Up-and-coming Russian death dealers Saphath will infiltrate the global metal scene this spring with the release of their debut full-length album, “Ascension of the Dark Prophet” on April 8th, 2022.
Today, the band has revealed the record’s first single via a lyric video for “The Raven”. The song is available now on Apple Music, Spotify and all streaming services. Check out the lyric video below.
Commenting on the single, vocalist Alexey Duraev states:
“The song is a reflection on ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe, that began from the questioning of why the main hero stays home alone? What if there was a plague wreaking havoc on the streets of his city? Today’s world can relate to it. The song is half Poe’s lyrics and half mine, written in the same meter, with amazing music by the band and a stylish animated video by Alexey (Miran) Razorenov and Alexey Popov”.
Hailing from the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the Sakhalin Island in far east Russia, Saphath’s interpretation of death metal is influenced by metallic predecessors Moonspell, Dark Tranquility, ScepticfFesh, Behemoth and Cradle of Filth and melds elements of death, black and gothic metal with dark symphonic ensembles. Death defies boundaries, and so do Saphath.
Saphath was formed at the end of 2019 by Alexey Duraev (vocals) and Dmitriy Badulin (guitar, back vocals) in the far eastern Russian city Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Shortly after, they were joined by guitarist Nikita Tetetin and released demo records based on music Alexey had been accumulating since 2013. greatly influenced by such bands as Moonspell, Dark Tranquility and Cradle of Filth.
The band would later add bass player Alexander Klimkov and the drummer known only as Sega or The Faceless One, who joined them for another round of demos, which bore a touch of SepticFlesh and Behemoth. Eventually the five-piece began recording their debut record “Ascension of the Dark Prophet”, and recruited the talented choir director Alexandra Balenko to join the band to oversee orchestral arrangements and female vocal parts.
By the end of 2021, the album was completed and sent out for mixing and mastering to Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy).
Lyrically, the songs follow a style of classic English poetry and are about a person’s place in the world – a person’s internal and external battles with society, religion and the world itself. The darkness, rage, fear, loneliness, love and loss such a person essentially suffers are conveyed through a balance of dark and light.
The music embodies a dark symphonic mixture of death metal, black metal and gothic metal. Alexey’s deep voice and fierce growls, Dmitriy’s thick riffs, Nikita’s emotional solos, Alexander’s massive bass, earthshaking drums of The Faceless One and Alexandra’s hypnotizing orchestra and choirs make a perfect combination that lures the listener to the magical world of eternal night, scary yet charming.
“Saphath” is one of the Slavic folklore names for a river dividing the worlds of living and dead, similar to Greek Styx, and the music definitely comes from the other bank.
Weblinks:
www.facebook.com/saphathofficial
www.instagram.com/saphath_official
