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artist: Porenut
title: V²stup k SvΣtej Kunde
year: 2025
genre: Black Metal
type: Album
label: Nomad Sky Diaries
language: Slovak
rel. date: 2025-08-29
source: WEB/MP3
quality: CBR 320kbps / 44.1 kHz / Joint Stereo
runtime: 00:31:11
size: 74.99 MB
rip date: 2025-08-31
source url: http://play.qobuz.com/album/yiukjh519t7lb
tracklist:
1. Prologue 7:08
2. Chapter I 5:10
3. Chapter II 3:37
4. Chapter III 4:31
5. Chapter IV 5:09
6. Epilogue 5:36
release notes:
Earthquakes, body horror, mass spontaneous evisceration and a mountain
glowing a mesmerizing shade of blue in the distance frame this
imaginative purgatorial quest from Banskß Bystrica, Slovakia-based
black metal band PORENUT who return for a fourth full-length album
intent on enriching their already experimental craft with surrealist
storytelling. Staring creation in the gape and musing over the
suffering its gushing ichor exudes æV²stup k svΣtej Kundeæ depicts an
unlikely transcendence marked by the violence of setting and
protagonist alike on this moody, complexly stated ride. A concept
album as well as a true lifting of the veil unto a quasi-progressive
tract here we find the bandÆs long running, ever-evolving ideation
achieving its highest point of craft to date.
Formed back in 2008 by musician Porenutßk (ex-Satanic Vomit) and soon
conjoined with vocalist/lyricist Ne (Ceremony of Silence) with the
goal of exploring the irrational, meaningless nature of the universe
via human existence Porenut have long offered their own brand of
lawless dementia and folken wisdom via a black metal scalded vision.
Whereas their debut LP (æMislifeæ, 2013) was a rugged horror and an
ambitious first step taken in its own right the long-milled sophomore
record from the band (æPostnihileraæ, 2020) was the one to catch my
attention per its unreal take, as IÆd described in brief review: ôA
raw and clangorous event in the true spirit of the sub-genre but also
completely willing to take the rhythms of pagan black metal and
shatter them into compelling, mind-expanding tirades.ö Call them
experimental (or even progressive per this new album) if youÆd like
these fellowes continue to deal in a distinct conception of black
metal which marries a sort of progressive rock induced format, a pagan
black inflected sound, and with some avant-garde/experimental
temperament gluing their core forms together into cohesion.
If youÆre not familiar with the Slovak language the title of this
album translates to æThe Ascent to the Holy Cuntæ and this title
merged with the double-take inducing album artwork from illustrator
Marcel Hamza may not make any sense outright, at least not Ætil youÆve
read the short story (penned by Ne) which the albumÆs theme revolves
around. I wonÆt explain the cowboy hat, the bare ass, or the bleeding
mountain ahead but rather suggest that the merger of creative writing,
collective compositional fortitudes and a black metal habit which
defines Porenut sets them apart even moreso on this album. We could
tangentially compare the overall feat to similarly ambitious and
highly literate records from bands like Void (U.K.) and more recently
Grey Aura in terms of telling a well-fleshed story, crafting a
character and illustrating a series of events through high-density
ideas given to despairing mood-rich environs.
Survival, gory surrealism, and the decadence available to the last man
living within a dead world ôChapter Iö and especially the epic
ôPrologueö before it lend us unreal setting and a series of scenes
which blur together as a central protagonist, a young man in a
supermarket, finds his sentience alone in a sea of raptured minds and
lots of disemboweled folks. In fact ôPrologueö is a whole-ass world
upon approach, or, at least a great deal to take in as a tuneful and
eventful presage for the folken black binding which characterizes
ôChapter Iö. Psychedelic spurs and Furia-worthy slapped-through
melodic bursts help to bring the bloody and unreal starting point to
life with an arguably kinda whimsical snap of the wrist as the
feasibly black metal action arrives. The fusion-slickened jive of
ôChapter Iö alongside a nicely defined rhythm section feels like
Porenutæve found a headspace that is difficult for sub-genre music
enjoyers to contain in mind where post-black, prog-black, etc. doesnÆt
necessarily sum the effect or the affectation of their performances.
If you made it deeper into the second half of æPostnihileraæ this
wonÆt be completely alien but perhaps surprising for the level of
polish applied beyond their last benchmark, reflecting some of the
collective gains in fidelity and musicianship found on æMislivesæ
(2023), a recent re-imagining of the bandÆs first album.
Side A would prove taxing from the first listen, not necessarily per
its imaginatively stated affect but the busied hands which shape it
wherein the density of ideas packed into those first three songs made
a mere fifteen minutes feel like a half hour. This, along with some of
the side-barred rants contained herein speaks perhaps more to more
Sigh than MasterÆs Hammer, not quite as zany as either comparison
might suggest (at all) but traveling with an open mind and pulling
from a headspace removed from typical black metal haunt. æV²stup k
svΣtej Kundeæ is just barely over a half-hour long yet it feels like
the greater mount of it all is doubly long in motion as IÆd initially
needed a halftime break after just a few pieces.
Side B flows on but further extends the tongue revealed on the first
half of the album, bringing some brief grinding nÆ grunting death
metallic aggression on ôChapter IIIö and noir skronking Virus-esque
clangor to ôChapter IVö via dismal chord progressions as we reach for
the peak of the story. The collapse of the latter is one of the more
satisfying points of aggression and disarray found on æV²stup k svΣtej
Kundeæ, an experience which flows with a certain surreal beauty for
most of its adventure. Around ~2:51 minutes into that fourth chapter
the tangled mass of all actors becomes nightmarish, reeling in
disbelief as an alternate protagonist exits their death-scene by the
hand of the original protagonist. Story wise this is where youÆll
likely have to re-read the piece (via a booklet included with the
album in both Slovak and English) and figure the perspective shift and
how often it happens, my take being that the smiling zombified fellowe
with the extra-wide grin and his crushed skull is the entity left to
haunt the planet Ætil itÆd all dissolve away with the starsà not to
spoil the curveball sent between ôChapter IVö and the ôEpilogueö but
it wasnÆt all that clear on the first pass.
Have Porenut escaped the trappings of black metal or embodied the most
classic reactivity of it? Sonically one might argue for prog-black
tropes and modern applications (as I have) takes us too far away from
that perspective as we do get something both within and beside the
ôbubbleö of extreme metal permutations herein. The shape and the forms
expressed within æV²stup k svΣtej Kundeæ arenÆt as important as the
depiction in this case and thatÆd been whatÆd impressed me most here
beyond the bands increasingly fine compositional ambitions, that
scenes are set and reflect an array of emotions beyond despairing
existential dread. Their work should best satisfy and potentially
challenge folks with a mind for surrealism guided by an expressive
hand rather than the usual seeming random generation beset by false
emotive tropes.