Raventale - Bringer Of Heartsore (CD) Digipak

depressive black metal, BadMoodMan Music, BadMoodMan Music
866.67 Р
Price in points: 1300 points
BMM. 045-11 xs
Out of stock
The fifth, conceptual album of the Ukranian band Raventale has without doubt become the most sophisticated, sensual and mature work of the band. «Bringer Of Heartsore» is also the most atmospheric one of all the works by the project of the talented musician Astaroth who succeeded to express nostalgic autumn mood and beauty of nature by means of verses of famous poet of Silver Age Alexander Blok which provided more depth to the album concept. The musical part, as always, features metamorphoses as the musician follows his rule to introduce changes to every following album. The compositions feature brilliant solo guitar parts associated with classical progressive rock and dramatic acoustic guitar instrumentals. The CD is issued as a limited edition digipack, and its booklet includes fragments of the canvases by greatest Russian painters of 19th century: I. Aivasovsky and I. Levitan delivering additional strokes to the mood of Raventale music.

Tracklist:
Chapter I
1 Anything Is Void 7:27
2 Twilight, The Vernal Dusk 7:25
3 These Days Of Sorrow 5:50
4 Breathing The Scent Of Death 4:20
Chapter II
5 Prologue: Sailing To Further 1:21
6 The Last Afterglow Burned 5:51
7 Detachment And Solitude 6:16
8 Epilogue: Alone With Heartsore 1:30

Artist:
Raventale
Artist Country:
Ukraine
Album Year:
2011
Title:
Bringer Of Heartsore
Genre:
depressive black metal
Format:
CD
Type:
CD Album
Package:
Digipak
Label:
BadMoodMan Music
Cat Num:
BMM. 045-11
Release Year:
2011
Country Of Manufacture:
Russia
Review
Metalstorm
7/10
13.01.2012

Bringer Of Heartsore marks the fifth release by Raventale, a one-man black metal project hailing from Ukraine.

The music is still basically midpaced tempo black metal that shows the influence some other Ukrainian black metal band with which you might be familiar... Dude? Hey Drudkh? Drudkh Looks Like A Lady? You get the idea.

If you read my review of After you might be experiencing deja vu right about now. Yes, this review starts off mighty similarly to the last one, only with me showing off even more Drudkh puns, because this album is mighty similar to the last one.

This time around the album features 40 minutes and the Drudkh (still) abides.

Everything is well done, of course. The songs build, ebb, and flow. The guitar tone, and thus overall tone of each song is warm and fuzzy. There are (less) of those temporary forays into ambient country, where most of the components fall away leading to slightly drifting passages. Perhaps the tracks just seem slightly better executed and polished with this outing, and perhaps slightly more focused, as result of cutting down on the mellow mood time.

As a result, it is just more of the same, really. I liked their last album. I like this one. It didn't set my world on fire, won't rocket to the upper reaches of my "Best of 2011" charts or anything, and isn't blazing any new trails for the band or the genre in general. He had a tried and tr00 formula last go around and he is continuing to tinker with it this go as well. Some bands engage in such a path and find a way to improve upon it with each release, as in Bolt Thrower. Other bands just seem to tinker with it slightly and grow increasingly stale, such as BT's "kissing cousins" from the Florida DM movement, Obituary.

With this release, it seems the differences are minimal and Raventale are just "treading water" as it were. Nothing ventured, nothing gained... but nothing lost, either.

All in all a good release and a decent listen.

Author: BitterCOld
Review
Aristocrazia
26.12.2011

Puntuale come un orologio svizzero torna a farsi vivo Astaroth con i suoi Raventale giunti con "Bringer Of Heartsore" al quinto capitolo.
Stavolta sembra che sia la poesia a dare ispirazione all'artista e nello specifico quella del russo Alexander Blok, uno dei poeti appartenenti alla cosiddetta "Era D'Argento", arte che a quanto sembra non si ferma esclusivamente alla parola trasportata in musica, le illustrazioni inserite nel booklet dell'edizione limitata in digipak che in parte ritraggono opere di Ivan Aivasovsky e Isaak Levitan ben si sposano con il mood melancolico decadente.
I Raventale sono ormai una creatura rodata, con uno stile ben definito e la prestazione insita in "Bringer Of Heartsore" non fa altro che portare a galla ulteriormente la predisposizione di Astaroth per il ricamare tramite i synth melodie d'accompagnamento dolciastre e suadenti su di una base fatta di riff austeri e rigorosi quasi a contrapporre due anime che si scontrano pur essendo costrette a convivere dallo stesso lato dalle barricata.
Gli innesti di chitarra solista, le aperture in acustico, la solita prova vocale graffiata e stavolta una produzione ancor più nitida e delineante rispetto al passato, che mette in risalto spesso e volentieri il lavoro svolto dalla batteria, favoriscono in linea di massima sia l'aspetto dinamico che quello espressivo di un album che, pur ruotando sull'esperienza del mastermind e sulle scelte che hanno fatto dei Raventale ciò che sono odiernamente, fa denotare una maturità ormai completamente raggiunta e l'ennesima miglioria apportata nel complesso atmosferico che risulta ancor più convincente anche quando spezzato dalla "follia irruente" del blastato inatteso din "These Days Of Sorrow.
Il bello di brani come "Anything Is Void", "Breathing The Scent Of Death" e "Detachment And Solitude" è il possedere un'alta fruibilità, si respira sì un'aria pesante, greve e che empia sembra inveire contro la speranza, vi è però quel consistente alone melodico/gotico che nell'oscurità abbraccia l'ascoltatore, una fredda carezza che per quanto gelida mostra il lato delicato di un artista che tematicamente rimane ancorato alla parte più silenziosa e amica della dimenticanza, sia della natura che dell'oscurità in genere.
Chi ha già avuto modo di ascoltare dischi come "Mortal Aspirations" e il precedente "After" non avrà di sicuro problemi ad entrare in contatto anche con questo "Bringer Of Hearsore", coloro che invece non avessero avuto modo di incrociare quest'artista ucraino potrebbero iniziare ad approfondire la sua conoscenza dal primo citato e poi arrivare a questo per avere una panoramica più ampia sui passi in avanti fatti ultimamente.
In entrambi i casi vi consiglio di non far passare inosservato un disco come "Bringer Of Heartsore", siamo alle porte di un nuovo inverno e la sua compagnia di certo non potrà ch'esservi gradita.

Author: Mourning
Review
Convivial Hermit #6

Raventale has always been a "hit or miss" affair with me, and those times that do they hit have usually been soft thuds rather than any powerful uppercuts fit to draw a knockout. I'm starting to sound like David Horn from D.O.A. Magazine so I will stop there. Bringer of Heartsore is already the fifth album of Raventale and is easily their most sophisticated, cohesive and diverse work, combining both slow and insanely fast parts together in harmony and with an indifferent attitude to (extreme metal) genre classifications. They began as a band heavily indebted to Katatonia and have evolved to become something much more unique, with each album different from the next and consistently atmospheric. The band are also from Ukraine's, Drudkh's country, the latter having some similarity to Raventale. This particular album, Bringer of Heartsore, is split into two chapters, the second one bracketed by a clean guitar prologue and epilogue. Synths are omnipresent throughout almost every piece as well as distortionless guitars. In several songs guitar solos are used, melding in with the rest of the instruments. These aren't rock and roll solos put in to impress listeners, but rather elaborations and accentuations upon the basic melodies and harmonies of the songs. By far, I think the chapter of the CD is the most interesting, the second mostly instrumental and presenting less potent ideas. But as a whole the album is still stronger than pretty much anything I have heard from them in the past, especially the last several albums which I found very bland. Raventale have with this album established themselves to my ears as one of the better Ukrainian metal bands, not terribly far apart from the previously mentioned Drudkh in quality. This is on par with their last two releases, that is for certain, maybe even better. The release comes in a limited edition digipak with an abstract, reddish painting on the front cover. Not outstanding but very good nevertheless.

Author: Yury
Review
Pavillon 666
8/10
26.11.2011

Le one man band RAVENTALE fait des siennes sa création en 2005 et la sortie de son premier album en 2006, « On a Crystal Swing ». Faisant preuve d'une productivité sans conteste, le cher Astaroth arrive à trouver le temps qui lui faut pour sortir un album tous les ans, et ce, depuis 2008. Officiant dans "doom metal" teinté d'éléments mélodiques, atmosphériques, "black" voire "death", l'Ukrainien ne cesse de faire preuve d'inventivité à travers une musique mélancolique et sombre.
Alors que certains s'évertuent à classer son œuvre de "black dépressif", il semble toutefois exagérer d'utiliser cette étiquette, le côté « dépressif » étant surtout dû aux parties atmosphériques et lentes. Le côté "black", quant à lui, n'est pas vraiment le plus prédominant, le "doom" faisant partie de la base de la musique de RAVENTALE.

Cependant, il est clair que le changement entamé avec l'album « After » continue de s'effectuer. Pochettes plus claires, plus rougeâtres, laissant de côté les couleurs sombres et froides, musique plus éthérée, plus ambiancée qu'avant, malgré certains relents musicaux provenant des opus précédents. RAVENTALE ne chôme donc pas, et apporte encore et toujours à l'auditeur quelque chose de froid et morose, sans non plus laisser de côté la nature et les mélodies aériennes.

« Anything Is Void » ouvre le bal avec une introduction très maîtrisée centrée sur le clavier et la mélodie à la guitare. Une bonne bouffée d'air frais avant une suite plus rapide où se mêlent chant et riffs black metal. Un titre dénué de grande violence, basé sur le côté mélancolique si cher à RAVENTALE, ce qu'on retrouvera plus facilement sur un « Twilight, the Eternal Dusk » doomesque, rythme lent, ambiance relevée, et guitares parfaitement accordées. Les passages désolés sont davantage mis en avant, au détriment du chant qui se fait de plus en plus occasionnel. Preuve en est avec un « Detachment and Solitude » instrumental où l'osmose entre chaque instrument est de mise. Bien sûr, on retrouve des passages plus posés entre des passages plus rapides, histoire de nous rappeler les origines de RAVENTALE. Il ne sera pas non plus interdit d'y retrouver quelques relents "death metal", prouvant une fois de plus que Astaroth s'amuse à piocher de ci de là afin de bâtir ses morceaux.

Un prologue et un épilogue composent cet opus, prenant dans leur filet deux morceaux parmi les plus atmosphériques de l'opus. Ces interludes proposent un aspect hors metal à la guitare acoustique, avec un clavier discret en arrière plan : on croirait presque entendre la pluie. Hormis cela, une des pièces maîtresses de l'album se voit réincarnée en « The Last Afterblow Burned », où l'émotion prime sur le côté agressif des guitares black et du rythme. Rythme qui se ralentit par la suite pour laisser place aux claviers lumineux et à des riffs mélancoliques, doomesques et presque dissonants. Enfin, les touches atmosphériques sont utilisées avec parcimonie.

La musique de RAVENTALE ne perd pas vraiment d'intensité au fil des années, au contraire, elle se renforce avec l'expérience et les influences externes. Ce « Bringer of Heartsore » reste très bon et bien ficelé, sans ennuyer l'auditeur le temps d'une quarantaine de minutes.

Author: Matai
Review
The Pit of the Damned
7.5/10
26.11.2011

Ecco che a cadenza quasi annuale, mi ritrovo fra le mani il nuovo lavoro della one man band ucraina Raventale che, guidata dal suo leader Astaroth, continua quel percorso all’insegna del black doom atmosferico, iniziato nel 2006 con “На Хрустальных Качелях” e passato attraverso le recensioni del Pozzo, degli album “Mortal Aspiration” e “After”. Eccomi quindi qui a recensire il quinto album dell’act di Kiev, che conferma quanto di buono fatto fin’ora e anzi ci sembra ormai pronto a fare il grande salto per una etichetta un po’ più “commerciale” della russa BadMoonMan Music. L’album si apre con “Anything is Void”, che ci dà immediatamente prova della bontà della nuova proposta dei Raventale. Non tradendo comunque il proprio passato, Astaroth ci consegna un sound che viaggia costantemente sulla linea a cavallo tra un black atmosferico, con quella tipica vena doom che si arricchisce di qualche sprazzo avantgarde/progressive. Quello che ne viene fuori sono otto tracce, abbastanza lineari, dirette, ma sempre permeate di quel feeling malinconico autunnale, che da sempre contraddistingue la musica del combo ucraino. “Twilight… the Vernal Dusk” mostra il lato più oscuro di Astaroth Merc, influenzato dal periodo di mezzo degli Shining, ma che al suo interno apre anche a quelle sonorità progressive appena citate, grazie ad un lavoro di chitarre assai entusiasmante, sorretto egregiamente dal supporto atmosferico delle tastiere. Il disco, facendo tesoro degli errori del passato, scivola via più facilmente rispetto al suo predecessore, forse vuoi per la durata mai eccessiva dei brani o anche per un’accresciuta semplicità nelle linee di chitarra. È sempre tuttavia piacevole ascoltare quelle tipiche sfuriate black, come nella terza “These Days of Sorrow”, che ancora una volta richiama le epiche cavalcate del buon vecchio Burzum, grazie a quel suo riffing ridondante e stracolmo del tipico feeling glaciale nordico. A differenza di “After”, sembra mancare la componente tipicamente desolante/angosciante del genere ed avere invece più spazio una parte più ariosa, che sembra rifarsi in questo caso a sonorità più prettamente finlandesi (penso agli ultimi Insomnium, ma anche al prog degli ormai defunti Decoryah, che si fondono insieme). Certo non siamo di fronte a qualcosa di unico ed estremamente originale, ma come detto più volte, quel che conta sono le emozioni che la musica dei Raventale è in grado di sprigionare e come sempre devo ammettere di trovarmi di fronte a qualcosa che realmente riesce nel suo intento, ossia scuotere la percezione dei miei sensi. Ben poco spazio è lasciato al cantato di Astaroth, che continua comunque a dimostrarsi eccellente nella sua prova vocale, con una timbrica a cavallo tra screaming/growling che non va mai fuori dal seminato. Ultima segnalazione relativa alle liriche che includono nei suoi testi, parti della poesia di Alexander Blok, uno tra i più grandi poeti russi insieme a Puskin. Ancora una volta Astaroth non tradisce le mie attese, pertanto sarà in grado di soddisfare anche le vostre. Consigliato!

Author: Francesco Scarci
Review
Mtuk Metal Zine

More gorgeousness from the Ukraine here with the bard that is Astaroth delivering his fourth release in four years; nobody can accuse him of resting on his laurels that’s for sure. This as with his previous release ‘After’ has a lot of ideas and emotions going through the music, there is plenty of depth within the forty minute album and it really does take you off to places and enchants whilst doing so. As the title suggests there is a certain amount of sorrow being portrayed within this but with every desolate breath there is also a rich and lush feel that can only be listened to and felt as uplifting too, so musically this is far from being a total downer.

Divided into two chapters each with four numbers it is as though the musician is presenting things as a book and it is a real page turner keeping you gripped throughout its duration. Things sound very true to form as far as location is concerned as the instrumental flow of ‘Anything Is Void’ unravels, with a progressive sound that is certainly reminiscent of the might of Drudkh. It is very dreamy until the guitar work pitches up into a scything fury augmented by hefty drumming and gravid rasps from guest vocalist Morthvarg.

On reviewing 2009 album ‘Mortal Aspirations’ I said that it owed a lot more to atmospheric doom genre wise than black metal, now this notion is completely different as this is blackened to the very core. Having said that it is black with a huge concentration on presenting memorable melody rather than simply battering the listener into submission, it is all about majesty and atmosphere which is admirably enhanced by sparkling keyboards tinkling away in the background. Of course with titles like ‘Twilight, The Vernal Dusk’ it is easy to close your eyes and dream of nature in all its glorious colours and a musical landscape is very much being painted here by the sombre tones within. A glorious guitar solo unravels and breezes out the speakers, long and dextrous really adding to the song and illustrating the skill of the player, thankfully without being too clever and unwieldy it knows when to stop and allow the gravid vocals to clamour away again.

Songs are long and allowed plenty of time to breathe making them sound quite epic as they unwind with furious blast heavy passages interspersed with a more grandiose mid-pace. There are some really gorgeous harmonies such as the film sounding keyboard rapture leading into ‘Breathing The Scent Of Death’ destined for a horror film prior to the sudden reappearance of the vocals.

The gentle sound of waves greets us as we ebb into chapter II and the acoustic guitar caress of its prologue ‘Sailing To Further.’ It’s suddenly very stormy at sea as we are battered into choppy waters of ‘The Last Afterglow Burned.’ You have no idea where this voyage will take you or even if you will make it through to the end. Again the music works cleverly almost as a well plotted novel. But enough, this is a journey with a sense of mystery that needs to be experienced rather than spoiled, after all you would not give away the end of a good story would you?

‘Bringer Of Heartsore’ is a mature work that has been really painstakingly composed. If anything it shows that Raventale and Astaroth need much more wider recognition as compared to some others from the Ukraine they are to many an unknown entity. I await the next chapter eagerly and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be written for a 2012 release.

Author: Pete Woods
Review
Obscura
21.11.2011

Continuing on his tortured path into darkness, Astaroth recorded another collection of tracks for his creation Raventale with the title of ‘Bringer Of Heartsore’ still for BadMoodMan Music.
Not very dissimilar by the previous work, the songs here show more interest for the atmospheric aspect of doom metal music rather than the aggressive one.
The result is a more eerie album, something pretty unrecognisable from ‘Давно Ушедших Дней’ (Days Gone By) issued only in 2008. But evolution is like this, sure going on writing the same old stuff is something that gets boring in the long run, and by the way since the quality of the songs of ‘Bringer Of Heartsore’ is very high, there’s absolutely nothing to complain with.
Just listen to the opener “Anything Is Void” and you’ll soon realize that we’re listening to a more hidden version of Astaroth, deeper and more personal.
Of course I’m not talking of anything remotely comparable to Anathema’s later works (…) just because the black metal background is always there, but following the footsteps of the previous album ‘After’, we’re having a lot more. Probably this will not be the easiest album of the year, probably neither the most original or innovative, but it sure has a soul of its own, something particular that you should discover.
Review
Kronosmortus
10/10
13.11.2011

Clear, and presenting a high-quality musicality, Bringer Of Heartsore is another chapter in ‘raventale’, continuing on the beaten path of the earlier albums. It is well structured up to the last strings, presenting diverse tracks. Let it keep its good tradition, and please, keep us, rockers hungry for melancholic black metal supplied with many more like this album.

Az Raventale név mögött egyszemélyes „formáció” áll. Az Astaroth művésznevet választó ukrán fiatalember egy év kihagyással(2007) sorban, minden egymást követő évben megjelentett egy albumot. A Bringer Of Heartsore immár az ötödik Raventale kiadvány. Elismerésre méltó, hogy nem vacakolt demókkal, splitekkel, csak sorlemezei vannak, az viszont tényleg dicséretes, hogy a 2006-os pionír album óta folyamatosan kimagasló minőséget produkál ez a kievi metal arc.

Rengeteg dallammal színesített atmoszferikus black metal a specialitása. A melankólia, az ősi értékek lélekrázóan őszinte megnyilvánulása, pátoszi köntösbe burkolva biztosítja a révült hangulat megteremtését. Méghozzá úgy, hogy az abszolút nélkülöz minden sallangot, öncélúságot. Eredendően letisztult, magas fokú zeneiséget nyújtó Bringer Of Heartsore a korábbi lemezek által kitaposott ösvény folytatása, a „hollómese” újabb epizódja. Ezúttal a dalokat tartalmi kohézió fogja össze (nem mintha egyébként nem lenne homogén a kiadvány), lévén koncept albumról van szó. Sajnos a szövegkönyvet nem sikerült beszereznem, így maximum a dalok címei adnak némi támpontot, bár önmagában a zene sem rejti véka alá a mondanivalót, érezhetően nem pláza-shoppingolás témakörében alkot Astaroth.

Gondolom, nem árulok el meglepetést azzal, hogy többnyire a lassú és közepes tempójú szerzemények sorakoznak a lemezen. Néha már-már doom-ba fordul az anyag, de egyáltalán nem „ül le”, mivel a melankólia, a lelki üresség változatos módon kerül kifejezésre. Egyes dalokban az erre a stílusra kevésbé jellemző gitárszólóval is lehet találkozni. A Twilight, The Vernal Dusk és a Breathing The Scent Of Death nótákban egy-egy fantasztikus szólóval ajándékozza meg a dalszerző a hallgatót. Többek között ezért is áll ez a két dal hozzám a legközelebb, ez váltotta ki nálam a legnagyobb csodálatot, de nem jelenti azt, hogy a maradék hat szerzemény elmaradna bármiben is. A lemezborító is a megszokott igényesség jegyében született. Illetve már korábban megszületett, mivel egy XIX. századi orosz festő, Ivan Aivazovsky alkotása.

Ilyen minőségű lemezzel szívesen kerülök közelebbi ismeretségbe. Astaroth nem sokat ül a babérjain, mondhatni sűrűn tesz le az asztalra kész anyagot, de ezek a művek tényleg ”készen” vannak! Az utolsó hangig kidolgozott, változatos szerzeményeket felvonultató kiadványokról van szó. Tartsa meg jó szokását és kérem, hogy még sok ilyen, ehhez fogható albummal örvendeztessen meg minden melankolikus black metalra éhező rockert.

Author: Azagtoth
Review
Headbanger
7/10
07.12.2011

Киевский проект Raventale существует с 2005 года, и за шесть лет работы под этим именем было выпущено целых пять полноформатников. Несмотря на некую поспешность с выпуском пластинок, этот one-man-band зарекомендовал себя как один из лучших поставщиков атмосферного блэка для обитателей местного андеграунда. Всем известно, что нынче этот жанр, как никакой другой краеугольный камень неформатной музыки, страдает от тотального переизбытка групп и альбомов. Вычленить из этой кучи что-то реально цепляющее и разнообразное очень и очень трудно, но “Bringer Of Heartsore” оказался крайне приятной во всех отношениях записью. В первую очередь следует отметить саму атмосферность. Если вы собрались побродить по темному лесу в пасмурную и дождливую погоду, вовсе не обязательно выходить из дома. Музыка этого альбома погрузит вас в такую прогулку с головой. Достигается это прежде всего разумным применением клавишных и эффектов, песни явно не перегружены ими, а заполнены ровно настолько, насколько это нужно, чтобы создать мрачную и депрессивную атмосферу осенней тоски. Гитарные партии, помимо традиционной для жанра перегруженности высокими частотами, порадуют сочными и очень техничными соло – редкое явления для музыки подобного рода. Также редко сейчас встретишь на блэк-металлических альбомах отсутствие по-настоящему быстрых композиций. Здесь почти все песни среднетемповые, а в парочке номеров и вовсе чувствуется влияние дум-метала. Хотя, похоже, таковой была изначальная задумка автора – придать своему материалу еще более мрачную безнадежность. Dimmu Borgir на первых двух дисках тоже намеренно отказались от преобладания быстрых темпов, и именно это сделало “For All Tid” и “Stormblast” действительно уникальными работами. “Bringer Of Heartsore” по звучанию вплотную приближен к ним.

Author: Михаил "IronMike" Шаталин
Review
Kaosguards

Le corbeau ukrainien solitaire, Astaroth incarné dans RAVENTALE, revient planer pour la cinquième fois au dessus de nous.

Comme le laissait présager « After » sorti en 2010, le projet RAVENTALE gagne constamment en maturité et en professionnalisme, sans pour autant renier l’intransigeance du Black Metal qui le définit depuis ses débuts.

« Bringer Of Heartsore » est tout d’abord servi par une production en constante amélioration, privilégiant puissance et clarté, deux ingrédients dont le Black Metal rèche de RAVENTALE a besoin puisqu’il assume des prétentions mélodiques avérées. En effet, si les riffs sont austères et âpres, les claviers assurent une présence mélodique de tous les instants, alors même que la guitare solo ou acoustique prend ses aises pour des développements dignes du Heavy Metal classique. Ne vous méprenez pas, il n’est pas question ici de mélodies faciles, enjôleuses dont s’emparent certaines formations soucieuses de rendre leur Black Metal accessible au plus grand nombre. Chez RAVENTALE, la dimension mélodique résonne de manière funèbre ou lyrique et se met au service de la misanthropie générale du projet. De même qu’elle s’insère dans de réelles compositions, convenablement structurées et arrangées. Les atmosphères gagnent du coup en relief et en charge dramatique.

Inspiré par les oeuvres du poète russe symboliste Alexander Blok (1880-1921), « Bringer Of Heartsore » se présente comme une ode aux ambiances automnales, à cette nature en déréliction qui génère nostalgie et dépression. Ne serait-ce que de ce point de vue là, l’album est une réussite.

Author: Alain Lavanne
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