The Moscow-based Wardra released their debut ‘Небо медного цвета’, in 2017, followed by the EP ‘Ancestor of the New World’, (2018) and a split ‘Aberration of the Abyss’, with Logos (2020). With ‘Warden of the Stellar Crypts’, their second full-length is now a reality.
Tremolo-driven dark Black Metal, with vocals that reveal a Slavonic scene background, is alternated with melancholic passages that lean heavily towards Doom. A somewhat fuzzy production sharpens the dark side of Black Metal even further, yet it doesn’t quite move toward the style of Walknut, to give an example.
It’s not a bad album, but during listen-throughs, it tends to drift into the background as the record progresses.
