Review of All My Sins’ single "Zov iz Magle"
— 8/10

Immediately I am struck at how much the title track evokes Mgla, it's nice to hear a band taking influence from another modern black metal act instead of just Watain!

"Zoz iz Magle" is a groovy lurching piece, that would scratch any Mgla or Batushka fans' itch until they produce something new; it has the slow melodic tremolo riff and fantastic drum interplay (especially on the ride) that is the hallmark of those bands. One of the things that have always impressed me about Mgla is their ability to take a very simple motif, repeat it consistently and it not get boring just by slightly altering the drums or the way the riff is played ("With Hearts Toward None VII" is a great example of this) and impressively All My Sins are able to pull this feat off as well.

"Sa Dna" is the b-side to this single; which is pretty unlike the title track, it's much less intense, starting with an ambient guitar section soaked in delay and with a foreboding synth sitting underneath before kicking into a mid-tempo ambient shoegaze feel with choral vocals that are reminiscent of Batushka. Overall the song reminds me a lot of A Perfect Circle, it is a song that relies a lot more on textures and sparsity than on melody and intensity… until the end where it kicks into a grinding mid-tempo finale.

I must say it is refreshing to hear a newer band that is eager to experiment with black metal, particularly when so many of the promos we get sent are just a rehash of Darkthrone, Watain, and Mayhem. This being a single, I hope that a full release is on the cards soon as I'm very curious to see what direction All My Sins will guide a full album in, as the two styles here are quite disparate, I'd like to see how they pull it off.

Reviewed by Dan