I tend to appreciate albums that have a historical take, especially when they derive a lot of their musical inspiration from a specific point in time or dedicate their runtime to talk about a certain country’s history. While there are bands that look at various wars or use their music as a way to criticize their neighbor’s policies, I don’t think I have encountered as much tragedy and strife in any country’s history as I have read about Russia. While the late 19^th to the early 20^th century was certainly not a great time if you were alive then, Russia’s history at that point was filled with so much blood that it comes as no surprise that everything about it just seems to be dark and filled with suffering. However, despite this, there is something both beautiful and fascinating about Russian history, especially when the focus is on its monarchs and the people who both loved and hated them. This brings me to Voland III: Царепоклонство – Il culto degli Zar (“Carepoklónstvo (translated as basileiolatry, the act of worshipping kings) – The cult of the Tsars”), Voland’s third EP that remains fixed in explaining and discussing their ongoing fascination with Russian history.

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