heavy-metal-darkness: Wazzara |Arbor |Self-release

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Wazzara |Arbor |Self-release

Release Date February 13^th, 2026
Format Full-length
Genre Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal, Blackgaze
Country Switzerland

Wazzara started burning their path in 2015 as the solo project of Swiss singer and composer Barbara Brawand. After dropping the "Zessa" EP in 2019, the lineup expanded. George Necola brought his low-end rumbling and production skills to the fold in 2020. They gathered a full live crew and spent the next few years spreading their chaotic, hypnotic noise across stages. Now we get "Arbor", their fourth release and an absolute collision of atmospheric black metal, crushing doom, and massive blackgaze walls of sound. This release summons ancient forces, bringing out untamed aggression masked in sheer beauty.

The musicianship on "Arbor" rips through the speakers with serious hostility, fusing absolute darkness with strange, ethereal beauty. We get heavy, dragging doom riffs crashing into vast, echoing tremolo picking. Andrei Jumuga sits behind the kit to provide a massive rhythmic foundation, blasting through the fast sections and slowing down to a monstrous, agonizing crawl when required. The guitar work from Tom Kuzmic and Masi Stettler shreds out huge, melancholic melodies that drift above the crushing rhythm section. The production job gives the harsh elements plenty of teeth to rip your face off, ensuring the massive soundscapes echo straight into the void.

Barbara’s vocal delivery dictates the entire massacre, echoing like ancient spirits rising from the dirt. She switches between haunting, spectral singing and absolutely vicious shrieks, anchoring the extreme shifts happening in the music. Tracks like "9 Confines" and "Nova" display this dynamic assault, hitting you with pure aggression before pulling back into huge, sorrowful valleys of sound. The band even dragged an older song, "Zessa (Reborn)", into the studio to give it a massive overhaul, completely thrashing the 2019 version and bringing it up to their current, devastating standard.

This album delivers a serious, heavy beating layered with beautiful, agonizing melancholy. The score reflects the killer riffs and crushing atmospheres all over the place, even if a couple of the transitions between the black metal blasting and the slow doom sections drag on a fraction too long. It is a massive, bone-crushing release that truly holds up under maximum volume. Wazzara forged an alloy of sheer, untamed aggression and soaring melodies for extreme metal maniacs who want their eardrums annihilated.

Score: 7.8