Kozeljnik/Death Gives Unto Life/Possession Productions/2016 EP Review

  Kozeljnik  are  a  band  from  Serbia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  their  newer  music  shows  the  band  heading  into  more  of  an  avant  garde  and  occult  mixture  of  black  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Death Gives  Unto  Life"  which  was  released  by  Possession  Productions.

  A  very  hard  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  being  all  powerful  sounding  and  the  clean  singing  vocals  gives  the  music  more  of  an  avant  garde  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  while  the  slower  riffs are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  while  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  vocals  also  get  deep at  times  and  some  songs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  and  when  tremolo  picking  is  utilized  it  gives  the music  more  of  a  raw  black  metal  feeling

  Kozeljnik  plays  a  musical  style  on  this  recording  that  is  still  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  black  metal  style  previous  recordings  while  also  mixing  in  avant  garde  and  doom  metal  elements  which  also  shows  how  much  they  have  evolved  as  musicians  over  the  years,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism  and  Death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Kozeljnik  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  the  occult  and  avant  garde  styles  of  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  the  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tis  The  Souls  Of  Wayward  Path"  and  "Bitter  Libations  To  The  Unnamed".  8  out  of  10.

http://www.facebook.com/Kozeljnik
https://soundcloud.com/kozeljnik-band
http://www.youtube.com/user/kozeljnikhttps://kozeljnik.bandcamp.com/    

 

Kozeljnik Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
We gave birth to Kozeljnik in ‘06. Our first recording “Wrecked in Ruins of Solitude” was an EP consisting of two tracks (released on tape some three years ago). “Sigil Rust”, debut full-length album released in ‘08 awakened the interest of the UG media and had some good feedback. By the end of ‘09, band got signed by Paragon Records and our 2nd full-length material “Deeper the Fall” was released on June 22nd this year.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?
Dark and morbid BM/a sound of Death. Played in not so usual way, it breeds the energy of a dying light, eternal rise through eternal fall and is dedicated to those who seek the path to the Great very End.

3. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?
Being raw and brutal in its form, lyrics are the passage to the internal reversal, upheaval of the Antiearth deity, mirrored as hell of the Present and Known. We are Death.

4. I know that the name of the band came from a Serbian wizard, what was it that interested you about this character?
Yeah, this is ancient divinatory that once lived along the east European soil (mostly Serbian territory) which used to predict human destiny by observing the entrails of the dead goats. Quite prophetic and truly ancient.

5. What is going on with the side projects these days?
K. and I are involved with a band called The Stone and we have just returned from the tour with Negura Bunget where we promoted our latest album “Umro”. There’s also May Result, more than 10-years old group that we do on occasion with some more members from The Stone. There’s also few other projects, but Kozeljnik and these two are our main achievements.

6. How has your music been received so far from black metal fans worldwide?
We haven’t met so many reactions so far, but wherever we turned our ears to and Kozeljnik is mentioned, we hear good words. This art is far more individual than any we ever did and will ever do; we expect a lot to shape from it. Constantly developing our sound and reaching to the farther spheres with it.

7. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
With Kozeljnik we’ve played just few shows so far, all of them being very unique to us. I wouldn’t know how to describe it to the very detail, but expect none less than the ritual of the ancient black metal flame held by few and shared with all those who confront our tribe live.

8. The new album came out on Paragon Records, how has the support been from that label so far?
We are very pleased to work with them and I think our cooperation has just started with “Deeper the Fall” album. We’ve got all the feedback and promotion from the label and as long as it goes that way, hopefully we’ll both make something really big out of this.

9. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?
There are in fact a lot of styles in music that inspired us and still keep doing it, but from the day 1 with Kozeljnik we figured out this is going to be the most unique thing we’ll ever put our hands and minds on. In fact, I’d really like to hear some truly dedicated people’s opinion and what they think about what influenced us the most. But first of all, release yourself and dive into our works - you’ll find an inner glow very easily if you let the mind go. May you feel the beast within becoming omnipresent.

10. What role does Satanism, Occultism, or Paganism play in the music?
Kozeljnik is the hand of Dirt, a manifestation of rejected spirit, the one that bled for all souls now awake. A guidance of ill-spirited anti-Earth Devilry, ruler of This and Now and a hand that takes beyond, in thereafter.

11. What are some of your interests outside of music?
Some more or less usual things: books, traveling, knowing humans, nothing really worth of mentioning. This is the thing I dedicate nearly all my time to and all the patience and Will I would otherwise put to waste.

12. Any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for doing the interview, we appreciate your support. Check out our latest work “Deeper the Fall” and become true within yourself.

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Kozeljnik/Deeper The Fall/Paragon Records/2010 CD Review

  Kozeljnik are a band from Belgrade, Serbia that plays a weird and schizophrenic form of black metal and this is a review of their 2010 album "Deeper The Fall" which was released by Paragon Records.

Drums cover a good amount of variety with some slow to mid paced drumming mixed in with a lot of fast playing and brutal blast beats, while the bass playing has a very powerful sound that has a progressive feel ti it while still being black metal and on a couple of the songs there is a violin being used that gives the music a doomy feel.

Rhythm guitars mix in a lot of different styles of riffs with some weird sounding slow to mid paced riffing mixed in with a lot of fast black metal playing, while the lead guitars have a very primal black metal feel to them mixed in with a good amount of dark melodies.

Vocals are a mixture of high pitched black metal screams and suicidal style vocals with some clean singing being used at times, while the lyrics cover death, negation and devilry with a satanic edge, as for the production it sounds very professional for a black metal album and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this album.

In my opinion Kezeljnik are a very original and talented band that might not appeal to all black metal fans but will appeal to the more open minded fans of the genre, and while their music sounds very good to my ears I can easily tell that this band is not for everybody. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The All Consuming" and "Deeper The Fall". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://www.myspace.com/kozeljnik