Sjenovik - _Jouissance_
(Starlight Temple Society, 2008)
by: Chaim Drishner (8.5 out of 10)
"Shadow", the English equivalent to the Slavic word "Sjenovik", and its representation and meaning to the band, mythologically, spiritually, metaphorically or literally speaking, is a shadow not only by moniker, but also symbolic to the band's obscure sounds and concept.

Mixing a slow and dark death metal-esque musical approach (but also flirting intimately with black metal, when engaging distinctive walls of noise and hypnotic riffs into their vision of terror and human failure) and the darkest of ambient soundscapes into that somber sonic cloth they name _Jouissance_, Sjenovik's creation is as rare in the skies of metal music as it is effective and provocative. Thick layers of distorted strings and hellish throats clash with the addictive abyssal keyboard strokes, at times alternately, at other times, in unison.

Sjevonik's unique voice carries the message of dark and black ambient meets industrial innuendos, crossed with and embedded into the dark metal etiquette, and results in a densely lush, mysterious and Stygian aural amalgamation of beauty versus the beast, synchronously; ever transforming, reforming, dying and resurrecting; at times flitting, at other bulldozer-heavy, and yet in other times -- both.

Incredibly stimulating and original, the music bears spiritual elusive qualities: it is both otherworldly yet familiar; this album, once played, and in the right mood and frame of mind, will not be easily forgotten.

PS: From the writings of the band: "Inspired by the French philosopher and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, "Jouissance" echoes the nihilism and spiritual void of postmodernism and global capitalism. Dark metal ambient chaos is music at its end -- a mirror of the west."

Contact: http://www.sjenovik.com/

(article published 30/3/2009)


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