Fourth full length for the Russian Abyssphere, a band that in a little more than a decade of activity has also several releases of reduced length, including ep and assorted singles. This last work of the band from St. Petersburg does not skimp on the duration of the contents, going to exceed the hour and a half of duration thanks to the inclusion in the tracklist of a cover (Only For the Weak of In Flames) and two reworked versions of songs already published. It remains however remarkable the compositional effort of Abyssphere, which, with Na Puti K Zabveniyu are confirmed elegant and effective exponents of a melodic gothic doom unassailable for form and valid also for contents, even if maybe the whole lacks that emotional peak constituted by one or more tracks able to mark in a more decisive way the work. In fact, the album flows away very well, without tiring the listener at all as it’s impeccable in the arrangements and always enriched with a melodic vein of quality, but if we make an exception for the excellent central triptych Carthago Delenda Est, Siyaniye and Marafon, the moments able to provide an authentic emotional transport are not so many. Moreover, the use of the mother tongue inevitably shows the rope in the passages in clean, where the musicality of the idiom and its understanding are much more important than with the growl, despite the remarkable performance of the good Konstantin Tsygankov, alternating with the more corrosive pace of his counterpart Alexander Yakovlev. For the rest, soft guitar solos and an overall enveloping atmosphere make Na Puti K Zabveniyu a very good record that, unfortunately, also because of the above mentioned characteristics, could struggle to find important outlets outside the territories of the former USSR. The work of Abyssphere, in particular in the person of a good composer as the already mentioned Tsygankov, has its own intrinsic value that should push the fans of gothic doom to give a chance to Na Puti K Zabveniyu, an album that allows you to spend an hour in the company of music moderately melancholic and good usability.

2017 – Endless Desperation Prod.