Band:	Ethereal Riffian
Album:	Shaman's Visions
Style:	Doom metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	April 09, 2011
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. Part I: Whispering Of The Ancients (The Awakening)
02. Part II: Beyond (The Search)
03. Part III: Yax Imix Che (The Path)
04. Part IV: Voice Of Reason (The Enlightenment)
05. Part V: Light Of Self (The Truth)

Whoever said too much Om influence is a bad thing clearly hasn't heard of these Ukrainians.

Ethereal Riffian joined the stoner/doom scene with this debut release back in 2011, displaying a unique spiritualistic atmosphere pulling from Shamanic influences to smooth over any of their rougher metal edges, making for a more easily digestible 30 minutes of material to absorb compared to the genre's traditional heavyweights. The hypnotic mid-paced riffing and tribal-inspired drumming eats up a majority of the run time without presenting much by way of complexity in terms of songwriting, and yet Shaman's Visions is relatively challenging at face value. The music is designed more so to lull you into a mesmerized state of half-sleep, pulling thoughts and ideas from your head in a blazing smoke-filled stream of consciousness, wearing down your traditional senses before snapping you back into reality with "The Enlightenment". This is when the band kicks into their highest gear, though still safely set in second, and some of the hints of a deeper intensity alongside underlying technicality and melody are revealed. It's by far the most conventional few minutes of this album, and its placement is extremely well-organized, allowing for some hard-earned care-free headbanging.

This is an incredibly engaging listen due to its journey-like approach, taking you under its wings like some sagacious spirit guide, conveying paths you'll need to walk but only going so far before leaving you to continue on your own. The mild tempo changes and overall groove add layers of intimacy to the experience, which is all drenched in this thick hazy production and psychedelic soundscapes buoying the overall sound with the feeling of gently prodding your soul with pins and needles. Vocalist Val Kornev limits himself masterfully to some subdued clean vocals, ritualistic chanting, and vocal sound effects which surely don't qualify as traditional singing by any means, yet his style fits the sound perfectly so as not to distract from the experience, but to enhance it. This allows for full immersion with the instrumentation doing the bulk of the work to establish the album's chill mood.

Shaman's Visions comes with few flaws technically speaking, as its production and songwriting are both extremely apt given the style of music on display, but there is a somewhat lacking hook that prevents it from catering to a wider audience. That's not a flaw of the album itself as much as it is a flaw in the way the general public consume media and the ease in which they want for said media to be fed to them, but in order for a release such as this to gain any traction in the big picture sense of things, there would need to be an increased infusion of the aforementioned "enlightening" tracks to help break up the need for this to be digested in one sitting. Because the songs work by committee, leaving a glaring lack of standout moments, there just aren't enough quick and easy highlight moments for every Tom, Dick, and Jane to latch on to. Aside from the flaws coming from external elements, however, this is about as close to perfect as you'd expect from a debut stoner/doom release.