Vorkuta

Into the Chasms of Lunacy

Paragon Records 2007

Straight out of the obscurity of the wooded mountains of Hungary comes a black metal band that is equally steeped in obscurity as is its homeland.  Starting out with a pretty cool intro (Warriors of Past) consisting of dark and bombastic orchestral keyboards and a killer melodic guitar lead over the top Vorkuta strikes the right notes early but then things go down hill from there.  Into the Chasms of Lunacy is one of those few albums where the production is able to destroy the listening experience for me as the drums and vocals are so over the top and in your face in the mixing levels that they completely obscure what the guitars are doing except for the occasional odd sounding bass line.  The albums seems to divided sort of in half by what these artists are doing musically with the songs.  There are three tracks are more within area of obscure black metal whereas the other three tracks are more ambient in nature though of a different texture than the simple keyboard musings of the Burzum imitations most other bands attempt.  My favorite track is the one named Vorkuta as you can hear some of what the guitars are doing especially during the clean guitar intro to the song.  Vorkuta seems to be doing a really interesting job attempting some unique instrumental combinations and time signatures giving the album a newness to the music though it remains completely within the framework of the traditionally accepted paradigms of underground black metal.  One good thing about the vocals being so high in the mix is that Blizzards vocals are really unique with a sort of retching quality to them and this serves to highlight them.  Into the Chasms of Lunacy had such potential to showcase the originality of Vorkuta but the mood of the album is ruined by a bad production.  Future attempts by these Hungarians I am sure will rectify this shortcoming and earn them a much deserved title of respect in the underground.