Kuhaghan Tyyn

Haissem is an one man band from Ukraine and has been into music since 2016. Since then, Andrey Tollock, the man behind the project, has released five full lengths and two EP albums. Kuhaghan Tyyn is their fourth full length album, released the 22^nd of March 2020 by Satanath Records from Russia on digital and in cd form, limited in 500 copies and it contains four compositions of about forty-four minutes of overall duration. This is the first time I listen to Haissem’s music, but I guess the same style applies to all their releases and it is melodic Black Metal with some symphonic, some melancholic or even some gothic elements.

Andrey shows some serious musicianship skills both regarding the composition and the performance of the instruments. The riffing mainly is melodic, with some fast and violent parts and variety concerning the ideas presented. The artist has managed to express his different influences in a very interesting, creative and natural way, so you will find references to melodic, symphonic Black Metal reminding of Old Man’s Child, some melancholic ones reminding of the later Paradise Lost era, some epic ones, some violent reminding the more traditional Scandinavian scene, even some atmospheric gothic rock parts. The compositions become even more unique when the guest musicians add their parts, so you will listen to some very interesting cello and harp parts as also some clean, female vocals. The tracks are long, lasting from ten to fourteen minutes and although the band has done a really good job regarding the structure of the tracks and the presentation of the various ideas, I felt that some good ideas were lost inside the long tracks something that didn’t let me digest them all.

The performance of the instruments is very professional and shows a high level of skills. The impressive thing is that Andrey plays all of them and they are all physical ones, as there is no instrument programmed in the album, not even the drums. The guitars and keyboards are the ruling instruments in the compositions, setting up the atmosphere, the scenery and creating the feelings, flawlessly. Their performance is accurate and passionate, professional, with nice technique and ability to perform different styles in the same level and quality. The drums are played with stability and passion and their lines are not too complex but they support the compositions well and giving them push, the depth or the solid feeling that they need. Unfortunately, the bass is not so distinct in the compositions, so I couldn’t listen to its lines. However, the production does not lack of depth and that warm, bassy sound that fits to the style of the music perfectly, and along with the balanced mixture, they offer a nice result. The vocals are deep and harsh Black Metal vocals in bigger part of the album with some parts where they become clean, melancholic ones reminding a lot of Paradise Lost’s later works, generally they are expressive and fit to the atmosphere and feeling of the music. The lyrics are written in English and they are contained in the cd and they are personal thoughts and questions of the artist about life, state of mind, death.

To sum up, I think Kuhaghan Tyyn is a good album, presenting interesting ideas by a very skilled musician. All tracks have a lot of interesting, passionate and full of feelings moments to offer to the listener. My favorite tracks are Arcanum and Кuhаҕан Тыын. I believe that the fans of Haissem will be really satisfied by this release. If you are a fan of melodic Black Metal with references to various other styles, you will appreciate this album.