review by: ~Eternus~

Having heard the band name mentioned several times, mostly by other bands from Poland, Ukraine, Russia and the NSBM scene in general, a number of people compared Temnozor to Nokturnal Mortum. I was instantly amazed by this release from the second I put the CD on.

Sorcery of Fragments is not an album as such but rather a CD version of their Sorcery is Strengthening the Black Glory of Rus demo tape and four exclusive new tracks, The majority of tracks on this CD have very folk-like melodies, displayed by both guitar riffs and synth as well as some genuine instruments ( I think I heard a flute in there somewhere). At times the black metal turns into ambient and the general atmosphere varies a great deal, covering a lot of ground from ethereal, occasionally creepy ambient passages and sombre acoustic sections to the straight out aggressive black metal with vocals generally being performed in a raspy black metal style, which works really well.

Clean vocals are also to be found, but unlike the clean vocals of, say, Enslaved or Kampfar, which tend to bring to mind proud and noble Viking warriors, the clean vocals of Temnozor tend to be more dramatic, and although I think they are great and certainly very original, blending in with the music and overall atmosphere, I’m sure many people will be put off by them.

I’d say that if you have enjoyed the folk melodies of Nokturnal Mortum, the etherealness of Kataxu and you appreciate some ambient music, then you should like Temnozor. (8.5/10)