There, in a gloomy hollow glen, she found A little cottage built of sticks and weeds, In homely wise, and walled with sods around, In which a witch did dwell in loathly weeds And willfull want, all careless of her needs; So choosing solitary to abide, Far from all neighbors, that her devilish deeds And hellish arts from people she might hide, And hurt, far off, unknown, whomever she envied. Edmund Spenser Witchcraft.... The belief in magic and witchcraft has been around since the beginning of time. Early man paid tribute to the gods and goddesses that ruled his world and brought healthy crops and mild winters. The idea of magic came about when things weren't so good: It grew from the chaos that accompanied bad weather, sickness and shortages of food. When times were bad, shamans, medicine people, witches and other types of sorcerers would cast spells and perform rituals to harness the power of the gods. Harnessing this power had mixed results: Witches, who were primarily women, were originally seen as wise healers who could both nurture and destroy; this belief in their power, however, eventually led to fear, and this fear was really fueled up by Christianity somewhere during Middle Ages. Many thousands were murdered while this uncompromising bloodshed had covered Europe with madness and violence. The attempt to wipe witchcraft from the face of the earth was almost successful, though few individuals survived to carry the knowledge through centuries to come. Where are you nowadays, those that preserved the mystery in their hearts? Where do your thoughts dwell today? I believe that it is extremely hard to find descendants of the hidden knowledge nowadays. But if you dig deep enough and watch around carefully, you can notice few persons that unable to stay undercover. And today in order to feel unfading spirit of witchery, I would like to taste from the new album of Lamia Vox, Russian based resident of outside beauty and inside power that engraves both of those elements inside her new album 'Sigillum Diaboli'. The project started to gain momentum around three years ago and became quite recognizable at the local scene with the first release 'Introductio' during 2010. But the quality of the music demanded to take a big step forward, both in production and in sound and mastering quality; and this step was made during 2013 by joining forces with the famous label Cyclic Law which is responsible for many strong releases for the past years. Therefore, let's try to examine together, me and you, my faithful reader, if Alina truly has a "sigillum diaboli" (the witch mark) impressed in her body and soul. If I want to describe the album as highly ritualistic, this definition will never be enough when speaking about it. The whole creation breathes heavily with occultism and spirituality. "Born of the Abyss" is an opening track and it has a wide dramatic orchestration that sets a kind of preface, full of anticipation of the things to expect. "Lapis Occultis" continues high cinematic standards and carries me into the very depth of majestic atmosphere with dynamic, yet slightly martial drumming and background whispering, conjuration of the haunting demons. The same ambience is transferred to the next one "At the Crossroads of The World" where the techniques of orchestration and occult percussion are entwined in a dense canvas of solemn but dark melody. If you think that you got an idea about the music, you have to move to the next track "Witches Night" that will prove you that you haven't tasted anything yet and all the best dishes are still ahead. This track is one of the strongest ceremonial tracks that I've heard for quite a while. Having a bit of middle-eastern touch, it hits hard with a fast drumming session and perfectly blending vocals, chanting words of power. As two following tracks change mood to be much more militaristic, my imagination is being dragged far away in time, when glory and will commanded armies of mortals. "Enemy of Heaven" and "Liberation" are full of martial percussion and drumming, wide orchestration and choral singing draw parallels between Lamia Vox and bands like Triarii, but with more ethereal background. "Evil Comes From North" restores the tribal ambience in the music with a strong and fast forward rhythm of ritualistic drumbeat, mysterious and even offensive melody that reminds somehow "Lord of the Rings" battle scenes (maybe we will hear those tunes in the upcoming "Hobbit" movie, who knows). The atmosphere continues to be solemn and dark through the last compositions of this album while the witch shows the whole power of 'Sigillum Diaboli' in her highly spiritual sacrament. If you miss the joy of mid 90's names like Sephiroth or In Slaughter Natives, this record is definitely for you. I still think that there are few points here and there that have a space for improvement. Sometimes the whispering voice is lost behind the complex textures and I prefer it to be more in front of the music like it is in "Witches Night". Also the running time of few tracks is too long like in "Evil Comes From North". But in general it is a really entertaining piece of art having a unique background and energetic filling that shows Alina's deep devotion to the subject of her inner world. I hope to hear more material from her in the future. Behold the rising of the modern witch!

The second Album, the titles translates as "The Devil's Mark", of the Russian one-woman project by Alina Antonova is out. Dark Ambient, Ritual- and Martial Industrial, recorded with genuine instruments in an extraordinary sensual way. The obligatory samples by Aleister Crowley were abandoned, thank you very much indeed.The album title is a little rich, I cannot fully comply with that, sounded its predecessor "...Introductio" from 2010 even more billowing and gloomy. The follow up to the over most parts one-dimensional debut album, is more versatile and multi-layered, incorporating many different styles.Track #2 "Lapis Occultus" was previously released on the Kalpamantra Compilation "Krtrima Sprha" last year. Her contribution was a favourite of mine amongst the 75 (!) others. I included it right away in my "Ostara" DJ-Set @ABBY Club."Witches Night" gets backed with ethereal, subliminal vocals, "Enemy Of Heaven" with marching drums, the hymnal "Liberation" with orthodox choruses. Towards the end Ritual Industrial takes its toll again.In the meantime she left the Russian "Der Angriff" label for the Canadian "Cyclic Law", where she is in good company. All in all well produced and melodious mixed down. Music, lyrics and sound editing were carried out by herself which garners respect.Fenris W.http://wolfhall.org/shtml/mu_re.shtml#lamia