Jassa - Dark Years Of Dearth Album

Among all we remember, JASSA's album "Dark Years Of Dearth" is the first full-featured composition onstage which was not dedicated to some abstract “fallen Slavic warriors” but to the actual annalistic event. JASSA is a new project of Vladimir whom we know for his fruitful activity in one-man band SIVYJ YAR. Ingrian chthonic mysticism tracing its roots to tenebrous pagan rituals, which had been carried out down by Neva river just one thousand years ago, and archaic cults sliding away to far Neolithic maze, to the time when our ancestors had just come into this moist moss land… All these things inspire the author so much that he is still discovering sense and talent for writing of interesting and qualitative music, recreating aura of eras gone away, within himself.
Musicians (also someone called Aeargh is a fully fledged member of the group together with Vladimir) were able to avoid self-copying: JASSA’s anxious melody almost does not resemble natural landscapes for which SIVYJ YAR has repute. Although both of them use one and the same means of expression, JASSA’s music turned out to be more lively and varied even with usage of the same components. Properly speaking, these components are well-known and recognizable: guitars, bass, drums and “emery” vocal, but even with all these components considered there is no déjà-vu effect. In comparison with SIVYJ YAR the voice sounds more heavily and ponderously. Sometimes it seemed that in a little more time the vocalist would roar just like Roman Saenko from HATE FOREST. Guitars started to sound more solid and their sound became extremely suppressing. This became most noticeable in the final instrumental track (having the same name with the disk) and it seemed that in its core the entire quintessence of SIVYJ YAR feelings was reflected, but within the JASSA’s context this track became the great final emphasizing oppressive despair of the story.
Album lyrics are the author’s vision of political and religious processes which had taken place in the territory of Novgorod in that tumultuous times and resulted into a rare precedent in time of which pagan uprising had happened after two hundred years of Christianity. Due to consideration of such subtle nuances this material could have become a real historical sketch, alas, there was no place for texts, not telling about thin prospects, in a dull black digipack but that the artistic conception was. On the other hand every copy of the disc was attached with a voluminous sticker and insert with the stylized engraving.
A name JASSA itself means ancient divinity or rather a spirit being worshipped among Ilmen Slavs once lived on the Izhora Plateau and left plentiful heritage of legends and tales behind themselves. Variety of myths twined with the modern view on history creates inimitable attraction of this album in which tragic element, fearlessness and the Death intertwined together. The spirit of burned magians is crying for revenge, ash is beating in our hearts and wind is carrying changes, bringing back the Dark Years of Dearth.

http://casusbellizine.com/reviews/item/jassa-dark-years-of-dearth-2012.html