Conor Fynes 'Svara Tiras' - Senmuth (5/10)

Yet another release in Senmuth's most prolific year yet, 'Svara Tiras' sees the Russian one man project take his two most prevalent styles (ethnic/world music, and industrial metal) and merges them together, in nearly equal portions. While neither is done particularly well here, Senmuth has taken his sound and makes a pleasant, if not completely interesting bout with 'Svara Tiras.'

The album starts out reminding me alot of one of my favourite Senmuth records, released early in his career: 'Izoteri-Ka.' However, the serenity that the ethnic, Indian-styled sound brings end with the crushing blow of Senmuth's downtuned guitar work, which while certainly not subtle by any measure, does bring some heaviness and dynamic to what would otherwise easily fall under the category of Indian traditional music.

While I think that the merging of metal (a traditionally western) and Indian (eastern) sounds has a world of potential, I'm not sure Senmuth expresses it too well here. While the attempt is certainly made here to make a heavy ethnic experience, the overbearing heaviness of the guitar work only serves to cloud the much more subtle (and by extension, enjoyable) ethnic work.

'Svara Tiras' is nothing special to the Senmuth discography, but to anyone wanting to hear added heaviness in Senmuth's ethnic work, the album might be a worthy listen.