White Ward for Experimental/Post-Metal

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White Ward are a Ukrainian post-black metal quintet from Odessa, active since 2012. As of 2021 the lineup consists of founding guitarist Yuriy Kazaryan, vocalist/bassist Andrey Pechatkin, guitarist Mykola Jack, saxophonist Dima Dudko and drummer Yevhenii Karamushko. The band play a moody, post-rock-inspired style of depressive black metal with shoegaze and jazz influences.
From 2012 to 2015, White Ward released a stream of demos and EPs along with a split, collected in the 2016 compilation album Origins. Their early work caught the attention of French avant-garde black metal label Debemur Morti Productions, which signed them and released their albums Futility Report and Love Exchange Failure. Both showed leaps in songwriting and experimentation, their melancholic songs unfurling around abstract lyrics addressing alienation, late capitalism anxiety and metropolitan isolation. In 2021, White Ward released a two-track EP featuring the vocals of Lars Nedland, aka Lazare of Solefald and Borknagar.
White Ward come highly recommended for fans of Ihsahn, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Lantlôs, Ulver, Deafheaven and Callisto. 

"Origins" (2016)
https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/origins

"Futility Report" (2017)
https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/futility-report-2

"Love Exchange Failure" (2019)
https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/love-exchange-failure

"Debemur Morti" EP (2021)
https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/debemur-morti

Edited by Gordy - September 06 2021 at 21:22

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Gordy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Folk/Eclectic/PSIKE/Metal Teams Joined: January 25 2007 Location: US Status: Offline Points: 3346	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gordy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: White Ward for Experimental/Post-Metal Posted: September 06 2021 at 21:20
	White Ward are a Ukrainian post-black metal quintet from Odessa, active since 2012. As of 2021 the lineup consists of founding guitarist Yuriy Kazaryan, vocalist/bassist Andrey Pechatkin, guitarist Mykola Jack, saxophonist Dima Dudko and drummer Yevhenii Karamushko. The band play a moody, post-rock-inspired style of depressive black metal with shoegaze and jazz influences. From 2012 to 2015, White Ward released a stream of demos and EPs along with a split, collected in the 2016 compilation album Origins. Their early work caught the attention of French avant-garde black metal label Debemur Morti Productions, which signed them and released their albums Futility Report and Love Exchange Failure. Both showed leaps in songwriting and experimentation, their melancholic songs unfurling around abstract lyrics addressing alienation, late capitalism anxiety and metropolitan isolation. In 2021, White Ward released a two-track EP featuring the vocals of Lars Nedland, aka Lazare of Solefald and Borknagar. White Ward come highly recommended for fans of Ihsahn, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Lantlôs, Ulver, Deafheaven and Callisto. "Origins" (2016) https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/origins "Futility Report" (2017) https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/futility-report-2 "Love Exchange Failure" (2019) https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/love-exchange-failure "Debemur Morti" EP (2021) https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/debemur-morti Edited by Gordy - September 06 2021 at 21:22

nick_h_nz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team Joined: March 01 2013 Location: Suffolk, UK Status: Offline Points: 6737	Post Options Post Reply Quote nick_h_nz Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: September 07 2021 at 04:03
	This will be an easy yes for me. Love Exchange Failure was one of my favourite releases of 2019. I came to the band a couple of years earlier with Futility Report, because of favourable comparisons to Ulver. There’s still some aspects I don’t particularly like about this band, but there’s a lot more that I do like on LEF, than I did on their debut. That said, I’m not sure whether that’s because the band have changed, or because my tastes have broadened, or a bit of both. And the moral of the story is: never give up on a band. I’m glad I made an effort to listen to White Ward’s LEF album, as I did obviously really enjoy it, and it also (eventually) compelled me to re-listen to the debut. I may have not enjoyed it the first time around, but listening to it again after LEF I had a new appreciation for it. Here’s what I wrote about LEF at the time: White Ward’s Love Exchange Failure is one of very few heavier albums I’ve purchased this year. I posted about them a couple of years ago, after listening to their debut album. I didn’t particularly like it, but there was something there, that even though I didn’t bother trying to listen again, I paid attention when their new album was released this year. And it was a lesson in why I don’t like to give up on a band, because I really enjoyed it. I still don’t like the harsh vocals, but they serve a purpose. White Ward are named after a psych ward, because from the start, the band have always wanted to write music around themes of mental illness. Yuri has said that the band have been called Deviant Black Metal. As he points out, this is not even a genre, but he acknowledges that the band do perform an unusual and abnormal blackmetal. Yuri is right, because I’m not a great fan of black metal, but White Ward’s take on the genre is more Metal Noir, than Black Metal, and includes elements of post metal, jazz, trip-hop, and ambient and noise. One of the things I love about the new White Ward, is that they really have come out of their shell. While the previous album may not have sounded that different from the new one, it still looked much as you might expect a black metal album to look like. The cover art for Love Exchange Failure is completely different, and the imagery fits the musical and lyrical content so much better. Love Exchange Failure is, I imagine the most overt album about mental illness in modern cities, ever written by a “black metal” band. Now, although noir and black have the same meaning, in terms of colour - in terms of nuance and atmosphere, they are completely different, which is why I suggested White Ward are more metal noir, than black metal. This album could (though perhaps without prominence of harsh vocals) soundtrack a piece of film. And the real horrors of the urban environment are actually more terrifying than the imaginary monsters and demons of regular black metal. The diversity in sounds, tones and instrumentation, and sometimes quite sudden and jarring shifts, have always been used to mirror a mind wracked by mental illness. These movements and shifts work even better with the urban(e) imagery, evoking the emotional struggle so many people live with - feeling alone with their monsters, while surrounded by so many others, many of whom are battling monsters of their own. This isn’t an easy album to listen to, especially if you don’t like harsh vocals - but, for me at least, it is very worthwhile. I find myself liking it more every time I listen to it. I’ll leave the penultimate words to Andrii, with his thoughts on how he feels about White Ward’s music: “It provides a psychotherapeutic effect: you always have a goal and a way to feel relief. These things help you run away from daily duties and yourself getting the necessary rest.” As for Andrii, in making the music, so for me, in listening to it. — listening to White Ward.
	Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect

Cristi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Online Points: 41264	Post Options Post Reply Quote Cristi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: September 07 2021 at 04:11
	added to the PF chart

TCat Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 07 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 11612	Post Options Post Reply Quote TCat Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: September 14 2021 at 14:18
	White Ward added to Experimental/Post Metal..