In the music industry, demos are usually looked down upon as the immature first steps of an artist's career. However, this is not the case for Belarusian black metal act, Pa Vesh En. Their 2017 demo, Knife Ritual (released on Iron BoneHead Productions), is a cloudy, ambient, sorrowful and powerful offering of raw Black Metal. The album immediately swallows you up with its heavy, bass-y, low-end production that lingers for the entirety of the album's near 30 minute run time. Va Pesh En's take on the lo-fi black metal sound is truly their own on this record, it both encompasses you in its sound while simultaneously creating a wall of sound that keeps the listener at a distance.
The album is consistent in its sound, and overall, is a wolf in sheep's clothing, the dream-like softness of the production tries its best to obscure the listener from the ferocity that lies just underneath the surface. I've even had to rethink and rewrite this review a few times because even as I listen to it while typing this out, Knife Ritual is still revealing itself to me. The album starts with the songs "Chalice of Blood" and "I've killed a Man", two very somber tracks, the guitars adding to the stormy atmosphere, the drums booming in the distance, and the shrill vocals cry out, echoing like an endless cavern. Once the album reaches track three, "The Relentless Plague", the listener is then entered into a whirlwind of blast-beats and a mesmerizing bass-line that carries on throughout the song, and from this point on, the album dwells on these foreboding, adversarial compositions with tracks such as "The Black Perspective" and "Till Death Do Us Above". Track 6, "Cremated Whore", is by far the most malicious song on the album, a true flurry of instrumentation as the vocalist spews out words with a passionate contempt. The album closes out on the mournful track, "The Temple of the Lepers" and it is a fitting end to this album, the cloudy atmosphere thins out and you are finally up close and personal with the music itself as the guitars stand alone and envelope you in their collective sound, the song is reflective and a meditative end to such a stellar record.
All in all, this demo is without a doubt a cohesive, wholistic, and at times, cinematic experience. The album feels like Pa Vesh En's meditation of grief, of agony, and of the macabre, and you too are immersed in this meditation. Knife Ritual is an incredible release and is worth every dollar, and even worth it if you can find a physical copy to add to your collection. If you've never listened to this type of music before (raw/ambient/atmospheric black metal), it can be unsettling and even off-putting at first, but I beg you to try and sit back and immerse yourself into this record at least once through. Everything from the compositions to the production feels very intentional and it is lo-fi at its best. Since releasing this demo back in 2017, Pa Vesh En have released (according to Metal Archives) seven more albums (1 demo, 3 EPs, 1 Split, and 2 LPs), so if you like Knife Ritual then you have plenty more material to dive into (you're welcome).
Artist: Pa Vesh En
Album: Knife Ritual
Label: Iron BoneHead Productions
Rating: 8/10