Ukraine's share of Pagan Black Metal deserves the utmost respect. From having spawned us bands from the likes of NOKTURNAL MORTUM to the mesmerizing DRUDKH, Ukraine yet delivers superb underground talents in Pagan Metal music. The main feast this time is KHORS, a fairly underground outfit with a very dedicated cult following and a handful of albums which have all been reissued by Svarga Music, a label specializing in Pagan Black Metal and its sister genres. "Mysticism" is the band's most critically acclaimed album and from what the research I've done online, a fan's favorite from the group's 4 album discography.

"Mysticism" explores vast areas related to Pagan Metal with its atmosphere, meaning the album may tend to come off as National Socialist Black Metal to a few dedicated people to that particular sub-culture or it may be viewed as an Atmospheric / Raw effort, but in the general sense "Mysticism" is a Pagan Black Metal album which has Ukraine's pride tattooed all over it. What you'll get from listening to this KHORS album is a couple of perfectly executed instrumentals, namely "Through the Rays of Fading Moon..." and "Pagan Scars", and a few stand-out tracks that will be on repeat for more than a few times like "Winterfall" and "Milk of Heavens" (umm... Milk of... what?).

Overall, 8 tracks done formulaically, but fall short on artistic superiority, meaning they're nothing that will be surpassing your GRAVELAND or DRUDKH favorite album, but perfectly deserving of 8 stars for standing out amongst the hordes of very repetitive and uninspired bands while conveying a strong dedicated Aryan pride.