Album Review: Kladovest – Ignitiate (No Colours Records)

Kladovest is a Slavic Neopagan concept signifying the “well of knowledge” that can be compared to the Akashic records in theosophy and related esoteric schools.

Hailing from Ukraine, they’ve been active since 2004 & Ignitiate (released on December 20th 2016) is their 5th full-length release. You can pick it up here.

4 tracks & 39 minutes long, Ignitiate is a black metal epic in so many senses of the word.

Opening song Hermit Dungeons kicks off with a straight-forward, nice hard beat before moving into a more obvious black metal style. The first thing that really jumps out are the unusual sounding vocals. They take some getting used to because of the higher pitch & the wavering moments.

As the album goes on your ears will adapt to the style & they end up really fitting the darkened & cold black metal style. They do have an emotional feel about them & it’s clear vocalist, Gjenfard is throwing his all into them.

The mid-point change in tempo & style is fantastic, dropping in some nice melodies before an even more sombre beat that takes over at the 7 minute mark. Each song has these jumps in style & they turn good black metal into stunning black metal showcasing so many different elements.

The second track, Beneath the Reaper Shadow continues the quality & is the best song on the album. There is some serious guitar talent in this band & it’s the moments when these songs change that they are lifted to impossibly high heights, the riff moments are just fantastic.

The ending to this song is stunning, reminds me of Deafheaven which is no bad thing!

Shore of Ancient Moons isn’t instantly likeable as the first two but it retains the same beautiful effects & its 11 minute run flies by. With 3 minutes left it completely stopped me in my tracks again with a super-soft melody that warms the heart.

The final song, Carved in Scars… changes the formula up a bit concentrating on a soft style at first. The melody is lovely but when it kicks in the excitement really steps up. It’s a nice reversal of the styles – melody with black metal instead of the other way round & once again ends stunningly.

This is a special album that mixes many different metal styles while staying distinctly black metal. One of the best things to be released in 2016.

Overall Track Listing:

1. Hermit Dungeons
2. Beneath The Reaper Shadow
3. Shore Of Ancient Moons
4. Carved In Scars…

We’d like to thank Kladovest & Against PR for providing us with a copy of the album for review purposes. You can pick it up here.