Lucifugum "Клеймо Эгоизма / Stigma Egoism" CD

The last album with Bal-a-Myth. English album's title "Stigma Egoism".

Comes with a 12-page booklet.

While the influences were certainly present on the previous full-length, 'Stigma Egoism' is definitely the Lucifugum album which most resembles Dub Buk's 'Rus Ponad Vse!' in style. Stripping out much of the melody of '...And The Wheel Keeps Crunching...', Lucifugum crafts an album of incisive, militaristic black metal with significant thrash elements and a sense of melody derived from a combination of primitive black/thrash and Ukrainian folk. This is possibly Lucifugum's most direct and savage album (at least at this point in the band's career), and is certainly in the upper echelon of the artist's releases.
The resemblance to Dub Buk's work is pretty striking; a very similar set of rhythms and riffing styles are used. The music is aesthetically black metal but at points seems to have more in common with thrash than anything; tremolo riffing is rather underused in favor of more complex and rhythmic note structures. The melodies are right out of the 'Rus Ponad Vse!' book as well; the riffs are all over the fretboard and with a folky tone despite the distinctly metal style of performance. Unlike 'Rus Ponad Vse!', however, and fitting this era of Lucifugum's career, keyboards remain almost entirely unused; there's maybe two pivotal moments where a light dusting of synths emerges, but otherwise this is entirely composed of conventional black metal instruments. This is an extremely riff-based album, and the intrusion of keyboards as a melodic voice would likely just confuse the music anyway.
The very fast and rhythmic nature of this music makes it a very captivating listen; Lucifugum are completely unwilling to let the listener get bored on this release and prevent through complex and intricate riffing placed within varied song structures. Only a few reprieves on this release are found; 'Дикого Зверя', for example, is an oddity with its strange, cracked-vinyl orchestral intro, and the band has a tendency to experiment with other such weirdness from time to time, particularly as the album wears on, such as on the entirely percussion-based track 'Пляска Жизни Стылым Виснет'. These hints of something stranger are just at the edge of the music and never really intrude on the whole of the compositions, making for a delightfully strange, hinting-at-otherworldly style of music where fantastical and weird elements are brought firmly into reality by the over-the-trenches black/thrash on display.
'Stigma Egoism' is a catchy and very engaging album which could easily find itself wanted in the collection of just about any black/thrash fan. It's unique without being novelty-ridden and based soundly in quality songwriting and riffing; there's really no reason not to give this one a try. Certainly one of the stronger releases in Lucifugum's catalog and recommended as such to anyone interested.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...