Jan 162023
 

Starting the third week of this annual songfest I picked three that go together so well, in addition to being infectious standouts on their own. It happens that two of them were also presented by two of my favorite videos of 2022.

ENSLAVED (Norway)

In putting together these lists there’s always been a bit of confusion in my mind about what to do with songs that premiered in one year from albums not due for release until the following year. Here’s a case in point: Enslaved‘s new album Heimdal isn’t due out until March 3rd of this year, but the song “Kingdom” from that album debuted in August of last year. So should it be considered for the 2022 edition of this list or should I wait a year and make it a candidate for the 2023 list?

I don’t think I’ve had any consistent policy on this issue, though in general I hate waiting. In this case the song was first released as a stand-alone single almost three months before the album was even announced, so that seems like adequate justification for putting it on the 2022 list now. Continue reading »

Aug 092022
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Branislav Panić, the man behind the band Тишина (Tishina), whose excellent debut album was released in May 2022.)

It’s always inspiring when bands use their mother tongue in their lyrics or have enough courage to demonstrate their roots, their identity. But that move also builds a barrier sometimes, so there’s a kind of risk if your band’s name is written in Cyrillic, for example.

Тишина / Tishina means “silence” in Serbian, and the band’s founder Branislav Panić gained his first experience playing different sorts of metal in Serbian bands. Then he moved to Canada but the passion towards heavy music can’t be eradicated easily, and soon Тишина / Tishina was born.

Branislav chose to express his interest towards melodic death-doom through his project, and as result we have his first solo album Увод… / Uvod… released just two months ago. And if you dig old good stuff like Katatonia, Saturnus, and so on, then this album will linger in your play-list longer than you expect. Continue reading »

May 162022
 

 

Tишина (“Tishina” or “Silence”) is a new melodic doom/death project founded by Serbian musician Branislav Panić, known for his work in the blackened death metal band Bane. Under the banner of Tишина, he has drawn upon the influence of such bands as Saturnus, October Tide, Mourning Beloveth, and Doom:vs, among others, and the results are now captured on a debut album named Увод… (“Uvod…” or “Introduction…”), which was inspired mainly by a book of poems named Nad Vodama Aheronta by the Serbian author Predrag Rava.

Увод… will be co-released on May 30th by Satanath Records, Hypnotic Dirge Records, and The End Of Time Records. As that day fast approaches, we are now presenting a song from the album named “Јутро Последњег Дана” (Jutro Poslednjeg Dana), which is a remarkable amalgam of sensations, both spellbinding and hard-hitting. Continue reading »