TRACK LISTING:

1.Warriors of Past

2.Gargoyle

3.My Flaming Soul

04.Stardust

5.Vorkuta

6.Within The Fortress of Melancholia

(review taken from the one true dead angel)

Hungary is not exactly the first place that leaps to mind when thinking of cold, grim, relentless black metal, but they must know something I don't, because Vorkuta (originally known as Fjord, who released one demo before changing their name) definitely know how to channel the spirit of original
greats like Burzum, Bathory, and Darkthrone while retaining their own furious sound. It helps that they are an actual band (even if, in the true spirit of old-school black metal, they employ a session drummer -- in this case Nihilist, whose pounding aggression does a lot to propel the band into new realms of fury), and the band is tight and focused. They use keyboards
effectively from time to time (as on 'Stardust" and especially the eerie, dissonant drone of "Within the Fortress of Melancholia"), in a style distinctly reminiscent of early Burzum, and incorporate a lot of found sound and atmospheric noises into the intros and backgrounds, but the best moments are when the fizzy, distorted guitars kick in and vocalist Blizzard shrieks
like one of the guys in Abruptum just bit him on the leg (see "Gargoyle" for an excellent demonstration of such ravishing grimness). This is the band's debut, and given how good it is, one can only wonder how much more terrifying they'll sound a couple of albums down the line.

VORKUTA

Into The Chasms of Lunacy CD

prg -32023

Vorkuta Hompage

Vorkuta Myspace

(review taken from the RRCA)

Into The Chasm of Lunacy is an amazing production filled with sonic landscapes and progressive composition that is to be released later this week. A melodic Black Metal production that is gothic and dark! It contains few vocal components (being mostly Instrumental) and its symphonic style may not cater to the tradionalist, but it cannot be denied that the production is top notch and the music is anything but dull. The tracks move along at a reasonable pace to keep you sufficiently entertained. Track 2 (Gargolye( and 3 (My Flaming Soul) are the closest to the old-school black metal we get here; tracks that feature all of the usual trappings of the genre, 5 (Vorkuta) gets covals too, but later in the track, while 6 Within the Fortress has a gascinating lead-in as if it were out of a sci-fi movie and then continues with a keyboard enhanced soundscapr that is deep in tis presentation and huge in its audio depth -overall this track proved to be my personal favourite. It Heavy Metal terms we have a very artsy, music for musicians album here which may prove to serve as a limiting factor to its success but nonetheless this was a very different CD indeed, a fresh approach to the genre. Those who enjoy Bathory, Darkthrone, Burzum may relate to this disc. .