Kostnitsa - Temple Pestis
I don’t know what it is about Russian bands and their desire to remain obscure. I tried to research this group, and outside of the facts that this is their debut album and they’re from Russia, I know little else about them. They have no website, the label (BDTO) has no website, and the label distributing the album (Daemon Worship) has an advertising blurb describing the release in terms so vague that you get the impression that they don’t know anything about the band either. I checked several internet sources and I couldn’t find out who was in the band, how long they’ve been together, or even if this is a continuing band or a one-off project. Kostnitsa may have some connection to another Russian Black Metal band called Funeral Poetry, but my evidence for it is circumstantial. BDTO only has two bands on their roster (Funeral Poetry and Kostnitsa), and I’m guessing that one of the band members owns the label. Musically, this is on the Doomy side of Black Metal, reminiscent in sound to bands like Wallachia or old Katatonia. The tempo is slow to mid-paced, and the emphasis on melancholic atmosphere is evident. The guitars have some reverb on them and they are backed by occasional keyboards to enhance the mood. Kostnitsa is pretty consistently able to capture that dark, melancholic feeling in each of their songs without having them sounding too much alike. The pacing is pretty steady, never getting ploddingly slow or fast enough to ruin the atmospheric element. The use of the raspy Black Metal style vocals in conjunction with Death Metal style growls is another element that enhances their sound. The standard raspy Black Metal style vocals tend to get a little monotonous, and the inclusion of alternate vocal styles helps break this up nicely. If you’re into atmospheric Black Metal in the more Doom oriented style (slower playing, more melancholic sound, but not in the whiny Goth style), this is well worth tracking down.
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