Review by Lawrence Stillman on December 18, 2025.

So, the person behind the album approached me and requested that I make a review for this EP. After a dozen listens, I guess I can say that this is not your typical atmospheric black metal record, as it lacks the many traits commonly associated with the genre, and yet this record achieves the same thing while giving it a more progressive spin on it.

The cover art did give it away that it will be a more mystical, clean, and sophisticated record than what we come to know black metal as, and yet, going into the EP, progressive is definitely not what I expect the songs to be. Despite that, it is a pretty well-done EP from a solo project, a lot of full-spectrum soundscape utilization to make use of emphasis for certain instruments like the bass. The mixing/production is also something I did not expect to be this good from a solo project, since it has the person behind the project doing all the work, and that can seriously hamper the sound of the record if done wrong. Fortunately, Протидія did a fantastic job on the production as every instrument has a high amount of clarity, and at any given moment, you can hear all the instruments at once, instead of some of them being buried in favour of others being shoved forward and ruining the experience for audiophiles.

For a solo project, this EP surprised me at how diverse and rich the soundscape is, but unfortunately, it is a little too short for my liking, as I dig this kind of black metal too, just not much opportunity to discover them to begin with. Definitely a great progressive/atmospheric black metal for newcomers to dig into, especially with the clean production that is not common for black metal.

Highlights: 'The Mystery Of Re-creation'

Rating: 8.2 out of 10