I mail-ordered this tape on a whim and was preparing to hear some good Slavonic pagan-black metal, what with the band's name and all. I should have known better. As soon as I looked at the tape's cover depicting an emaciated yogi in the state of meditation, I knew something was wrong. Well, it is black metal, and it is sort of pagan, but it is far from what I had in mind.

Here we have a Russian band playing run-of-the-mill black metal in the Swedish vein. Totally not my thing I must say. The sound kind of reminds me of Rossomahaar's "Imperium Tenebrarum." I think both bands were recording in the same studio. Stylistically too, some similarities to Rossomahaar could be detected, but Chernobog are much more straightforward, and, of course, without the death metal influence, not to mention way more pedestrian in quality. The formula is quite simple. Fast, with high pitched screams, fairly melodic guitars with predictable riff progressions, some pseudo-symphonic keyboards, and a rather "happy" atmosphere. Did I say the music was boring?

If you are a HUGE fan of this whole Swedish thing, I guess you can take a chance and give it a try, but be prepared to hear the same stuff you've heard from dozens of other bands of this ilk. Me? I'll just put it in a dusty box where I keep all my CD's and tapes that I don't listen to anymore.

© 2000 boris