North American mythology and also movies are two of the declared loves and sources of inspiration for this quintet from Khartsyzk, in the Donetsk region, as shown by the mention of Clint Eastwood, surely another reference myth. We just have to add doom, desert rock, retro psychedelia and heavy blues. And we’ve got the essential elements for outlining The Curse of Wendigo. Maksim (on vocals/harmonica), Konstantin (on guitar/vocals), Igor (on guitar), Mikhail (on bass) and Dmitry (on drums) got together during 2011 and in late 2012 they released their substantial debut album Eclectic Tail via label Destroy The Humanity Studios. The album represents a charming and intense heavy psychedelic trip developed across 6 tracks for over 32 minutes. Apart from the short intro, the one that evokes Clint Eastwood via an achingly melancholic harmonica sound, the rest of the tracks are rather long and ranging between +4 and +8 minutes, actual ballads where the band guys are able to unfold their skill and potentials neatly.
The style of these lads is eclectic as indicated in the title of their album. These musicians surely love their heavy and viscous, muscular, groove-laden riffs that salute the listener right at the beginning of the album and dominate especially the shorter central tracks, Endless Hunger and The Prodigal Son. These are two powerful songs lead by a laid-back, genuine southern metal flavour. But in general these five guys like to nest their boiling hot riffs into a versatile psychedelic construction that makes this album charming indeed and full of surprises.
Desert rock, retro- to spacey, meditative psychedelia, and some escapes into ethereal post-metal are driven by reverbered guitars and effects, spiced up by the intriguing use of harmonica and of some traditional instruments, and backed up by powerful drumming and exotic percussions. All these different ingredients are skilfully and tastefully mixed and unfolded especially in the ballads Eclectic Tail, in the doomy Gloomy Friend and the truly remarkable Fallen Treasures. In the latter the influence of vintage doom and heavy psychedelia is probably stronger than elsewhere, although in all the tracks there is an invitation to meditation by means of trance-inducing drony melodies vibrating and echoing out like in an endlessly big open space. But not “any” big open space: the tunes, the sounds in the whole album depict a myth for most Euro rockers, an American wide open space and in the wild West, in the desert. So it was almost automatic for me to find similarities for these ethereal psychedelic intervals with what heard in bands like Blaak Heat Shujaa, among the younger bands, as well as Yawning Man, Naam, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, and so on.
These charming trance-inducing and meditative melodies have a somehow exotic hue and are coupled with ritual-like chanting by vocalist Maxim. In this band the vocal parts are actually some truly remarkable feature. Maxim is actually giving an impressive performance as his voice is like a chameleon. He can sing in a raucous tone like a whiskey-addicted rodeo boy in the southern metal-styled track Endless Hunger. Or else he can turn himself into an inspired, mournful shaman or even burst out with disturbing, dramatic tortured, or hysterically feverish vocals in the other tracks. In the beautiful closing track he interacts with guitars in a passionate evocation of pure heavy psych rock from the 70’s as if he were a wizard throwing magic powder into a ritual fire.
In conclusion album Eclectic Tail is a very encouraging, powerful debut album graced by a impressive quality of the sound production. The band did well in not limiting their effort into the narrow space of a debut EP but choosing to make a substantial release built up like a concept album and driven by a multifaceted yet consistent style.
I guess that we will enjoy more cool tunes from this band in a near future …
Words: Marilena Moroni
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