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One of the oldest bands from the Moscow region yet not very prolific, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going! As evinced in this debut CD, the 5-piece displays its high quality songwriting and arranging capacities and a personal enough style, which immediately catches your attention. Actually this CD was released as a demo by pioneristic tape label Moon records and it's been re-released on a CD with a partially different artwork, and the addition of 4 live tracks excerpted from a lucky night of destruction at the Russian capital's Relax club in November 2003.

Musically, the vodka maniacs play a sort of brutal old-school Death metal with a few elements of late '90s bands, and the particularities of its sound are stressed out by a supreme remastering work, in which all instruments are balanced. After the melancholic arpeggio of "Wandering through the Darkness", intro that prepares us for the smashing "Dead in the Cellar", we enter a realm made of mid-paced Death metal patterns, with some accelerations, vocals a là Six Feet Under and a nice slapped bass work; several breaks and very gurgling low vocals remind me of Severe Torture meet Deeds of Flesh, but keep in mind that Nosferatos came out first!
More dynamic is the well-known Unleashed's "The Immortals", that the Russians cover in a real effective manner.
If there is something that I do appreciate in this CD that is the incredible drumwork that you can enjoy exceptionally entwined with the razor-edged guitars in "Souls of the Deceased", a special mix of Deicide and Judecca in the middle part. Fucking deranged!
My favourite track is undoubtely "Zombie Revenge", starting with fast Deeds of Flesh patterns, later also infested by groovy Death metal up-tempos.
The ghost of the "Pierced from Within" Suffocation comes out every now and again in "The Antichrist Time" together with a repeated Thrash metal riff and a melodic axe solo not too far from the ones that Apophis are used to composing.
While "Evil Spirits Refuge" melts Deicide, Deeds of Flesh and a personal edge in the ineffable semimelodic riffs and Lucifer's punishing screams and growls, things radically change with the following "Dances of the Dead", owning guitar sounds in the vein of the more Death 'n' Roll Entombed or Xysma and a hypertight kick drum action, proving how easy it is for the Zelenograd outfit to build a solid bridge between tradition and innovation. This song is excellent and you shall never get tired of listening to it and most of all it will supply you with enough material for traumatic headbanging.
The long "Outcast by Hell" begins mid-paced nevertheless turns very fast and vicious; moreover you will meet hellish breaks that will make you feel like in Dante's "Inferno"; definitely one of the more elaborated and better compositions here included. I love the scorching screams and the transcendent Morbid Angelesque solos.
Finally, the outro "Rebirth" leads us to an extremely desolating place full of vultures and crows feasting upon our remains, followed by a tension crescendo until the final vagitus witnesses the coming of a new damned existence.

As cited before, the icy on the cake is made by the 4 live videoclips, where the band's tenacity is proven and where the performance is almost devoid of imperfections. If we want to split hairs, the band might exploit the second guitarist more and maybe use other effects for the guitar, yet this remains a superlative paragon of various, well-played and ravaging Death metal. Heavily recommended.

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20th March 2005

	'Ventum Inferum de Tenebrae...' (Blacksmith productions) MARK: 89/100 Click here to watch "In the Plague Embraces" clip



	One of the oldest bands from the Moscow region yet not very prolific, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going! As evinced in this debut CD, the 5-piece displays its high quality songwriting and arranging capacities and a personal enough style, which immediately catches your attention. Actually this CD was released as a demo by pioneristic tape label Moon records and it's been re-released on a CD with a partially different artwork, and the addition of 4 live tracks excerpted from a lucky night of destruction at the Russian capital's Relax club in November 2003. Musically, the vodka maniacs play a sort of brutal old-school Death metal with a few elements of late '90s bands, and the particularities of its sound are stressed out by a supreme remastering work, in which all instruments are balanced. After the melancholic arpeggio of "Wandering through the Darkness", intro that prepares us for the smashing "Dead in the Cellar", we enter a realm made of mid-paced Death metal patterns, with some accelerations, vocals a là Six Feet Under and a nice slapped bass work; several breaks and very gurgling low vocals remind me of Severe Torture meet Deeds of Flesh, but keep in mind that Nosferatos came out first! More dynamic is the well-known Unleashed's "The Immortals", that the Russians cover in a real effective manner. If there is something that I do appreciate in this CD that is the incredible drumwork that you can enjoy exceptionally entwined with the razor-edged guitars in "Souls of the Deceased", a special mix of Deicide and Judecca in the middle part. Fucking deranged! My favourite track is undoubtely "Zombie Revenge", starting with fast Deeds of Flesh patterns, later also infested by groovy Death metal up-tempos. The ghost of the "Pierced from Within" Suffocation comes out every now and again in "The Antichrist Time" together with a repeated Thrash metal riff and a melodic axe solo not too far from the ones that Apophis are used to composing. While "Evil Spirits Refuge" melts Deicide, Deeds of Flesh and a personal edge in the ineffable semimelodic riffs and Lucifer's punishing screams and growls, things radically change with the following "Dances of the Dead", owning guitar sounds in the vein of the more Death 'n' Roll Entombed or Xysma and a hypertight kick drum action, proving how easy it is for the Zelenograd outfit to build a solid bridge between tradition and innovation. This song is excellent and you shall never get tired of listening to it and most of all it will supply you with enough material for traumatic headbanging. The long "Outcast by Hell" begins mid-paced nevertheless turns very fast and vicious; moreover you will meet hellish breaks that will make you feel like in Dante's "Inferno"; definitely one of the more elaborated and better compositions here included. I love the scorching screams and the transcendent Morbid Angelesque solos. Finally, the outro "Rebirth" leads us to an extremely desolating place full of vultures and crows feasting upon our remains, followed by a tension crescendo until the final vagitus witnesses the coming of a new damned existence. As cited before, the icy on the cake is made by the 4 live videoclips, where the band's tenacity is proven and where the performance is almost devoid of imperfections. If we want to split hairs, the band might exploit the second guitarist more and maybe use other effects for the guitar, yet this remains a superlative paragon of various, well-played and ravaging Death metal. Heavily recommended. MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20th March 2005
	Current line-up: Lucifer (Alexey Kondrin) - vocals, lyrics (ex-Vrata T'my) Charon (Deniss "Boroda" Kopkov) - bass (still in Vrata T'my) Hich - drums Ivan - guitars Egor Ogorodnikov - guitars Contacts: Management: Evgeny Lomonosov, Zelenograd, 803-242, Moscow 124527 - Russian federation E-mail: headcrusher@mtu-net.ru Official site: http://www.geocities.com/acheroniam/ www.audiostreet.net/gatesofdarkness www.audiostreet.net/nosferatos http://nosferatos.metalhordes.com/ http://www.realmusic.ru/nosferatos http://www.numberonemusic.com/nosferatos Demo-/Disco-graphy: -Dances of the Dead (Tancy Mertvih) (demo 1994) -Ventum Inferum de Tenebrae...(Cassette 1997 - Moon records) -Ventum Inferum de Tenebrae...(multimedia CD - 1998 self-released CD, re-released in 2004 by Blacksmith productions) -Pandemonium (CD 2001)