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News

Purity Through Fire ready to release Vspolokh’s third album: “Their alternately surging / swaying attack is more muscular than ever, with that physicality taking on a nearly world-eating aspect at times.”

Purity Through Fire is proud to present a worldwide edition of Vspolokh’s third album, ‘Mertvozem / Мрьтвоземъ’, on CD and A5 digipack formats.

Formed back in 2004, what Vspolokh lack in quantity of recordings, they ably make up for in quality of vision. In the ever-vast field of Russian Black Metal, Vspolokh stand strong, maintaining the triumphant-yet-tragic element so endemic to the best quarters of that scene whilst just as equally evincing a patiently plied style of songcraft that’s consistent with their judiciously spare discography.

Purity Through Fire released Vspolokh’s debut album, ‘Печаль о прошлом’, in 2010 and then two well-regarded splits in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Alas, silence ensued until 2020, with the release of ‘Помре’. Thankfully, no great changes were made to their rigorous aesthetic – strident physicality but never overly exerted, a subtly hummable melodicism that never wanders near the saccharine, a view toward epic constructions without any bloat – and now they continue that still-extended trajectory with their third album, ‘Mertvozem / Мрьтвоземъ’.

Originally released in the Russian market this November, ‘Mertvozem / Мрьтвоземъ’ is arguably Vspolokh’s strongest work to date. Their alternately surging / swaying attack is more muscular than ever, with that physicality taking on a nearly world-eating aspect at times. Those moments of aggression are strategically deployed, delivering sweet release – or vice versa – after the spiraling segments of bittersweet beauty, betraying all the bloody tragedy spilled on Russian soil over so many centuries. Everything moves with almost monk-like patience, but that slow-burn movement is mesmerizing no matter the tempo. Laid upon a framework of utterly huge production, ‘Mertvozem / Мрьтвоземъ’ irrevocably recasts Vspolokh as a unique sort of pagan Black Metal that’s somehow modern – and plausibly, powerfully so.

More info: Vspolokh; Purity Through Fire;