Khors are a Ukrainian band on the verge of a breakthrough. Though their star seems to have been rising steadily over the course of four albums beginning with The Flame of Eternity’s Decline in 2005, their signing with Candlelight Records in May for release of the band’s fifth full-length album will likely lead to significantly greater exposure, especially because that fifth album is so damned good.

Wisdom of Centuries tests the limits of genre classification. It combines elements of black metal, progressive metal, ambient music, doom, and to a lesser degree folk metal, producing something that is bleak, beautiful, and often mystical. Distancing themselves from the black metal label, Khors characterize the music as “heathen dark metal”. Perhaps that’s as good a shorthand description as any, since “dark metal” is so often used to describe music that doesn’t neatly fit anywhere else.

To the extent one seeks guidance from lyrics in helping to understand the inspiration behind the music, the quest will be difficult because this is the first album in which all the band’s vocals are in their native tongue (though the song titles are translated). However, Khors have explained that Wisdom of Centuries “is dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Kholodny Yar Republic, to its founders and defenders.” My own feeble research indicates that this refers to a rural partisan uprising against the Bolsheviks and the Russian Red Army occupying the Ukraine, which ultimately failed — and then the Iron Curtain descended

Fittingly then, the emotionally resonant, atmospheric music on the album creates moods of longing, loss, and anguish. But calling it “depressive” would go much too far, because the songs are as melodically rich and vibrant as they are melancholy and wistful. Wisdom of Centuries has the feel of a journey through memory, an exploration of a tragic but heroic past that lives on in spirit.  Continue reading »