Review by Felix on November 2, 2021.

Czarnobog, a one-man-project from Germany with Russian roots, is active for almost a decade and eight albums are anything but a proof of laziness. Nevertheless, the lone wolf that runs Czarnobog managed it cleverly to surf under my radar up to now. And it looks like many other metalheads also lived their life without taking notice of the "band". This, my friends, was a mistake. Night Of Uralic Storm does not revolutionize the genre and perhaps most of us have already heard similar sounding albums, for example Graveland's "Following The Voice Of Blood", but it delivers almost an hour of pure blackness and that's the first reason to like it.

The second reason is not long in coming, because the artist with the pseudonym Wehrgoat does not lack credibility. Both the songs and the design of the CD leave no doubt that the guy is very familiar with the aesthetics of black metal and its form of expression. Of course, the colorless design and the expressive song titles are just positive side effects. However, they set the right framework for the nihilistic music. Czarnobog sounds less minimalist than fallen legends like Moonblood, but their songs are more or less reduced to the essentials as well. The drumming is mostly pretty primitive yet appropriate, the guitars produce genre-specific lines incessantly and the screaming and nagging of the master himself is throaty as hell. But with these common tools, he is able to create different moods. Some parts, in particular the great number of mid-tempo sequences, seem to be written while suffering from horrible pain, some rely on their quite rumbling aggression and every now and then the material surprises with a medieval touch.

The third reason is that the man without band comrades knows how to intersperse the right amount of melodies. Most of them work pretty effectively, not only the very good at the end of the ten minutes plus piece 'Call Of Astral Blood'. Now I hear some of you say "f**k, these overlong tracks are always a torture" - but this time there is no reason to cry. All songs profit from their natural flow and so the album refuses stubbornly to get boring, although Wehrgoat is not very generous in terms of the number of different riffs per song. 'Funeral Of Black Hearts', the second monument with a length of more than ten minutes, confirms the compositional skills of Wehrgoat once again. Here we have skillfully used keyboards that reinforce the atmosphere of the meticulously constructed track. And yes, it's true that the strengthening of atmosphere is the most function of keyboards in black metal, but that's neither my nor Wehrgoat's guilt. Having said this, 'Funeral Of Black Hearts' with its simple riffing, the well-placed breaks and the passionate vocals sounds simply great. It's a worthy final (regular) track.

Finally (reason no. four) the production conveys a scary underground feeling. Of course, black metal is underground per se, but here we have the underground of the underground, so to say. This does not mean that one has to fear a powerless demo sound. But the guitar tone has these irresistible vibes that give true (sorry for this adjective) black metal its misanthropic nature. Thus, I can recommend Night Of Uralic Storm wholeheartedly. I admit that I needed a little time to feel the real inner strength of the music, but it was a good idea to listen to the songs again and again. So, let's see where I can find further albums of this project and more great tracks like, for example, the pretty vehement 'Under Lunar Spell'.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on March 1, 2024.

The debut EP of Meister Leonhardt was a good release, negative music with adequately sinister vibes. Already this output indicated a certain potential. Thus, I expected a strong successor and now that I have listened to the new album four times, I can happily say that Thanatopoeia does not disappoint me. It is a bullet that hits the bull's eye well. It is a continuation of the EP, but not only this. Meister Leonhardt also show new facets of their artistic skills.

Granted, the album starts with a strange decision. The band did not separate the intro from the first track. Given this, the opener falls into two totally different parts. Anyway, as soon as the non-metallic intro ends (by the way, further ambient sequences do not occur), we feel the album's real mood which equals the one of the debut. This is, surprise, surprise, no party music. Meister Leonhardt still greets from a zone of absolute desperation. But this does not mean that they fall into a paralyzing inertia. Instead, they offer unexpectedly catchy, lively and simultaneously insidious pieces like 'Malevolence Supreme'. The title is a program and the song’s rapid parts reveal two things. Firstly, the drum production is not perfect, sometimes the snare sounds like a flag fluttering in the wind. But secondly, this little deficiency does not matter at all. This is still a very strong, merciless and simply awesome song with an impressively natural flow.

Speaking of the flow, it is cool to experience that the band does not integrate many breaks or surprising twist and turns. Now you may ask why that should be cool. Well, simply because of the fact that the songs have so much inner strength that their fundamental sounds have a captivating aura even without giving them different aromas. They score with depth. Even the rather broken keyboard melody in 'Fulcrum', an element that didn't exist on the debut, creates a sick atmosphere. Meister Leonhardt do not shy away from occasional experiments (the opening guitar tones of 'Malevolence Surpreme' have a nearly oriental touch) and this line is one of them. Normally their melodies are rather well hidden, but they do not lack fascination. Especially those of the aforementioned song present themselves in top form (by contrast, the track ends with very sharp guitar leads). This is not the most extreme or darkest black metal ever, but twilight can create very spooky moods as well.

I have already mentioned the sound of the snare; honestly speaking, the entire drums do not stand in the center of the mix. But they are not completely sidelined as well. The guitars prevail and they form an almost opaque thicket. Of course, the masculine-aggressive screams of the lead singer are added and support the misanthropic character of the music very well. This guy does not put the focus on variety. He relies on his natural hatred, which he was obviously born with. Guess this is the best thing Russians (and other people) can do when managing their hate: using it for the creation of great black metal instead of devastating a neighboring country. However, let's concentrate on the music, not on the goddamned war. Thanatopoeia has a more direct character than the EP and it says goodbye to the listener with a final masterpiece of abyssal dark emotions. 'Taphotaxis' is the last unsettling outburst of almost irresistible abnormality. So yes, maybe two or three songs are “only” good, but over the entire distance of 40 minutes, we get a pretty excellent offering. Highly recommended, no more, no less.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10