From even CMPT’s initial offering, 2021’s Mrtvaja EP, it was clear there was something otherworldly about the work of sole entity Vidak Lešina. To clarify, a sense of “otherness”, rather, of being both outside of time and deeply interwoven with it. Krv I Pepeo continued the feeling, deepening the connection with the CMPT’s Balkan homeland by delving further into the obscurity of the area’s folklore.
Returning three years to the month after Krv I Pepeo, Na utrini acts as a prequel to the events of that album and, while I’m generally not a fan of releasing an album out of order with the concept or tale being told, I’m also not in CMPT, so is bound to and will do as he wishes. The title track clocks in at over 9 minutes, but those familiar with the back catalogue are no strangers to lengthy songs. And these are songs, first and foremost; dark paintings of shadowed realms, or forgotten wastes, but songs, memorable and demanding involvement from the listener – the antithesis of simple “background music”. ‘Oppidum Panuka’ flashes forth, fiery and ferocious, unrelenting, boasting maniacal drum work and some of the best black metal rasps/shrieks heard in the past few years.
As an interlude of sorts, ‘Campus de Maxond’ thrives and engages despite its brevity, and escorts in ‘Crna voda’, a momentary vocal before the Eastern European blackness rises like the Carpathians. Guitars sew themselves together and around, commingling in that beloved style of DRUDKH, and again, mention must be made of the rhythms and the mix placing them just where they are needed; not submerged yet not overriding the other instruments. In a word, ideal.
Closer ‘Δ ΙΣΤΡΟΥ’ flourishes, breeding the aforementioned feeling of kinship as the best of music does, despite maybe not being written or sung in a language one understands. It’s a feeling. It’s an abundance of emotion, dismal and devoted, shining and shaded. Na utrini is an album that can instill ache for a time and place most of us have likely never been.
Review By: Lord Randall
CMPT
Na utrini
Osmose Productions