Сивый Яр (Sivyj Yar) & Hermóðr – The Unmourned Past & A Place of Eternal Twilight (2016)

Author: Crono

Artist: Сивый Яр (Sivyj Yar) & Hermóðr

Album: The Unmourned Past & A Place of Eternal Twilight

Labels: Independent

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

The Morningside – Yellow (2016)

Author: Crono

Artist: The Morningside

Album: Yellow

Label: BadMoodMan Music

Genre: Atmospheric Doom

 

 

Yellow is the fourth album from Russian melancholic doom metal act The Morningside. I have been following The Morningside ever since hearing their wonderful debut, The Wind, the Trees and the Shadows of the Past, a beautiful love letter to nature seen through the eyes of dour Russians.  

Kauan – Sorni Nai (2015)

Author: Crono

Artist: Kauan

Album: Sorni Nai

Label: Blood Music

 

For those that don’t know, Kauan is a long-running Russian band, whose music has normally tended towards the beautiful, leaning on ambient, folk, post-rock, and heart-wrenching Finnish vocals. However, every once in a while Kauan will flex a little bit doom and black metal muscle, cutting through their usual melancholy beauty with something that is crushing. But let’s be honest here: Kauan makes pretty music, and you must enjoy pretty music to get into Kauan, not matter how many times they toss in some heavy vocals.

Sivyj Yar – Burial Shrouds (2015)

Author: Crono

Artist: Сивый Яр (Sivyj Yar)

Album: Поминальные холсты (Burial Shrouds)

Label: Avantgarde Music

 

There is something very unique about how Sivyj Yar approaches black metal. Just listen to the first song off this album and you will know what I mean. There is simple happiness to that lead guitar riff. It just doesn’t make sense. The vocals are howling and tortured, the music is clearly black metal, but those riffs just sound so positive. This is, surprisingly, the fifth album from Russian one-man black metal outfit Сивый Яр, better known as Sivyj Yar to non-Russian speakers.