Истина – Познание тьмой (Truth – Knowledge of Darkness)

This is probably the single-most impressive album that I have received in all the time that I have had the pleasure of working for Metal Revolution. As far as I know, none of my colleagues (and myself included) speaks nor understands Russian, so when I got a hold of this album, I had absolutely no idea of what I was getting in to.

The band is called ‘truth’ in Russian (which is apparently pronounced something along the lines of ‘Istina’), and the album Познание тьмой (roughly translated it means ‘Knowledge of Darkness’) is their first, and so far only, release. Musically the band have done exactly what the Russians are known to do best: They have created an incredibly dark, atmospheric and incredibly depressive world, set into an impressively well-performed Atmospheric Depressive Black Metal mold. And while I must admit that I do not understand a word of any of the lyrics, Istina are very talented musicians who manage to let their music speak for them. They have succeeded in creating a veritable wall of sound, where every single instrument, vocals included, blend together in order to create something far beyond the sum of its parts.

Sadly I do not understand their messages of self-development and philosophy as I have been able to research my way to learning that they emphasize greatly: But the heavy, relentless pain and melancholy that the duet of musicians portray through their work speaks for itself. As far as I can tell, it is not a concept album. But, as with all other albums of this nature, I greatly recommend listening to it from start to finish, allowing yourself to fully immerse yourself in the majesty of the relentless wonders found within. To my great regret I have been unable to find any of their tracks on YouTube, so I instead refer to the page found below, where some, if not all, of the album can be streamed. A must for any fans of the Atmospheric Depressive Black Metal genre.

vk.com/istina