Alwaar is a raw black metal band from Russia. Little is known about them, other than that it's just one guy with the unpronounceable name of Krhhe and he released his debut album back in July of this year. It's called Триумф чёрной меланхолии, which is Russian for “Triumph of Black Melancholy”. Let's listen, shall we?
The first thing you need to understand is that the production is incredibly cloudy. Luckily, it's not so cloudy that it's rendered unlistenable. All you have to do is crank up the volume. If you do, then you'll discover some great dark music that borders on depressive black metal. Alwaar is sort of like Branikald in a way. They don't sound the same, but they both use cloudy production to conceal their true beauty that is only revealed to those who have patience.
The drums mainly stick to playing slow beats, although there are times when they pick up the pace, such as on the title track. Due to the cloudy production, the snare sounds like a muffled thud, but if you ask me, the bad production actually enhances the drums. Due to being so cloudy, they sound quite similar to Xasthur. It gives the music an even darker atmosphere, as though you're walking through a dense Siberian forest during the darkest night.
The guitars on this album are fantastic. They play lots of slow, dirge-like riffs that bear a tone colder than the highest peaks in the Ural Mountains. They're ghost-like in sound and express centuries worth of misery. Some of the riffs sound similar to what is put out by all those depressive black metal bands from Australia, in that they have a small touch of melody to them. There are also these moments where they take a break from the black metal and play these solemn acoustic guitars. I felt that was a nice touch.
The only part I didn't like were the vocals. I take it he wanted to sound like Austere, but when I listen to them, it feels like he's putting my ears through a food processor. Now, his vocals aren't that bad. I've heard much worse. I just feel that the vocal performance he tried to pull off didn't match his vocal cords. Other than that, I really like this album. Although the production may be really raw, the music is excellent, especially the morose guitars.
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