Published: February 16, 2014

How pleased I was that "No Stars, Only Full Dark" is the beginning of February Hypnotic Dirge Records published by! The one-man project Windbruch, behind the IO, which is called in real life Rodion Mikhailov is native to Siberia and put 2009 his first sign of life under the title "Collision Of The Worlds" before. At last year's split "Silentium!" with Gmork and depicting abysm now follows the second full album. Windbruch play ambient affine Black Metal, with great atmosphere, plenty of melody and a sharp blow melancholy. Especially here stands the ballad 'Neswa-Pawuk' highlighted, in which the eardrum turns immediately into a pink shag. No wonder the song the novella "Nomads of the North" by the American author James Oliver Curwood adventure but underlying that tells a bittersweet love story. The romantic in us survives that - because it's so moving goes to the heart and touches honest. Just as the music box sound in 'No Stars', which conjures a mood of innocence and purity in the plate. In countering are otherworldly Synties that are not the ambient reverie in the way, at least not so long until IOs growling and attacking guitars out drag the song from the Ambient corner. At the right moment IO continues to set the rougher riffs and wraps his elegiac songs in mesmerizing black metallic depression. He also attracts the pace without lapsing into a frenzy. In this way, seven text reduced pieces full of emotion have emerged that guarantee every minute playing time easy listening. The carefully arranged and equipped with many details of songs never compete with each other, but support equivalent to the sensitive touch of the album. "No Stars, Only Full Dark" is an album as a whole - a real highlight. Interested readers can listen to the whole album on YouTube.