Zgard – Within the Swirl of Black Vigor

Band – Zgard

Album – Within the Swirl of Black Vigor

Country of Origin – Ukraine

Genre – Atmospheric Black Metal

Release Date – October 31st, 2017

Label – Svarga Music

Author – JDecker

Ukranian black metal sounds like, quite honestly, what which you might expect from the region. Cold, raw, primitive, bleak. It is an exercise in understanding intent as much as it is enjoying the product. It is, also and equally, familiar yet fresh.

Fans of old school raw black metal will mostly love this. All metal fans can and will, too, when approaching it from that mindset. Maybe still slightly over-produced for the kvlt black metal crew, most especially in the drums. I imagine some thrash metal heads feeling some of the riffs and melodies included. Fans of ritualistic music of any sort or style will, surprisingly or not, find at least a few moments of enjoyment throughout these tracks. Corpse-paint wearing motherfuckers are screaming these tunes in your alleyways right now, tho.

A future-primitive black metal experience, “Within The Swirling Black Vigor” is an aptly titled effort from one man who understands all of, what this author considers to be, the highlights of incredible black metal music. Epic within tasteful reason. Throw some synths in there. Keep it lo-fi. Deliver them screamysquelch vocals through fuzz. Cymbals. And plenty of those black metal riffs!

“Frozen Space” is probably the best track from the album. An epic fury of drums and riffs laced with huge foreboding keys, that simultaneously invite you in and put you at odds, evolve out of a tasteful atmospheric intro. The lead guitar work here blends so superbly with the backdrop behind it, vocals delivered sparsely but superbly.

Eloquent raw black metal, that’s what this is.

Rating:  4/5