Womb of Primeval Darkness

I always respected the Ukrainian scene, because you can find a lot and very good releases of almost every Black Metal. Do Skonu, from Ukraine, is a one man band which was formed in 2009 and has released a demo and a full length album “Womb of Primenal Darkness (2011)”. This album contains six compositions, of thirty five minutes of duration, of Norwegian, classic Black Metal, with influences of old Master’s Hammer and a few Heavy/Thrash passages.

The riffs remind of the Norwegian sound a lot and in some parts you feel that you have heard them before, but they are quite interesting and the tracks structure is so good that makes you forget the similarities with other bands. The pace is mainly fast, with a lot mid and slow tempo passages which create an occult, dark atmosphere and they renew the interest. The guitars are heavy and dark, they create the atmosphere and deliver the riffs very well. The drums also do an awesome job, both in the fast and in the slower parts, with nice turnings and fast blasts. The bass can’t be heard clearly but is there and fills the compositions. The vocals are weird, heavy, quite expressive Black Metal vocals which remind me of Master’s Hammer and of the Ukrainian Lutomysl.

The production is quite clean, dark and bassy. Combined with the mix it puts out a very massive and at the same time dark sound which fits to the atmosphere and highlights the compositions. The mix is good, as every instrument can be heard clearly, apart from the bass but without annoying the listener. The lyrics are written in Ukrainian/Russian and I don’t know what they are about. However that particular language absolutely fits to Black Metal and makes it even darker.

“Womb of Primenal Darkness” is an album – homage to the old school Norwegian Black Metal played with absolute sincerity and passion for that sound. I liked it a lot and despite the similarities, I believe that it is a good release and especially those searching this sound, at least you should listen to it.