DigiCD with 12-page booklet by Morbid Chapel Records
Issued in a 4-panel Digipak with a transparent tray on the right panel. Comes with a 12-page booklet. Limited to 500 copies.
Serbian ZLOSLUT has just spawned new album which is out through Morbid Chapel Records. Exclussive digi-pack with 12 pages booklet. 'Sahar' brings seven hymns of pitch-black sound and takes you to the journey to the deepest corners of you soul, transorming it with the flame of purity to higher level of being. A masterpiece of transcendental uniquness with knife sharp cutting riffs. Black Metal on its best!!
In the Persian language Sahar means early morning or dawn.
This album is dedicated to the memory of Ana Sambol (1989-2018).
Although Nav is credited as the original band drummer, drums were handled by Blastum.
Zloslut went through quite a transformation before the release of Sahar early this year. After adding three other musicians to the line-up, mainman Agnarion (previously known as Hunter and Utvara) took his time to assemble a third full-length album, three and a half years elapsing before U Transu sa Nepoznatim Siluetama received a follow-up. More changes come with Sahar: the first official release with English lyrics, a more polished production, and a more focused musical vision. This 52 minute release is clearly a statement that Zloslut is stepping out of the shadows.
However, the concept of emerging from the shadows is one fraught with difficulty in the environs of black metal. A minor amount of shadiness and ambiguity remains desirable even for more melodic exponents of the style such as these Serbians, so the bold punch of Blastum’s guest drums and a minimal quantity of dirt caught in the tape reels during recording may present an obstacle to enjoyment for strict black metal disciples. Looking at the careful planning of Sahar’s lyrics, songwriting, and title provides a different perspective though, since this is music imbued with a thirst for the light of clarity, both in terms of the clinical time changes throughout songs like ‘The Quest’ and the mystical themes that Agnarion sings about. Naming the album Sahar (Persian for ‘dawn’) seems rather a giveaway too. I might be reading a little too much into the themes of illumination and the search for wisdom, but Zloslut have veered very close to Dissection and especially Watain (I’m thinking particularly of Sworn to the Dark) this time around.
Indeed, I get the same sort of feeling about Sahar as I did about Sworn to the Dark, since the Swedes’ third album mirrors what Zloslut have produced at a similar career juncture. Up-tempo songs with heavy blasting and spirited, non-frosty black metal riffing rub up alongside slower, slightly dissonant dirges; riffwork, melodies, and pure aggression share an even load in carrying the music, while fairly long songs groan under a density of allusions to esoteric philosophy and occult knowledge. To some extent, Sahar fails to find a main focus in the same way as Watain’s album, meaning that I find myself ignoring parts of the music while listening, and also failing to pick out many specific details. This criticism is especially true of the overlong and formless ‘Shadowdwellers Tyranny’, which attempts to produce atmosphere through sloth and dissonance yet only interests briefly during an ebbing guitar lead.
Happily for Zloslut, and for me as well, the Serbs prove capable of maintaining attention during other long compositions, of which 11 minute closer ‘Become the Beyond’ appears to be the best-crafted. I always love it when a band finds a dense groove for the verses and a ripper of a riff to segue between them, which is what happens in the earlier part of the song, before a long breakdown of transitions and riffs sets up the conclusion of sombre synths. When Zloslut take more risks with the riffing, the album brims with energy, ‘Of a Nameless Faith’ waking me up after ‘Shadowdwellers Tyranny’ and ‘To Break the Circle of Saṃsāra’ (Buddhist quotations included) aiming much closer to a death metal assault than any monastic chants. When attempting this style, the modern sound of Sahar shows its strength, purposeful bass clattering through the riffing to boldly define the rhythmic movements. The closer even offers up a brief, meaty bass solo. You won’t get that from poorly-produced, trebly necro black metal, even if some of the atmosphere is sacrificed as a result.
These days, I don’t always feel in the mood to listen to black metal, since I don’t experience much bitterness towards the world, nor a desire to shroud myself in mysterious darkness. At the lighter end of the genre, bands like Zloslut thus appeal more strongly, both because I can find enjoyment when listening passively to Sahar and also get some normal metal kicks from the riffing of ‘The Quest’ and ‘Become the Beyond’. My only wishes are that this kind of album could aim for a slightly higher plain of creativity and that the intensity of the lyrics could more often be matched musically. Nevertheless, it’s a big step up from the band’s previous work: perhaps Sahar will become a new dawn for Zloslut.
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