The black metal sound is one that, within extreme metal boundaries, includes arguably one of the more eclectic elements of heavy music combined with a dark ambiance, typically low-fi 'kvlt' production quality and abrasive vocal styles. For that reason alone, there is so much that can be done here...and today's entry is just one of the many examples of how far you can go with it. Blasting their brutal tunes in our general direction all the way from Croatia, Bednja (roughly translated to "misery" in Croatian/Slovenian languages) is a practically brand spanking new three-piece black metal project that mixes their brooding style in with some of the riffs and tempos of hardcore and song structure of death metal in order to create a mixed bag of brutality, which is pretty awesome all on its own. And now, their debut six song album release titled Doline Su Ostale Iza Nas (roughly translated to "The Valleys Are Behind Us") is upon us all, courtesy of their label Transcending Obscurity Records. Time to check it out and see what they have in store for us!
The album is six tracks of varying length, with a rather short intro instrumental track of half atmosphere and half fast tremolo/blast beat action. However, the approximately half hour running time is kinda short for the style of music, but this is immensely drowned out by the ecstatic and ocassionally melodic sounds on display. They advertise themselves as blackened hardcore, but there are definitely melodeath undertones and some subtle progressive traits here, too. Following the intro song, the first real composition comes into play and the fast tremolo chords drown out over the raspy highs. Following a few rough verses, it doesn't take very long for the album's very first melodic/clean interlude to come in and give some tranquility in this sea of blackened madness. Probably my fave song is 'Ledena Palaca' because of the catchy bass lines, longwinded instrumentals, core chugging breakdowns thrown in the centerpiece and of course it's not complete without the echo-ey clean interlude and the final verse that fades out into the darkness with an orchestral finish.
There are a lot of high points to talk about, especially in the song 'Ledena Palaca', which really shows off the instrumental power and musical ability. The bass tone gives way to some merciless licks and lines, with a huge emphasis on buildups. Certain sections are purely instrumental, such as the intro to 'Povratak Kralja', one of the album's shorter tracks, while others include some really powerfully dark guitar riffs that have a lightning pace, even with some solos thrown in as well. The outro song really attempts to thrown in everything but the kitchen sink with its relentless sound transitions and tempo changes as well as its ridiculously grimey breakdown sections. This one and the one before are arguably the two most hectic and unstructured (for better or worse) songs, which conflict with the earlier tracks, which kinda had a formula you could follow and expect as well as a greater variety of melodies as opposed to a chaotic backdrop of riff salad madness and kvlt-hardcore fusion. I just kinda wish there were more of those funky bass lines like the intro in the third song or the guitar solo parts, too. Other than that, I thought this one was truly phenomenal.
The album itself begins and ends off on a very satisfying note, with a ton of instrumental madness thrown our way that clash over the juxtaposing dissonance of the kvlt-esque vocals. Even from one's first run through listening to this one, there is a clear display of evilness, tasty riffs and ambitious gloomy melodies that come together to make for a fairly well-paced, intricately structured and edge-of-your-seat energetic, if slightly on the shorter side for the genre, listening experience. Bednja's solid first outing is one that I can strongly recommend to fans of the Harakiri For The Sky-like ambiance and melodic core sound as well as the oldschool Emperor or Darkthrone production and vocal style mixed in with some death metal riffery here and there. Definitely an outing worth your time and a hard act to follow.
Fave Tracks: 'Povratak Kralja', 'Ledena Palaca'
For Fans Of: Black metal with some death and core elements, bands like Oathbreaker, Necrophobic but more melodic
**This release is available now here!**
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-Review by: Dave Raffy
Musician, reviewer, fan & promoter
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