002teeth METI BHUVAH “Meti Bhuvah” CD
The Karelian band METI BHUVAH with their debut opus presents us a 13-song album of primitive and raw BM. The religion of ILDJARN is alive! You think it’s easy to write simple songs? Perhaps it’s really easy but not everyone can animate their rage this way! Frenzied vibe! Storm on the Onega! Limited by 333 copies.
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Tracklist:
1. Above All
2. Dirt
3. Open Your Eyes
4. Winter I
5. Winter II
6. Purification
7. Meti Bhuvah
9. Winter III
10. Punishment
11. Sola Skjultes (Ildjarn)
12. Minnesjord VI (Ildjarn)
13. Epilogue

Recorded october 2007 at Karjala Dungeons

Nikita
Dmitry
Arseny

(c) 2008 The HOWL Release
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ORDER NOW!!
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SEE LAYOUT HERE
DOWNLOAD ENGLISH LYRIX
SEE BIO AT TROOPZ SEKTION
COVER/LOGO HERE
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: : REVIEWZ : :
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METI BHUVAH – Meti Bhuvah (The Howl)
Works written in blatant homage and inspiration to individual bands that have established themselves years ago, lit up like a star for only a brief duration, and then to just as quickly fade away with time, can be a charming diversion, depending as they are on various factors such as the source material in question, the ubiquity of homage and, most importantly, the skills and ideas of the band engaging in said emulation.  In the case of Meti Bhuvah, from the northeastern Karelian territories of Russia, and their total Ildjarn-worship on this CD, it is mostly charming, what they have done, but on the other hand the release also carries a stigmata of something of the extraneous, perhaps unavoidably so, one might say.  Ildjarn’s oeuvre from the early to mid 1990s was a strong inspiration on yours truly during those glory years, and as far as I know only one other band exists (Odelegger from Germany) who is similarly inspired, so it is therefore an uncommon delight to hear such a close-resembling, rare tribute recording such as this, complete with vintage, under-produced, abrasive guitar tone, bashing drum kit with not an ounce of the mechanical to it, and ripping, acidic vocals that are stripped of almost anything remotely human.  The energy captured in this production is consistently vibrant, enthusiastic and filled with a certain joy de vivre (regardless of what they may say) otherwise lost and buried in the cynical and directionless 00s, while the artwork, deserving of in-depth commentary in itself, reflects, in equal mesaure, the twins of simplicity and austerity found in the music itself.  An excellent synthesis of art and sound alike crowns this work - bleak, dusk silhouettes, forests in black and white shouldered by black pages with unusually elegant handscript fonts, as though to emphasize the beauty and sublimity of the ugly, the dark, and indeed the music, despite its harshness, has something of the chiseled and robust about it, despite its unwound ferocity, like primitive sculptures deliberately left in a raw state to facilitate abstraction, weathered by forces of nature through untold aeons as this ancient beast slept, unaware to the world.  But all the same, of 13 tracks of these short bursts of inescapably punk-ish abandon, it is my sad duty to say that the two that stick out the most are the one’s written not by the band, but by the band’s antecedents: namely, two cover versions of Ildjarn, and with especial emphasis on Minnesjord VI.  The band’s covers of these tracks, though only subtly varying from the originals, nevertheless even exceed the originals in effect.  At least that is my impression today, having not listened to Ildjarn for years.  As for the rest, I can demonstrate my feeling by describing how, while listening to this in my car’s stereo system, which is set to automatically repeat an album from the beginning once it finishes, I thought the album was still continuing when it began again.  The similarity and lack of sparks amid the raging fire, even if the fire itself is impressive, presents a problem, and one that I would hope that Meti Bhuvah resolves in the future.  Simple, rock-ish music like this (perhaps Ildjarn is the “safe zone” for closet punk rock enthusiasists disguised as black metallers?), as a novel anachronism, brings about its own odd originality, transcending its own self-limitations.  The space for freedom here is limited, but perhaps that in itself is its freedom?
CONVIVIAL HERMIT Mag.
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METI BHUVAH - Meti Bhuvah
Es ist fur mich teilweise schwer in Worte zu fassen, was ich bei gewissen Alben denke. Vielfach konnte ich manches einfach in ein paar wenige Worte kleiden, doch ich denke gerade an diesem Werk mochte ich mal etwas weiter ausholen.
Also will ich mal versuchen, das was Meti Bhuvahs Musik auf deren gleichnamigem Debut so ausmacht darzulegen. Wenn man rein nach dem Cover ginge, musste man eigentlich eine etwas vertraumtere Art des Black Metal erwarten und so wird man beim ersten Einlegen der CD uberrascht, das unglaublich roher, schlecht produzierter Black Metal aus den Boxen klirrt. Ich glaube, derartige Produktionen sind heute gar nicht mehr moglich, ausser wenn man auf originalgetreues Equipment der fruhen 90er zuruckgreift oder das ganze digital verschlechtert, denn das ganze klingt wirklich wie ein Rasenmaher. Leichte Schmerzen konnen einem die Becken bereiten die bei der Wiedergabe eher einem enervierenden Pfeifen gleichkommen und so Leuten, die noch nicht mit einem Tinnitus gesegnet sind, ebenjenen verpassen. Ein Gluck greift mein Gehor dem bereits voraus.
Aus songwriterischer Sicht hebt sich das ganze wirklich nicht hervor. Es ist rumpelnder Black Metal mit viel Ufta-Ufta-Rhythmik. Die Riffs selbst greifen dabei kaum auf mehr als zwei bis vier Akkorde zuruck und mit Riffs wird an und fur sich auch gut und gerne einmal gespart. Das ist an und fur sich uberhaupt nichts Schlechtes, denn wenn man es schafft, wahrlich grandiose Riffs und Melodien dazu zu schreiben kann man diese auch eine halbe Stunde lang wiederholen. Wie sich daraus schon herausliest, sind hier allerdings kaum derartige Riffs vorhanden, was aber zum Gluck dadurch ausgeglichen wird, dass die meisten Stucke die Drei-Minuten-Marke nicht uberschreiten und somit auch das Gesamterlebnis nur knappe 34 Minuten dauert. Was mich aber wirklich an den Riffs stort ist, dass sie auf nichts abzielen und damit auch keinerlei Atmosphare aufbauen. Es klingt einfach als hatte man eine willkurliche Akkordkombination genommen, die zwar an und fur sich harmonisch richtig ist, allerdings keinerlei Gewicht besitzt. Wenn man es mit dem klassischen Gitarrenriff schlechthin “Smoke On The Water” vergleicht, kann man dort sagen, dass dieses Riff eine Absicht hat, einen intelligenten Aufbau dem auch ein adaquates Ende nicht fehlt und damit auch einen Auftakt fur eine Fortfuhrung des Songs gibt. Wenn man sich nun die ganzen Riffs hier ansieht so gehen diese nirgends hin, bieten kaum einen uberleitenden Charakter zu anderen Riffs im selben Song - sollte der Song weitere Riffs haben - und stellen damit eigentlich nur willkurlich wiederholte Akkordfolgen dar.
Die Texte selbst wurde ich gerne bewerten, kann dies leider nicht, da sie gleichermassen wie das “Bandlogo” in der auf dem Cover ersichtlichen Kursivschrift niedergeschrieben sind und das auch nur sehr klein. Da ware mir die klassische Frakturschrift lieber, die kann ich mittlerweile wenigstens ohne Probleme entziffern, aber das kursive Liniengebilde ist da leider kaum auszumachen. Aber ich denke ich liege mit meiner Vermutung, dass es kaum uber Black Metal-Standard hinausreicht, nicht ganzlich falsch.
Nun stehe ich vor einem Problem. Mir personlich gefallt die Scheibe zwar nicht wirklich, aber ich denke diese Art von Musik wird ihre Anhanger finden. Fur Leute, die einen Klon der alten Tage in sehr schlechter Qualitat wollen und dem ganzen modernen Black Metal nichts abgewinnen konnen ist dies sicherlich interessant. Aber auf der anderen Seite muss man sich fragen, ob sich solche Leute uberhaupt noch mit Black Metal und der Szene auseinandersetzen sollen, denn meist sind sie wetternde Erwachsene, die nicht daruber hinwegkommen konnen, dass ihre Kindheit nun endgultig voruber ist und sich fur neue Bands sowieso nicht interessieren werden. Demnach werden Meti Bhuvah mit ihrem Album auch keinerlei grosse Schar dieser Alteingesessenen mobilisieren, da diese ihre Erstpressungen der fruhen 90er sicherlich noch besitzen und damit ihren Spass haben werden. Im Endeffekt ist dieses Album aber verdammt langweilig und ist kaum eine relevante Anschaffung. Von daher denke ich, kann man es sich auch zwei Mal uberlegen, bevor man Geld fur eine der 333 Kopien ausgibt und es nicht vielleicht doch in etwas investiert, was den Black Metal als Kunstform effektiv weiter bringt und nicht alten Kindheitstagen nachtrauert.
Punkte: 3/13
SCHWER METALL.CH
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METI BHUVAH
Assault Rex | CD | 2008
Como hacer un buen disco de musica:
1. Antes de nada, aprende a tocar tu instrumento lo mejor posible.
2. Juntate con el resto de componentes de la banda. Poned vuestras ideas en comun e id haciendo temas poco a poco.
3. Intentad que los temas no suenen exactamente como una copia de otros grupos (Ildjarn), dad siempre vuestro toque personal. No caigas en riffs facilones ni en la simpleza mas absoluta.
4. Si haceis muchos temas, por lo menos intentad que se diferencien unos de otros, no useis siempre la misma estructura, que al final uno se acaba dando cuenta, y parece que esta escuchando la misma cancion una detras de otra.
5. Cuando tengais los temas preparados, es hora de meterse en estudio. Si no teneis presupuesto suficiente, siempre podreis grabaros vosotros mismos, ?pero cuidado!, grabar uno mismo no es sinonimo de mal sonido, no os confundais.
6. A la hora de grabar, concentraos. Si teneis fallos, volved a repetir la toma, pero nunca dejeis un fallo clamoroso grabado. Una cosa es un fallo que unicamente noteis vosotros, pero los otros errores desmejoran muchisimo el resultado final.
7. Cuando este todo grabado, volved a escuchar todo meticulosamente, hasta que esteis satisfechos totalmente con el trabajo. Si crees que se pudo hacer mejor, hacedlo de nuevo, no valen las medias tintas.
8. La masterizacion y la mezcla son pasos importantisimos, donde se dara el color al sonido. Hacedla de manera paciente y no os precipiteis.
9. No hagais covers de grupos “miticos” si no lo teneis muy claro, podeis hacerlo muy mal y destrozarlo, y eso es malo para vuestra reputacion.
Cuando Meti Bhuvah cumpla alguno de estos requisitos, que me avisen. Eso si, la presentacion, chapeau.
PITCHLINE ‘Zine
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METI BHUVAH need to be more than Ildjarn wannabes - 65%
Written by NausikaDalazBlindaz on July 20th, 2009
Count the number of tracks on this album (there are thirteen), see how short they are (most of them about 2 - 3 minutes in length and the album’s total playing time is just under 34 minutes) and note there are two Ildjarn covers “Sola Skjultes” and “Minnesjord VI” included near the end and you have an idea of the kind of black metal Meti Bhuvah prefer to play - yes, it’s very much Ildjarn-inspired, neo-primitive blats of fire and bile. Songs are little more than inflexible rhythm structures carrying harsh guitar riffs and roaring vocals. Occasionally, as on “Winter II”, an unexpected knack for creating bass lines verging on rock boogie emerges. Vocals don’t amount to much more than angry roars that usually get swallowed up in the angry roaring music.
There’s got to be much more with this kind of music than being an Ildjarn wannabe bludgeoning your way through unvarying sets of looping riffs going up and down the scale like an uncoordinated puppet. Ildjarn’s music may have had strong Norwegian folk influences - some of the rhythms of his songs sound folk-like especially when they sounded like skittles knocking each other over in some perverse game - and his singing didn’t always blare with rage: he could do the cold repressed anger act to good sinister effect. Blurry noise and a not too-clear production which often deliberately obscured his vocals were part of his arsenal and he later expanded his scope to include experimentation with atmosphere and sound. Meti Bhuvah may have the basic formula of raw and primitive minimalist rhythm-based BM down pat but the limitations of that formula become apparent too quickly even on a short album like this self-titled one. A wider variety of rhythms, ones that preferably are different from what Ildjarn used and which might even incorporate some unusual time signatures, is needed here. The songs on this album are also either really fast or medium-fast so we have no idea of how Meti Bhuvah might go with slower rhythms.
I must admit though that within the limited palette Meti Bhuvah have, the rhythms are strong and can have a surprising dance groove which the band could exploit more. (Bands like Akitsa and early Old Wainds sometimes used to put out songs that you can almost boogie to but which still retain a raw primitive quality and style of production.) Good tracks include the robust “Above All” which opens the album, “Winter III” which seems to have two alternating sets of riffs that provide more variety in the song compared to the rest of the album, and two songs that almost sound quite happy, “Meti Bhuvah” and “Epilogue”, though from the screaming in the background they’re not intended to be happy.
The musicians are wise to keep this album short as anything longer would become very monotonous and boring to listeners. If Meti Bhuvah intend to hang about for a long time, they need to use their Ildjarn and other influences as a launch-pad to develop their own musical identity and have a distinct sound and style. I assume they don’t intend simply to follow Ildjarn and they do want to expand their range of minimalist BM.
METAL ARCHIVES
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METI BHUVAH - Meti Bhuvah
The Howl
If one was willing to seriously deal with the seemingly popular comment that arguably there’s nothing more faceless than grabbing the stylistics of the early times and de facto glorify them in the famous 21. century, inevitably the question arises, if the modern spirit of Black Metal really implicates lineaments being so revolutionary that such pretentiousness can be legitimised, the more so as facing the scarce heralds of advancement, there’s not much to be called “integrated modernity”.
Due to that fact, assumedly, the Russian troika of Meti Bhuva doesn’t see the necessity of forced innovation as well and thus almost provocatively indulges in the coarse-grained, dirty musical behaviour of the Ildjarnian pioneer-phase. On the one hand the material appeals with concentrated authenticity and on the other with the likewise present charm of the thirteen laconic pieces, which every now and then have the resources to cast out the pettiness every potential plagiarism comes up with. Preferably, yon charm defines itself over the splendidly raw and at the same time so corpulent sound, which furnishes the strictly restricted riff-repertoire with penetrating coldness and incorporates the equally modest bass-play invidiously lumbering evilness, while the rhythm-device fulfils its determination somewhat jolty indeed, but superbly rattling.
Even where mood is concerned Meti Bhuvah get very close to the intensive obscurity of the obvious idol and in doing so create an uncomfortable and raw sphere of primordial, anti-human nature. Despite the numerous amenities, though, one doesn’t fully success in getting out of the tight spot of yon stylistics, whereby for the time being the Russians might stay rather a replicate and only fuel the euphoria of the nostalgic ones than being able to gain collective acceptance.
Conclusion: An insufficiently individual, but in its entity doubtlessly felicitous and charming fallback to the arguably most primitive form of Black Metal.
(7/10) translated by Frostkrieg
TAAKEFROST Mag.
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METI BHUVAH - s/t
Sometimes, if you think about it, its quite amazing how Metal has spread itself across the globe. Today, it’s not difficult for me to download a CD from a band from the Czech Republic, but back in the infancy of Metal, it wasn’t that easy. Tape trading, zines, and simple word-of-mouth were how Metal was spread.
Of course, then was then, and now is now. Black Metal in particular has proven itself to be a genre which is extremely widespread. Russia is no stranger to the Black Metal scene, as the infamous Blazebirth Hall bands (BRANIKALD, FOREST, etc), as well as other notable acts like WALKNUT and TEMNOZOR are all home-grown.
METI BHUVAH is also from Mother Russia. Unlike a lot of Russian Black Metal, they are not NS related (as far as I can tell). They are also completely without character. In a nutshell, this sounds like what would happen if DARKTHRONE and BEHERIT got together to form a Punk band. To give the reader some scope of how same-y this release is, I was listening to it while at work surfing the internet, and after a while I thought to myself “Hm, this is a rather long song”. Turns out, the album was on track four. I honestly did not even realize it.
METI BHUVAH also fulfills another rule of generic Raw Black Metal bands, which is to cover a song by one of the originators of the genre. In this case, theres two songs, and they are both by ILDJARN. Suffice to say, ILDJARN does ILDJARN a lot better than these guys.
Mediocrity has been pissing me off more lately than simple bad quality, simply because when I can’t come up with a strong argument either way about something, I just wind up getting pissed off that I cant come up with a strong argument either way. You would do well to avoid this release.
METAL OBSERVER (2,5/10) - Russia - 2008 (Online June 29, 2009)