How rarely one can find good words for a release by a domestic act. The blame often lies in the complete absence of interesting ideas, the chase to imitate Western bands, the lack of one's own musical identity, unprofessionalism, and so on. This disc has absolutely nothing to do with such releases. Without flattering the band, I will say this is one of the most serious works in recent years on the russian metal scene. Before us is the second album by FEAR FACTOR, which arose from the foundations of the band TRIZNA in collaboration with the venerable troll of domestic heavy metal, Kirill Nemolyaev. In addition to Konstantin Seleznyov, Ilya Aleksandrov, Stanislav Voznesensky, Dmitry Skopin, and the aforementioned Kirill Nemolyaev, a number of guest musicians participated in the recording — on two compositions we hear the vocals of Maxim Samosvat from EPIDEMIA, on one — Dmitry Borisenkov from CHO, and the bass guitar parts on one of the tracks were performed by Oliver Holzwarth (BLIND GUARDIAN, SIEGES EVEN).
Now about the release itself. First, let us understand what this actually is. From a musical standpoint, this is melodic death metal with absolute emphasis on the first word. Before us are songs that are very beautiful melodically, with simply excellent keyboard parts. The vocals alternate — clean voice serves as the primary mode, while many verses are sung in growl. What is death metal about it — the guitar sound and riffs — associations arise primarily with the Swedish genre classics: SOILWORK, DARK TRANQUILLITY, and partly IN FLAMES. All of this, combined with interesting interludes and solos, produces a simply astounding effect. The recording and mixing quality leaves absolutely nothing to criticize. There are virtually no weak compositions on the album. However, one can particularly highlight "See and Know," "Fear," "The Exiled," and "Words." On the other hand, this is already a matter of subjective perception, while from an objective standpoint one can only note that the album is very strong, and as another distinguishing fact, this is that rare case when russian-language lyrics are perfectly suited — they fit remarkably into the stylistic fabric of the disc.