Rossomahaar
Grotesque
[R.I.P. Prod.]
I do not have knowledge if this release is a demo or a cassette album, since it
is quite long. I would estimate 45 minutes, without any actual time-count.
Rossomahaar is a Russian one-man band with directly expressed (but kept totally extra-musical) NS/white supremacist ideology and possible connections to the Black Metal Brotherhood terrorist activities. If you have the feeling that they are getting attention with their activities that they would not be getting with their music, listen to Temnozor, Fullmoon Rise or Rossomahaar. These go well up against the elite black metal of any part of the world. Well, to be honest, I don’t think that Rossomahaar would ever be much appreciated beyond the most devoted black metal underground audience. But to me, the power in this is obvious.
”Grotesque” seems an odd name for a demo where all the song titles except one or two are clearly Tolkien-inspired. But it isn’t a bad title to describe the music with. It is a combination of raw black metal, fantasy atmosphere and funereal keyboards. There are plenty of synth intros/outros/interludes here, almost one between each ”real” song. There is a strange kind of strength to these short and simple synth pieces; they are done with a low-end synth clearly, but there is much more attention paid to their composition than you hear with the Norwegians, for example. With some parts, Summoning comes to mind, but Rossomahaar also has these twisted, long, simulated organ parts straight from a vampyric castle. Also, I would say that in general, Rossomahaar reaches for a darker Tolkien mood than Summoning.
The rawness here is mostly in the abominable production. The drum-machine used is incredibly thin and bad-sounding, the reverbed vocals are distant rasps from the shadowlands and the guitars are fuzzing and wheezing in total disrespect to any quality standards. Ignoring these elements, I would note that the music is rather melodic, unique and progressive, not to mention very beautiful! A careful listener will find unique, grotesque riffs, surprising structures and real atmosphere.
This is black metal from the pits of Utumno or dungeons of Moria. Brutal stuff.
© 1999 black hate
Rossomahaar is a Russian one-man band with directly expressed (but kept totally extra-musical) NS/white supremacist ideology and possible connections to the Black Metal Brotherhood terrorist activities. If you have the feeling that they are getting attention with their activities that they would not be getting with their music, listen to Temnozor, Fullmoon Rise or Rossomahaar. These go well up against the elite black metal of any part of the world. Well, to be honest, I don’t think that Rossomahaar would ever be much appreciated beyond the most devoted black metal underground audience. But to me, the power in this is obvious.
”Grotesque” seems an odd name for a demo where all the song titles except one or two are clearly Tolkien-inspired. But it isn’t a bad title to describe the music with. It is a combination of raw black metal, fantasy atmosphere and funereal keyboards. There are plenty of synth intros/outros/interludes here, almost one between each ”real” song. There is a strange kind of strength to these short and simple synth pieces; they are done with a low-end synth clearly, but there is much more attention paid to their composition than you hear with the Norwegians, for example. With some parts, Summoning comes to mind, but Rossomahaar also has these twisted, long, simulated organ parts straight from a vampyric castle. Also, I would say that in general, Rossomahaar reaches for a darker Tolkien mood than Summoning.
The rawness here is mostly in the abominable production. The drum-machine used is incredibly thin and bad-sounding, the reverbed vocals are distant rasps from the shadowlands and the guitars are fuzzing and wheezing in total disrespect to any quality standards. Ignoring these elements, I would note that the music is rather melodic, unique and progressive, not to mention very beautiful! A careful listener will find unique, grotesque riffs, surprising structures and real atmosphere.
This is black metal from the pits of Utumno or dungeons of Moria. Brutal stuff.
© 1999 black hate