Following on the heels of their 2013 full-length “Once Hidden from Sight” and a 2016 split with Nethermost (USA), it’s hard not to notice the risen ambitions and wider scope presented on Vin de Mia Trix’s new double-album “Palimpsests”. The Kyiv-based band has always combined various doom metal genres and influences and aimed to create intelligent and touching, yet uncompromisingly heavy and dark music, but the songwriting depth, versatility, and atmosphere on “Palimpsests” is on another level compared to their past albums.
Palimpsests is an album about archetypes, the stories and characters that exist deep inside our collective subconsciousness, stories so significant and influential that they appear in various peoples' and cultures' mythology. Concepts like rebirth through sacrifice, stealing knowledge from the gods, or the great cleansing flood can be found anywhere from Hinduism through Ancient Greek myths to Christianity, proving their importance in shaping societies and civilizations. These stories are told to this day, and “Palimpsests” album tries to retell them once again, adding to the eternal cycle.
The name “Palimpsests” summarizes the spectrum of themes the band aims to convey and embodies the concept of multi-layered meanings and symbols expressed through musical, lyrical, and visual content. Musically, “Palimpsests” is rooted in Extreme Doom, venturing occasionally into the territories of Prog Rock and Post-Metal.
Mixing and mastering were handled by Damon Good of the mighty Mournful Congregation, making sure the production quality matches the music's ambitiousness. The double album is presented as a 4-panel digipack with an exclusive 36-page booklet designed by the Kyiv-based Seri/graf Studio.
Lineup:
Alex Vynogradoff - Bass, vocals, guitars, piano
Andrew Tkachenko - Vocals
Serge Pokhvala - Guitars
Igor Babaev - Drums
Reviews:
Whether you like the results or not, it's still a pretty bold and astonishing step up that maintains VdMT's highly-recognisable individuality, yet delivers something completely new and unexpectedly massive. Personally, I love the way it combines elements of many of my favourite bands (see above) into something distinct, unique and wholly absorbing. Will it appeal to everyone? I somehow doubt that. But it is, nonetheless, an outstanding piece of work, on every level.
-Doom-Metal
The band have crafted songs that are multifaceted and rich in depth and substance. Sprawling compositions like these would fail very quickly if they were bereft of these latter elements, but it seems that Vin de Mia Trix have conspired together to ensure that this doesn’t happen. Every aspect of this release seems like it has been examined with studious care to make sure that the music presented to the world is as high-quality and richly evocative as it can be. Their hard work has paid off, as Palimpsests is a masterwork of doom metal.
I’ve opined before that some of the best albums are ones that take the listener on a journey, and Palimpsests takes you on a fully-fledged epic odyssey.
What a stunning release. There’s not much more to say than this, really. Absolutely stunning.
