(written by Islander)
We’ve had a few occasions in previous years to froth at the mouth about the extravagant music of the Russian black metal band Malist, on one occasion summing it up as “…blazing and boisterous… thrusting and thunderous… moody, melancholy, and mysterious at times, but mainly explosive and exhilarating (and highly addictive)…”
Now we learn that the Russian musician behind Malist, Nick Kholodov (Ovfrost), has a new project named Crimson Crown and a debut album for the project entitled Vae Victis that will be out next month. Like Malist, Crimson Crown is devoted to black metal, but there must be differences, mustn’t there? Else why create a new project? Well, let’s find out together as we listen to a song from Val Victis named “Burn the Chains With Unholy Fire“.
Here’s how the album is pitched by the two labels that are releasing it:
On the debut album Vae Victis, Ovfrost utilizes dark and heavy guitar riffs backed with old-school grooves and solowork to create the atmosphere of cruel wars of old, ruthless rituals and fruitless hopes. Taking inspiration from 90s to early 2000s Immortal, Lord Belial, Dissection, Rotting Christ and Marduk, the author crafts the band’s own unique sound, incorporating elements from both old and new in a seamless stream of dark heavy metal, while also creating his brutal story about the cult of the Collector, whose arrival hangs like a righteously dark omen over the despotic world…
What you get in “Burn the Chains With Unholy Fire” is what you might expect from the song’s name, and you’d best gulp some air before starting because (until the last 20 seconds) it’s an unrelenting sonic firestorm.
On Vae Victis Ovfrost is joined by drummer Vladimir Udarnov, and his jet-fast but nimble and dynamic work on the song (paired with rapid bass undulations) keeps the song’s warlike intensity in the red zone. The riffing, sometimes segmented by quick starts and stops, is also in the red zone. It channels sensations of both roiling madness in higher registers and grim, vicious cruelty in the lower range, but blends in other moments that sound desperate and dismal.
Ovfrost also flashes lead-guitar lightning, amplifying both the song’s wild ferocity and its moods of wild desperation. But the vocals might be the song’s most unhinged aspects. They range from hateful snarls and wrathful roars to blistering screams, a frightening cavalcade of pure malice.
And in those last 20 seconds, you’ll get a surprise… which we’ll let you learn for yourselves.
You can also now check out one more song from Vae Victis, this one a very groovesome piece named “King“. It begins in a very different way, with a rhythmically murmuring bass and mysteriously glistening synths creating a dark spell. Following that haunting overture, the guitars begin to swarm more noticeably, but the pacing doesn’t rip. Booming bass tones and rocking snare beats keep the speed in the mid-range.
The layered guitars include glittering tones in keeping with the atmosphere of the opening synths, creating a kind of dangerous splendor, even though they feverishly writhe and squeal in demented and disturbing ways too, and the soloing is a spirit of demented ecstasy. But the song also inflicts bludgeoning head-moving jolts, and of course the vocals are just as scary as before. Just as the bass had the last word on the song we premiered, so it does here too… a kind of funky last word.
Considering just these two songs, you’ll see that Vae Victis has quite a lot of variety to offer, in keeping with the variety of all those black metal band names identified in the labels’ pitch up above.
Vae Victis was mixed and mastered by Artyom Kazakov and features artwork by Milena Kress, and logo and emblem by Inersys32. The album will be co-released on May 9th by Satanath Records (Georgia) and More Hate Productions (Russia), in a jewel-box CD edition with a 12-page booklet (limited to 500 copies), and digitally.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat388-crimson-crown-vae-victis-2025
http://www.morehate.com/
CRIMSON CROWN:
https://crimsoncrown.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/people/Crimson-Crown/61565804590831/
https://www.instagram.com/crimsoncrownband