FAKTOR STRAKHA

Well, this is something I really didn't expect — FAKTOR STRAKHA failing to live up to expectations so badly. There's an obvious creative stagnation here, and unfortunately, after such a mind-blowing album as Teatr Voyennykh Deystviy. Act 2, it would have been foolish to expect something equally powerful. However, that doesn't mean you should make another record relying on old tricks, gimmicks, and a slightly altered sound achieved by softening the production and vocal delivery, while completely forgetting about the need for compositional originality. There are no songs here on the level of, say, "Izgnannyy," "Slova," or "Strakh." The virtual abandonment of growling and its replacement with a rough, high-pitched clean vocal also turned out to be ill-timed. Nemolyaev, completely creatively exhausted and hopelessly written out, gave the project its distinctive flavor; on the other hand, growling is still present — so why was it pushed to the background?! The album is saved by the tracks "Gorod," "Zhivoy," and "Kod Sudby." Overall, the conclusion is clear — something needs to change, and it's not about the sound or the vocals, but about the music itself. When a band has as much potential as FAKTOR STRAKHA, it automatically bears a great, enormous responsibility, and groups of this caliber simply have no right to release average, run-of-the-mill records. I sincerely hope that the next release will once again inspire the desire to place it at the top of all domestic releases, as was the case with the 2006 album. Best of luck to the band.