Seven years have passed since the Russian black metal band Wardra released their debut album Небо медного цвета, but at last a second one is on the way, now set for an April 17 release by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Onism Productions (UK). The name of this one is Страж звёздных склепов (“Warden Of The Stellar Crypts“).
While the band’s first album could be considered an amalgam of traditional black metal and primitive mysticism, they’ve moved in a different direction on their new release — a movement into the endless darkness of space. As they describe it:
This is a story about the death of worlds on the endless fields of nuclear harvest and about a silent witness who will endlessly wander through the carpet of fragments of time, waiting for the beginning of a new world that writhes in endless convulsions of sleep, without hope of awakening.
In keeping with that conception, Wardra‘s new music is more atmospheric, more melodic and dark, but it’s also raw and ravaging. You’ll understand that for yourselves when you hear the song we’re premiering today (with a video) — “Сатурна разящие лезвия (Saturn’s Сutting Blades)“.
The riffing swirls in electrifying fashion, surrounding the listener with a melody that’s both majestic and distressing, expansive in its sound but almost dismal in its mood. Wardra drive the music to further intensity with hammering drums, vocals that growl and roar like an enraged but strangling beast, and even more heated and harrowing riffage.
Thunder rumbles in the low end, the pulse of downfall throbs in the midst of celestial firestorms of sound, and waves of mid-range melody channel deep sorrow as the vocals gnash and howl. Big thumping beats and a steadily cracking snare shift the momentum, but not the mood of the layered instrumentation, which remains heartbroken and hopeless — a sonic vision devastation on a sweeping scale.
Warden Of The Stellar Crypts was recorded in 2023 (drums and percussion at Mindcrusher Labs Studio, vocals at Rofocale Rec, instrumental parts at CDM Records), and it was mixed and mastered by Sergei Lazar. The album features cover art by Rotten Fantom.
Satanath and Onism will release it on CD — Jewel Box (400 copies) and Digipak (100 copies) — with a 16-page booklet. It’s also available digitally. Find more info through the links below, and after those you’ll also have the chance to hear the new album’s first single, “Тот, кто видел (The One Who Saw)“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat370-wardra-warden-of-the-stellar-crypts-2024
https://onismproductions.bandcamp.com/album/warden-of-the-stellar-crypts
WARDRA:
https://wardra.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/wardrablack