Initial Impressions: Vorkuta: Into the Chasms of Lunacy

Black metal quickly spread across Europe in the 1990's. Vorkuta formed in Hungary of all places. Eastern European countries have become reasonably well-known for producing some fine black metal bands over the years, most notably Drudkh and Negura Bunget. We'll see if Vorkuta has it in them to reach the same notoriety.

The album starts off with a beautiful sweeping melody and guitar solo and builds up and then falls back into the soft opening for "Gargoyle". As with many other Eastern European black metal bands, Vorkuta's sound is meant to be atmospheric. Several of the tracks on the album have softer ambient parts. There are some moments when the band is playing a more traditional style of black metal, but these are often interspersed among softer moments. "My Flaming Soul" remains a mostly fast-paced song and is probably the best song on the album. The vocals are mostly done in a typical black metal rasp. It's difficult to make out the lyrics.

Much of the second half of the album is done in a more ambient, softer style, including all of "Stardust" and "Within the Fortress of Melancholia". I am not a big fan of this type of sound. I don't mind occasional moments, but this seems a little excessive.

This album is good when the band is playing black metal, but it really drags during the ambient tracks. It's a short album, but seems much longer than it is during those ambient songs.