Tracks 1-3 are "The Iceflame of Hyperborea" (2002)
Tracks 4-6 are "Blizzard" (2003)
Track 7-8 are "Raven" (1998).
When I first came across this compilation, I didn't know what to expect. Being fairly acquianted with Russian black metal acts such as Djur, Walknut, Windbruch, Forest, and Godless Grace, I was expecting something which could satisfy my insatiable will to listen to some great black metal, whether it is national socialistic, depressive, or otherwise. Surprisingly enough, this band is one of the forerunners of the genre which would latter be called "depressive black metal".
The overall disgusting atmosphere, and depressive mood which this compilation which consists of music from this band's early demos, creates, truly manages to prove itself capable and worthy of being called depressive black metal. This Silencer, and Shining contemporary, manages to give a Russian twist to its music, by making use of Russophile lyrics, and themes, thus avoiding the use of the over-saturated, generic depressive, misanthropic lyrics.
Droning guitar melodies, flat blast beats, screeching vocals, and the non-existence of a bass guitar, are compulsory for a band who would like to express itself in the "depressive black metal way". Don't get me totally wrong though, these songs cannot be classified solely as depressive black metal, since they also contain strong elements of early Norwegian black metal, and German national socialistic sounds common to Moonblood and Aryan Terrorism. This band alludes to theories such as the "Out of Atlantis" theory, which is quite evident in the first song.
The song which stands out the most, apart from the quasi-half hour song entitled "At a River flowing Northwards", is the melancholic masterpiece called "Lord of the Winds". It might sounds like some run of the mill depressive/traditional black metal song at first, but when you unwrap the entire structure of the song, you realize that it has a much deeper meaning that that. The wind, for me symbolizes everything that is drone...feeds on repetition...maybe even uncreative, and that's exactly how this song sounds. It can be considered as quite dull and uninteresting to the inexperienced ear, but when you truly let the omnipresent melody penetrate your soul, you will definitely form a different opinion of this song.
The artwork of this compilation is pretty generic, and I was quite disappointed about the fact that their very first demo was not included in this compilation, since it included such songs as "Ворон", which is a long, and winding epic black metal song in vein of Absurd, and Moonblood. A theory of mine which I created due to the choice of songs in this album, is that due to its unpopularity outside Russia, На Распутье wanted to appeal more to a western audience, by including the songs which contained English titles, and possibly even lyrics. The overall production wasn't that great, since one can barely hear the bass, and the drums, but hey, what do you expect from an underground Russian black metal horde? At least, the vocals and the guitars which are the seminal tools in this album, can be heard more than clearly.
I suggest that everyone who is interested, in the darker, doomier version of traditional black metal, to check this band out, I'm sure it will not disappoint. If you manage to overlook the poor production, and quite possibly it's overtly-generic sound, this will truly be an enjoyable piece of dark art.
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