Minsk
The Ritual Fires of Abandonment

It's a Ceremony that's taking place on this album. The Minsk immediately strike, that approach, that way of drawing the listener towards them, that captivating, oriental breath cannot leave one indifferent. And it's only the beginning, the 13 minutes and more of Embers, the opening track, are the backbone of a psychedelic journey that PROGresses in the whirlwind of vibrant, powerful, metallic arrangements, it’s a masterful entering and exiting from the templates of the styles dictated by the influences of their listening to cleverly intersect them in what is a pleasant surprise for our ears. But the ritual is not just this, it's pure brutality (White Wings), it’s the breath of a demon ready to poison you under the skin, silent as a snake, in its repeated guitar mood for many minutes of agony (Mescaline Sunrise), it's a conscious and angry essay of the ugliness that surrounds us, at first recalling all of this, then it frees itself from the burden, this is what Orphans of Piety expresses, full of pathos, Sabbath-like in its unstoppable advance, which halts its avalanche only in the reflective, oceanic calm of Circle of Ashes. As the 15 minutes of the closing Ceremony ek Stasis flow, I can only remain dumbfounded: the band has honed their weapons, we find ourselves with a complete work and better than their previous "Out of a Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive"... 2007 has started with a bang, a gem brimming with absolutely unique atmospheres, between psychedelia and metal, Minsk cannot go unnoticed.