SEMARGL is a young band from Kyiv, who play Satanic Black, or Misanthropic Black Metal as it is said on the CD. I saw them live before and they reminded me of Impaled Nazarene. When I opened the booklet I had the same feeling.
The image of the group is a little weird. The front-man is bald man with spiked wristbands and a DARK FUNERAL emblem on the T-shirt. He has a gun in his hand. Another band member has a right pentagram on his neck and is wearing either a respirator or a gas-mask and makes me smile unwillingly. ;-) By the way, his hair is too clean compared to a ton of dirt on his face. (Corpse-paint rounds up to blurred sags of makeup).
The outside is not as good as the inside and inside I found aggressive but still quite melodic black.
There are 8 tracks on the CD: 6 average-speed black compositions with keyboards, one instrumental composition and one anti-musical track (which looks like an intro, although it comes second).
The keyboards play a major role in SEMARGL, which is delightful. The last track of the album - The Cut Up Dream – is a great instrumental composition, played on keyboards.
To my mind the vocal seemed too weak for such music. But it’s highly emotional and that’s what matters.
The quality of the record is great! The album was recorded in Poland with the assistance of local masters.
In the end I want to wish the band luck and high creative potential. Black metal fans will surely look at it as a revelation.