Confined we may become, locked inside this prison like the heart beneath the bones of its ribcage, yet we wish to pulsate freely, to let the soul be ravaged in its ascension, for even in anguish we may taste the air of bliss, where tranquility becomes sweet upon the lips. No longer caged and docile, instead we emerge from our chrysalis, our being transforming to the melody of strife and salvation, for it is through devolution that we revert back to our natural instincts. However, instead of the physical search for shelter and solace, we traverse through the lands within to find peace as an ember, so we may fan it into a flame.
‘Назустріч останньому світанку’ by Vintregal becomes the moon in sound that the soul reveres in its splendor to shed its skin, awakening a mind of languor, for when eyes are truly open, only then will the path to serenity be revealed. Radiating in a similar manner to such Black Metal bands as Nokturnal Mortum, Kroda, and some spiritual parts of Astrofaes, Vintregal forges an EP where the Ukrainian spirit of Black Metal is virulent in its flow, but the beauty of its creation arrives in its disposition to illuminate that which we search for from within.
An honest and natural tone is exhaled from the guitars, as if each note is crafted from the materials of one’s soul, as if hands were to reach into the chest and, from within, remove the stone that would be shaped and cut into the melody that suffuses into the atmosphere. By extension, this lends itself to a personal, albeit intimate experience, where the mind can look at and feel the melody’s edges, its crudeness granted through the production, trace its abrasive sound, and sink into the depth of its reverberation.
Though the standard Black Metal tone is used, wherein the sound is presented in a rudimentary shape, Vintregal instead infuses the Ukrainian Black Metal cadence, strengthening and amplifying the foundation with a folk-like spirit. However, it is naught the attributes infused into the sound which make it captivating, but the shape that is formed. ‘Непохитність!’ exemplifies this, where the riffing coils and undulates, but in its winding passage, its flow is never hindered. Rather, it is punctuated at intervals to inject a more somber pattern. Its resonance, slick yet thin, exudes an icy demeanor to its playing, as if the riffing tempo exhales a cluster of frost from the strings’ motion. This aura diffuses into the EP, draping it in a frigid essence.
In a similar disposition, the drumming’s language speaks a different language, for where the guitars presented that frigid yet tranquil sensation, the very calming spirit that can be found within solitude and cold, the percussion becomes the animation of this spirit, where the sound becomes submissive to the vocals and guitars, seeping beneath the strings. Though not buried, it acts as the very pulse of the guitars’ melodies.
‘І стоїть земля!’ demonstrates this, where the strings fashion the melodies which dominate the song structure, their frigid spirit ascending upright, while the drums shade the contours of the melody, their fills and beats faint. But this comes not as a negative, for within the cold demeanor of the EP, the drumming in turn becomes an element that feels as though it is shrouded by this element, where every beat merges with the vapour of frost. Conversely, the guitars usually shift their rhythm into a shimmering sound and then, in the same breath, into a melody that climbs. The drumming, on the other hand, allows these facets to be felt, where it punctuates the music, thereby allowing the guitars to articulate in a more natural state.
A synergy becomes the focal point between the symphonic keys and the vocals, where both facets appear conjoined, but neither swallows the energy of the other. Manifesting in a nature-like resonance, the vocals come forth as though they are the speech of a forest untouched by man, for here is the lush green, overgrown, a thicket of brambles and thorns adorning its earthen floor, and its breath becomes the moonlight that illuminates the treeline, akin to the keys which shimmer along the contours of the vocals.
Conjuring the vocals in a robust tone, scabrous in texture yet blunt in delivery, the production allows the vocal delivery to sound elemental in its motion as it becomes the very boulder that is placed along the river of melodies, flowing around as well as crashing into it, shaping its body. ‘І стоїть земля!’ is a track which perfectly demonstrates the entrancing qualities of the vocals as well as their manner of existing in a more subdued and sombre state, for even though their texture is harsh, their emotive current feels rather prophetic, like a shaman who weaves an epic tale from the smoke of fire. Conversely, the action between the vocals and the guitars can often feel like a speech being rendered in real time, where the riffing elicits the vocals’ responses, and when the vocals dive into a slower speech cadence, this is where the strumming slows down, casting a shimmering glow accompanied by the keys.
This, in turn, leans into the crux of the album, where the symbiosis between the instrumental currents and vocals creates a soundscape for the senses to explore, to dig beneath its soil and feel its texture of resonance, to heed its call and let its spirit fuse with its own, to merge into the very art being created. Though short in duration, this is an EP where Black Metal becomes an experience potent in sound, where the soul wishes to peel its layers and nestle within the folds to truly be absorbed in its essence.
The sounds of Vintregal recede the waves of stupor that drown the mind, for when the consciousness emerges, what remains is the hunger to shed the scales that calcify one’s vision, to embark upon the quest to attain personal peace, naught the peace that breeds weakness through stillness, but the peace which communes with the creature within to bare its naked skin to the night sky beneath one’s own stars.
