CMPT continues its trilogy.
With this second chapter entitled Na utrini, released at the end of 2024 by Osmose Productions, Serbian musician Vidak Lesina (all instruments/vocals, All My Sins, Terrörhammer, ex-Kawir) evokes earth and dirt through eight compositions.
The album opens with Na utrini, the long eponymous composition that immediately reveals its Balkan folk influences, then envelops us in its heavy haunting Atmospheric Black Metal. The vocal parts add a menacing aura to the dissonant yet airy sounds, allowing total immersion in the project’s universe, before intensifying on Oppidum Panuka, the following track, where the riffs are immediately more lively. The atmosphere remains fairly dark, taking advantage of an old-school mix and sharp riffs to accentuate the raw aspect of the music, before a fairly gentle finale that leads to Mesecina, where the airy sounds return before the rhythmics ignite. Leads still convey a certain quietude, obviously disturbed by the vocalist’s screams, who seems literally possessed and borrows from the intensity of DSBM, but Maxond’s Campus allows us to pause by the fire, while a flute plays softly in the distance. Gentleness is once again short-lived, as Crna voda assaults us immediately afterwards, combining fury, fast riffs and some more playful harmonics that provide an interesting contrast within the short track itself. U raljama kosave follows with the same tenebrous power, exploding in one fell swoop and pinning us to the floor, making the addition of backing vocals almost tricky given the aggression of the instrumental, but there’s a break that allows us to regain our composure before the final charge. The flute returns to ring out the beginning of Kao srp u noci, bewitching us, followed by a heady female vocal that accompanies the first imposing riffs through to the catchy waves that rage at a steady pace. The composition runs its course, naturally joining D ISTROU without even a break, continuing its journey for a short minute, then the sound cuts off, and starts up again, livelier, thicker and wasting no time in hitting us, not forgetting short, more airy passages that counterbalance the surge before it stops in favor of a mysterious guitar that closes the album.
CMPT is a very raw project, developing an intoxicating darkness. Old School tones make Na utrini a rather inaccessible album, but one that possesses all the qualities of an excellent Atmospheric Black album, not to mention its heady Folk touches.
85/100
