ninehertz

I came across Potvor in 2022 and fell for them immediately – blackened hardcore and doom with a prominent clarinet – with their EPs of that year and 2024 both making our end of year lists. I still listen to Цепи from the latter with an unhealthy regularity. This six-way split of Russian bands houses their latest output, so I was immediately there.

They really are incredible, the surprise of the clarinet still hitting afresh, providing them with a distinction so few can achieve, particularly within what is otherwise such a nasty sound. It works its magic again here on their two tracks, changing the feel, opening it up into different avenues than you might expect. They never fail to excite.

The only other band of the six I have known before – also featuring previously on our podcast – is Dura. Their first track is viscous sludge with an unusual guitar effect, like it's coming at us from below an ocean. They’ve got something going for them in terms of creating strange atmospheres with what otherwise is a simple doom approach, and it sounds weird and wonderful for it. Their second offering is longer, brooding and slow building post-metal.

The four remaining bands are all new to me. Birth of the Monolith open the whole record with post-metal on the doom scale, with emotionally wrought vocals – when I go looking into the band afterwards, I find they’ve recorded a Downfall of Gaia cover, which fits. Ad Nihil create a whirlpool of noise, some black metal, some death, a sludge overtone across the whole thing – all in all a satisfying thick wedge of churning noise.

Мрамор and Помин get a track each, the latter apparently a subset of the former, featuring two of the five members. The former is grand post-metal led front and centre by a harsh sounding but emotionally overcome vocal performance, while the latter is gentler, more post-rock with a big breakout typical of post- genres.

This release serves a dual purpose – new tracks from favoured bands and an introduction to bands from the Russian doom and post-metal scene previously unknown.