Artist: Artavoz
Country: Georgia
Label: Narbentage Produktionen
Format: Cassette Tape
Year: 2026
Although this Black Metal duo, hailing from unknown origins, made their debut back in 2023 with a digital and instrumental single, you’d be forgiven if it slipped your attention. It did mine, too. Even a second single, not instrumental this time, released in February 2025, didn’t make it onto my radar. Fortunately, this first full-length album did; it opens with that second single and was released on cassette tape by the German label Narbentage Produktionen. Well, fortunately?
First, let’s set a few things straight. ‘Lashkari Satanis’ is, however, not completely new. In 2025 it was already released digitally and on CD via a German rogue label. Also, I do understand that not revealing your identity or origin can contribute to an overall feeling of mystique, but in that case you’d better not sing in your mother tongue and cover regional specific topics. That had already made me suspicious, but it took me less than five minutes of clicking around online to confirm that Artavoz is indeed from Georgia – the country, not the US state, just to be clear. Ironically, it was that very German label that released the CD which gave the ‘secret’ away. So this whole affair does not seem entirely free of a certain amateurism.
Unfortunately, that same sense of “not quite there yet” carries through into the music. Not only is the overall atmosphere and musical quality amateurish at best, it also feels like a loose canon on deck. The serious lack of cohesion prevents an enjoyable listening experience and means that, in truth, nothing really resonates. The only things that will linger in my memory are the fact that it lacks sufficient substance and the sometimes extremely clumsy transitions, such as the changeover to ‘Maradiuli Zamtris Ghameshi’. The clumsy and at times even naive playing also offers nothing of significance, and the band is particularly exposed in the slightly faster tracks and the utterly simple melodies. The fairly open and clean production painfully exposes all the flaws and shortcomings of every single instrument. Even a cover of Grausamkeit is hard to stomach.
I don’t like to slag anything off, and certainly not a release from Narbentage Produktionen, which I generally respect, but I simply couldn’t find anything positive to say about this debut album by Artavoz. In fact, this is the typical subpar and soulless stuff you’ll find on the Black Metal Promotions YouTube channel.
