Band: OLD SCYTHIA
Country: Ukraine
Title: Blind War
Label: Hammer of Damnation
Year: 2018
Style: Black Metal

Review:
Second full-length album from the Dnipro based Black Metal trio, Blind War seems to be based around the topic of war, but I'm not sure if this is about pagan wars, WWI or WWII or the three together as all lyrics and all typed within the 12 pages booklet of this CD are in native language. Anyway, Old Scythia play rather traditional Black Metal, mostly mid-tempo but with its fast passages, too, a few influences from Death Metal especially on the guitar work, but keeping its Black Metal core intact. The band uses all Black Metal standards and patterns you can think of and they execute their music skillfully, but it has nothing to stand out from the crowd, nothing to pinpoint the band upon and nothing to really impress a foreigner listener (I guess that differs from locals who can understand what the band sings about and really get into the atmosphere). It's a good Black Metal album, somber and aggressive as it should be, don't get me wrong, it's just that it sounds like many other such albums. The production is very good from my point of view, crystal clear but with an organic rough edge to allow the compositions that abrasiveness they were conceived with, so from my point of view the band has all it needs to take the next step and actually come up with something original on their upcoming material. Try it out if you're into traditional Black Metal with hints of Death and even Pagan Metal (but with no ethnic instruments included).
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6.5/10

Contact:
facebook.com/oldscythia
hodrecs.com