Olhava, Olhava, Olhava. That’s the theme of the day.

For those who perhaps haven’t been around that long, a quick reminder: the Saint Petersburg (RU) atmospheric-black ensemble’s 2021 album Frozen Bloom (their fourth overall) was reviewed here after Avantgarde Music handled the physical release; and it promptly floated its way into the top ten of my list of that year’s best releases.

Since that time, despite all the fucked up stuff that’s been going on in their own country and all around the world, the duo (which includes Tim Yusupov, also of Trna and various other projects, on drums, and Andrey Novozhilov, also of Trna and Remaining Warmth [discussed here] among various others, on guitars and vocals) have managed to put out three more incredible records.

These releases ranked #1 on my lists for 2022 and 2024. The most recent came out about six weeks ago; at this point, just barely more than a quarter into 2026, it’s impossible to say whether this newest record will follow its predecessors in the highest spot, but regardless you can guarantee it’ll be pretty damn close to it at the very least.

In this post we will take a quick spin through all three.

 

Olhava – Reborn (digital self-released, 27 May 2022 / physical Avantgarde Music, 26 August 2022)

 

Olhava – Sacrifice (Avantgarde Music, 26 January 2024)

 

Olhava – Memorial (Avantgarde Music, 27 February 2026)

 

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Reborn (four tracks spanning nearly eighty minutes) “presents a more pessimistic and cautionary reflection on the environment” as it delves into “the relationship between man and nature.” Opening track “Mirror” introduces the concept with repetitions through a sequence of ethereal chords and atmospheric reverb — a pattern which lasts approximately half as long as a standard grindcore album before the rest of the instrumentation fades in, exploding into a perpetual-motion-machine consisting of blastbeats and blackened distorted guitars. A few more minutes later and the vocals enter, a forlorn howling coming through as from a great distance. And all of this set against a backdrop of those same celestial-sounding chords.

The album continues in a similar vein: interludes of tranquility, both intermittently within songs or occupying them entirely (such as “Reflection”), punctuated by lengthy sessions of relentless pummeling, as it tells its dark, grim “story about a man who forgot what brought him here. Who neglected a precious, parental, and primordial bond with nature; who unconsciously destroys the one and only home we all share, along with himself.” Certainly not a recording intended for listeners without patience. But for those who embrace the sixteen-to-twenty-plus-minute tracks, you’ll find how easy it is to get lost in the band’s trancelike creations.

 

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Next, Sacrifice — around the same total length as its predecessor, but with twice as many tracks, as it consists of four songs spanning fourteen to seventeen minutes each, alternated with four others (numbered as “Ageless River VI” through “Ageless River IX”) of ‘only’ five to seven. As a logical next level in their evolution, Olhava explain that “Sacrifice is the necessary step for one to be Reborn. It’s the ultimate point of no return. Everything one used to value will turn to ash and be forgotten. For only by stripping ourselves of all we know and have can we truly separate our Self from our Ego. Only by burning ourselves can we enjoy peace among stars. But the end is also the beginning. Beginning of new values, a new self built from dust.”

The lengthier tracks continue the tradition of atmospheric intros and outros (and sometimes middle-tros) (not a real word), with hammering layers of blackness in between — I won’t bore you by continuing to describe the band’s signature sound with ever-changing synonyms. The “Ageless River” tracks are even more ethereal: wordless angelic choruses and/or orchestral synths set against a flurry of sounds from various birds and forest creatures. Despite the talk of sacrificing and burning everything to ash, just as a forest fire can be a force of destruction and one of renewal and transformation, the overall sound here (especially by the time the title track rolls around) is somewhat more positive and optimistic-sounding than in the previous release. SOMEWHAT more.

 

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This year’s brand-new (well, almost brand-new: it’s been out for around a month and a half at this point, sorry!) Memorial continues the storyline (“After the burning, there is stillness. Time spent among what remains. Ashes settle, memory lingers, and the question is no longer how to begin again, but what can finally be released.”) and also continues the pattern of alternating shorter “Ageless River” tracks (here numbered “X” through “XIII”) with longer pieces. The overall theme here is a transition from “remembrance toward letting go and acceptance — a quiet reconciliation with what cannot be carried further.” To drive this point home, it seems the peaceful moments here are especially serene, while the heavier sections are superlatively massive.

Like the albums that came before it, Memorial also offers a view of rebirth, but through yet another different lens: “indistinct — a quieter transformation found in letting go rather than becoming. Only in its final moments does movement return: a fragile renewal, like thawed water finding its way to a river.” And once again, the material here consists of frenzied drumming and blackened guitar riffs, torturous howls and screams, and background chords that build a sense of impending joy and optimism, like shards of sunlight piercing through the dense foliage overhead of an otherwise dismal woodland.

 

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Find Reborn digital/CD/vinyl here (US) | here (EU);
Sacrifice digital/CD/vinyl here (US) | here (EU);
and Memorial digital/CD/vinyl here (US) | here (EU)
 

 

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Avantgarde Music: website | Bandcamp | shop | Bigcartel | YouTube