KAI PILNATIES AKIS UZMERKS MIRTIS

Who would have expected a record like this in 1997 from a tiny country as Lithuania? This might be one of the very first avant-garde/progressive metal records ever... I'm not yet really into the genre (right now, I only listen to Negură Bunget and Thy Catafalque, apart from Anubi), but I'm quite sure that not many bands have been able to push forward so many boundaries. Still, the lone full length record of this Lithuanian duo (once again I'm reminded of Thy Catafalque because of the duo formula) is a criminally underrated one (and I mean criminally).

The music is incredibly eclectic, not only featuring the classic, popular mixture of black (and doom?) metal and dark ambient, but also showcasing then-unknown-to-the-genre melodies: spacious, eastern-tinged, even folksy ones, along with unexpected riffs, flashes, interludes, covering a wide range of genres and influences; also, instruments never heard before on a black metal album (namely, saxophone and accordion) are employed. What comes to my mind while listening to the record is a painted-face, long haired North European druid/alchemist wearing a mad scientist-like white coat, cutting and stitching random fragments of every kind of music. You have even short pieces of about 3 minutes in length with so many changes in mood, style, tempo, etc. that it would take an entire review to describe them! You also have some more atmospheric pieces, such as "Ir Saulë Neteko Savo Pusës Veido", which would be an excellent part of a soundtrack for a dark fantasy movie.

The charisma of vocalist/leader Lord Omnious (R.I.P.) dominates the whole record: we hear occult ritual-like chanting (sometimes, as in the opening track "Savo Kelyje", I'm reminded even of Magma - Lithuanian language is a very ancient one, as it has plenty of words coming from ancient Greek and Sanskrit... as weird as Kobaian? Maybe...), alongside black metal vocals, which sometimes, as in "Á Naujà Galybæ", happen to be almost melodic... how strange!

Multi-instrumentalist Sadlave's guitar, bass and programming are the real body of the record. I really love the guitar riffs and arpeggios here, as well as how the bass interacts with them: forget about a bass being buried under hundreds of guitar layers, it's quite often almost louder than the guitar and it doesn't merely follow the riffs or the insane programmed drums (I would have never thought they were programmed percussions if I hadn't read it), but it comes to the forefront, doing also some nice slapping in tracks such as "Kai Pilnaties Akis Uþmerks Mirtis"... how could just one man come up with 3 totally different conceptions for 3 different instruments, making them sound as they are played by 3 different musicians? This man is simply a genius, haven't got any other answers.

Keyboardist Lady Sleep is far from symphonic/atmospheric black metal stereotypes: you hear a wide array of keyboards and styles ranging from funeral and dissonant organ to Keith Tippet-like piano [sic], dark, moody, atmospheric drones (check out the 15-minutes "droney" epic "Tarp Akmens Ir Veidrodþio"), almost-sci-fi key sounds, lush strings, random weird key sounds and more.

Some sax and accordion flourish here and there, as additional sparks of madness along the whole record.

Sound-wise, the production is quite raw, but since you can literally hear everything, and nobody would expect a first-rate production from an avant-garde black metal album, I don't give a damn!

My final rate is five stars, considering how this record was really ahead of its times and how it still sounds fresh and full of ideas.