Review from Forgotten Path Magazine; Issue 6

September 25, 2014
From: Forgotten Path Magazine; Issue 6
Published: November 2014

Epitimia stuffed all they could in this album - saxophone, Blackgaze tones, male and female vocals, storytelling, dynamics, Neo-Classical and ECM-type of Jazz sounds, even Electronic music. This enormous mix didn’t fit into one hour so the band decided to divide their experimentations into two CDs, titled “Delusion” and “Illusion”, and named this synthesis “(Un)reality”.

It’s almost impossible for a Black Metal fan not to find something close to his/her liking in this 110 minutes long release. Even if you don’t like the low quality Russian singing, there’ll be a part to enjoy in this album overflowing with variety. On the other hand, I can’t imagine a person who would truly like this entire massive chunk of music. It’s way too similar to Ne Obliviscaris - low quality, prolonged and just musically unattractive in general. For those who consider the latter band a miracle, “(Un)reality” might sound interesting. Personally, I think there’s a lack of Death Metal-like discipline and vocals, instrumental variety is on another level. It’s difficult to describe the general sound of the album, because each of the 18 songs is so different. There’s Trip-Hop and Jazz, then Atmospheric Black Metal, which is later suppressed and turned into Doom Metal. The only thing tying everything together is melancholic ambience.

To conclude, “(Un)reality” is a prolonged and over eclectic album, which didn’t introduce anything new to the scene. I would suggest this release to hard-core fans of Progressive Metal or those who like experimentations in Black Metal.

Rating: 6/10
Reviewed by: Bloodie
 

Review from Teeth of the Divine Webzine

August 21, 2014
From: Teeth of the Divine Webzine
Published: August 21, 2014

Phew. This is ambitious. 2 Cds, almost 2 hours of ambient black metal contained in a very well packaged (Hypnotic Dirge’s best packaging to date) double gatefold digipack. Nicely done indeed, now if only the music was as striking.

Despite being around for 5 years and having three other full-length albums under their belt, this is my first time hearing Russia’s Epitimia (another word for ‘penance’) and they could no...

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Review from Aristocrazia Webzine

August 19, 2014
From: Aristocrazia Webzine
Published: August 18, 2014
*Google translation of Italian review

In the last decade words like "Avantgarde", "Post" and "Shoegaze" have been increasingly linked to the Black Metal world. Obviously this invasion of band "alternative" to the classic lines created rifts within the ranks of listeners and most of the times he questioned his membership in the wake of music, as the component Black was very little evidence of this in some. The fact remains that, f...

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Review from Deaf Sparrow Webzine

July 21, 2014
From: Deaf Sparrow Webzine
Published: July 12, 2014

Double CD’s are a hard thing to tackle not only because the length is twice as long but because the artist often has a much broader, more complete vision of their project.  Like many Hypnotic Dirge artists before them, Epitima have attempted to experiment with black metal with many other non-metal genres such as trip hop, post rock, and electro.  As you can imagine, this is a huge endeavor especially when trying to make all thes...

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Review from Pest Webzine

June 26, 2014
From: Pest Webzine
Published:
June 26, 2014
Original Link

A double-album in digipack format is the latest offering from the Russian outfit named Epitimia. Their fourth full-length release looks outstanding and I can only imagine how much effort the band and label put in releasing it; a 6 panel digipack complete with a 12 pages booklet featuring all lyrics and awesome artwork, an excellent value for your money, no doubt. Music-wise the band took a step further into broadening their territories, t...
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Review from Miasma Magazine

May 16, 2014
From: Miasma Magazine
Published: May 16, 2014
Original Link
*Google translation of Finnish review

Regeneration and testing of the boundaries is generally a good thing, but not necessarily always right. I have to say that I did not like at first glance would've identified Epitemian new album and double disc (Un) Reality, the same band of the Gringos than a few years ago a pretty good Faces of insanity, although it does of course also have the same elements. Unfortunately, the change has not been v...

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Review from Chronicles of Chaos Webzine

May 11, 2014
From: Chronicles of Chaos Webzine
Published: May 6, 2014

Russian trio Epitimia look like three hipsters so much you wouldn't believe, dressed mostly in white and shit; a manifesto of sorts that they don't give a fuck? A fashion statement? Trying to fit into the hipster world of intellectual black metal made by white-clothed people?

_(Un)reality_ is a very ambitious effort; you can give them -that-, at least. Both the hardworking Hypnotic Dirge Records and the band themselves apparen...

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Review from Lords of Metal Webzine

May 11, 2014
From: Lords of Metal Webzine
Published: May 1, 2014

A double album of no less than 112 minutes, well, thats gonna be a long stretch. And indeed, '(Un)Reality' by Epitimia is quite a long ride, unless you enjoy elevator or hotel lobby music. So incredibly boring is this light avant-garde progressive form of black metal delivered by these citizens of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Kenny G. saxophone parts fly by left and right. The cure for insomnia is what Epitimia delivers. Pretenti...

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Review from Sic Maggot Webzine

May 1, 2014
From: Sic Maggot Webzine
Published: April 24, 2014
*Google translation of Czech review

Today again begin with a short example. So write task: we live in St. Petersburg. In 2008, you will find a suitable partner to start a band. Your main constraints are the two genres - black metal and ambient. A year later, you may gain a third member, respectively. member, who is in charge of percussion and violin. Your set is complete and the music is progressively more advanced and sophisticated...

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Review from Mortem Webzine

April 2, 2014
From: Mortem Webzine
Published: April 2, 2014
*Google translation of Czech review

The Russian avant-garde black metal epitimy I approached with skepticism, although such music I like, I was not fully convinced that it really is what I expect. I will not lie, my expectations were low and I was pleasantly surprised that my hands got so good album.

The entire double album actually has a length of nearly two hours. While it is true that I prefer albums that you can listen to in one go, b...

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 EPITIMIA - (UN)REALITY 2CD

 Released: February 15, 2014
500 Copies
Genre: Experimental Black Metal, Post-Metal


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