male, there’s never a second where the vocals don’t carry with them a certain eeriness.
The instrumentation propel these vocal sections even further, moving fluidly between wildly spastic sections that put forward both an air of intense adventure and chaotic horror. At times, the riffing is powerful enough to wade into the realm of death metal, but never overbearingly so. When these erratic moments finally do subside, it can be hard to predict what comes next. Sometimes, it’s a galloping riff overlaid with folk-like war chanting. Other turns take you into ambient sections that aim to create the feeling of wandering through a haunted forest.
All of these varying musical styles are glued together with clever sampling that effectively establish setting. Whether it be the sound of rain, occultic chanting, and a crying child at the album’s open, the sound of a wizard fleeing through a crowd of people on the track Flight of the Dark Sorcerer, or the jeering crowd on The Cursed Inquisition (Execution of a Witch), the samples scattered throughout launch the themes of the album clear over any language barrier.
When finally held up together, this sonic variety results in an adventure-filled album that never amounts to a dull moment. The style is grounded enough to invoke the sounds of classic bands like Mortuary Drape, but creative enough to set A Za Solncem Luna apart from more-recent contemporaries like Malokarpatan. Overall, A Za Solncem Luna is a strong contender in this corner of black metal, and has garnered a watchful eye.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to binge this band’s discography.