The new sensation of gothic doom are certainly the Russians Amederia, or at least this should work if, for once, the solons who deal with music would stop looking with enough attention to a former Soviet scene that, like it or not, has now invaded the market with a number of releases high both in terms of numbers, both in terms of the average quality exhibited. Among these, in fact, is placed by right Unheard Prayers, which brings us back pleasantly to the atmosphere of the first and best Draconian, those still free from commercial temptations. The combo from Tatarstan lists a series of tracks with a frightening emotional impact, supported by a vocal interpretation without smears by the magnificent Damir Galeev and Gulnaz Bagirova, one with a cavernous but intelligible growl and a clean evocative voice, the other limiting to the essential the lyrical intonations in favor, instead, of a crystalline timbre perfect for the dramatic scores staged by these excellent musicians. The disc is a sequence of magnificent tracks, capable of inducing tears since the poignant Who We Are and Loneliness in Heaven and, after an overdose of emotions, Forbidden Love and Together come first to give a further blow to an emotional balance already sufficiently tested, by virtue of unforgettable melodic lines. In these tracks you can hear in a sensitive way a certain stylistic contiguity with the Swedish When Nothing Remains even if Gulnaz’s voice contributes to properly differentiate the sound. What in my opinion, however, remains the unparalleled pearl of the album is The Dance Of Two Swans, a track interpreted in unison by the two voices on a piano carpet, a passionate crescendo that leads to a final marked by a melancholic guitar work worthy of the most inspired Saturnus. An almost perfect work, in which a beautiful song as Angel’s Fall almost disfigures in its being compressed between episodes of a much higher level; a must-have for those who have appreciated, in addition to the bands already mentioned, also the last splendid album of Doom:VS. by the draconian Johan Ericson.

2014 – BadMoodMan Music