Non Opus Dei & Morowe - Dwizki Dwie [Split] (2013, Witching Hour Productions)

Since the late 90's Non Opus Dei have graced Europe with several albums of black metal from their stronghold in Poland. They represent the old school of the genre, but aren't shy of pushing the boundaries a little every now and then - Something that they make evident on their split with country-mates Morowe. And when I say that Non Opus Dei are more old school I mean that strictly in the sense that their approach to song writing is more straight forward. Morowe hail from a different part of Poland, and in the same manner as Non Opus Dei, their approach is tinged by the tendencies of the time in which they started out. In Morowe's case, that means a much more modern take on black metal, often lending them the definition "post-black metal".

Using the split-release format for something particular is always more interesting than two bands that sound exactly alike or that are worlds apart making a split for no apparent reason. On the Dziwki Dwie split-release, we find two bands from the same country, but from two different currents of the black metal subgenre. While not entirely removed from one another, the stylings of Morowe and Non Opus Dei compliment each other sufficiently to communicate the general idea and to promote each band and their individual strengths.

Both bands offer up three choice cuts created especially for the split. And both offerings are good for quite a few listens.
I suppose you have to be into simple song progression with a clinical edge for it to have lasting appeal, because mostly I found especially the songs of Non Opus Dei to be a little too ordinary. The highlight on Dziwki Dwie for me remains Kat Kota by Morowe after many a listen. The riffs presented there are unique and interesting while being easily recognizable and different - Something that precious few bands master. This, coupled with their unusual rhythm section has swayed in their favor, which is something that isn't easily done as I find the whole "progressive-posty-wosty black metal" thing to be usually more of a shitty gimmick than a descriptor that holds any real merit. What it usually means is riffs starting and stopping awkwardly to the sound of poorly timed drums and drugged out vocals, or extremely long stretches of useless noise or acoustic guitar. Yuck.

Dwizki Dwie is a great example of exactly how to make a split. The bands compliment each other without overlapping too much in regards to style and purpose, and it certainly helps when the songs don't sound like throwaway garbage that wasn't good enough for the upcoming album. While the great old ones of the genre are busy reinventing themselves as a speed metal outfit or playing opera houses accompanied by huge orchestras and choirs, this is the part of the scene that still knows what it's all about. Ass-kicking blast beats and gruesome riffs. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Non Opus Dei - Dziwki Dwie
2. Non Opus Dei - Kres Hanby
3. Non Opus Dei - Szaleniec Glupiec Opeetany
4. Morowe - Czij to Glos
5. Morowe - Kat Kota
6. Morowe - Obustronne Oczy Patrza

MOROWE official site
NON OPUS DEI official site

Rape on Mind - Downwards [Full length] (2013, Self-released)

Experimentation is the essence of progress. Some musicians take this to heart and always seek to push boundaries, and some are content to just fine tune what has been done before. What is worth remembering is that experimenting with no real goal or purpose probably won't yield any usable results.

My initial reaction to Downwards by Rape on Mind was something along the lines of "huh, I wonder where this is going". These notions of experimentalism were however quickly exchanged with a feeling of disappointment. Downwards starts out with some atmospheric saxophone, which I tought was pretty interesting, bringing to mind darkjazz groups like Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. But I found that these fleeting moments of intrigue were few and brief. Before long the music of Rape on Mind degrades into mindless chugs with late-era Max Cavalera vocals, like a thugged-out Soulfly. To me, Downwards seems like a rancid misinterpretation of what death metal and grindcore are about, jazzed up with aweful groove-core elements.

It's not like chugging riffs are the bane of all that is holy. But chugs only work if they're used as interludes between more meaningful songwriting. Otherwise the music will just be an amorphous mass of start-stop pseudo-riffs with no real merrit. Deathcore bands usually take the heat for being too chuggy, using downtuned strums at irregular intervals at every possible climax, but at least most deathcore has climaxes, varying intensity and temper. Instead, Rape on Mind just jerks around on the floor in a half-hour seizure to the sound of a malfunctioning jackhammer, making even the simplest deathcore acts seem like gracious ballets.

Perhaps I'm being unfair. The second half of Downwards shows a more varied approach to songwriting, and bands like Portal (Which I quite like) have very little variation in intensity, and their music is exactly just an amorphous mass of riffs. But at least their music has wanderlust, purpose and atmosphere, which is something that can't be said of this Polish group. Keep in mind that I don't particularly care for this kind of music at all, so take that into consideration whilst reading this. But I think Downwards by Rape on Mind is complete rubbish. 4/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Downwards
2. Remorse
3. Steps
4. ......
5. Nothing
6. Lost
7. Memories Always Burn
8. Break or be Broken
9. Question

Rape On Mind on Bandcamp
Rape On Mind on Facebook

Critical Insanity - Through the Infinite Darkness [Demo] (2013, Self-released)

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. In thrash we've got our fair share of Big 4 imitators, obviously with varying degrees of success and skill. But there's little imitation to be found with Critical Insanity, a band of youngsters who've been roaming the streets of Poland since 2012. Instead they've crafted their own unique sound, a feat many spend years trying to accomplish.

Mind you being unique isn't inherently a good thing. Describing Critical Insanity's music on Through the Infinite Darkness, the band's first release, seems simple at first; Gunning all engines, it's full speed ahead through the wastelands, crashing through ruins guns blazing to the sound of tightly knit, no nonsense guitars and drums beating like a diesel engine revving up. At a glance most will write it off as standard thrash metal.

If we peel off the outer layers of Critical Insanity's album length debut demo their inner workings are laid bare. The vocals are oddly creeping, like a stalker lurking outside your window, noisily masturbating as you're trying to fall asleep. This pseudo-melodic half-crooning somehow fits the slower paced songs like Goblet of Gore, but at other times seems like a fish out of water when paired with the high speeds that the band otherwise present in their assortment of compositions. And the compositions in themselves are immaculately cunning.

It is demo material at best, and requires a lot of work. The bass fulfills its thankless role in the most captivating of ways, providing volley after volley of the thrilling rumbles that metal builds upon. The riffing is brutal and fast - All the fundamental building blocks of thrash are present. However the more brain-tingling aspects gleam in their absence. There are a few tracks which adequately fill the void of boredom created by the majority of the demo, but only just so. With nine tracks coming to a total of about 35 minutes, the FUCK YEAH moments are too few and far apart. I suppose it could be excused with the fact that Through the Infinite Darkness is, after only, just a demo, but it's a dog-eat-dog world with thousands of bands more or less competing against each other, and in that regard Critical Insanity still needs an edge to be able to compete. 6/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Hopeless
2. Slavedriver
3. Harbringer of Calamity
4. Haunting the Idolators
5. Through the Infinite Darkness
6. Goblet of Gore
7. Aboriginal War
8. Proselytism Real
9. Critical Insanity

Visit Critical Insanity on Bandcamp
Visit Critical Insanity on Facebook

Armagedon - Thanatology [Full length] (2013, Mystic Production)

Go digging around in Poland's heavy metal history and you'll come up with quite a few gems. Only a few Polish metal bands exist in the mind of the general populace, some of the more prominent ones being Behemoth, Vader, Dead Infection, Graveland and Kat, only a few of which have their roots in the 80's. Then there's Armagedon from Kwidzyn, Poland. Their carreer originally stretched from 1987 to 1994 where they released a few demos and the album "Invisible Circle". In 2006 the original members, the Maryniewski brothers, again picked up the mantle of Armagedon, going on to release the moderately appreciated "Death Then Nothing" album in 2009 and finally "Thanatology" in 2013.

Aside from an introductory section of the opening track, Helix, which sounds like something lifted from a Paul W.S. Anderson film, the new incarnation of the band offers brutally chiseled death metal, carved from the same material that gave us Vader, Sphere, Embrional, Empatic and Hate. The album reflects a certain respect for where death metal has come from, but also a desire to show where death metal should go. Through a presentation of highly kinetic songwriting and commendably immersive production the various fluctuations between grave melodies and simpler, more primal elements the Thanatology album achieves the fine balance between various subgenres to make the release an everflowing stream of interesting and modern angles on a genre that has already been thoroughly mapped and explored.

There is a certain duality to be found within the music of Armagedon. This schizophrenia comes mainly at the hands of the many different elements brought to use in their tracks. Where songs like Cemeteries focuses on eerie, drawn out aspects, a shorter opus like Self Destruction feels significantly more primitive and primordial in both its composition and its delivery. Slawomir's hollow growls neatly puts the finishing touches on the glorious monument to death metal created by the effective rhythms and gruesome riffs provided by the rest of the band, convincingly showing off the internal dynamics achieved between the band members. But - Because there's always a but - in the long run and the grand scheme of things Thanatology lacks hooks. The album deserves a few listenes from any death metal fanatic, but it never soars above being merely thoroughly enjoyable. The grueling song Altar of Death and Vultures both have the gist of classics in them, but common between all the tracks is that they arbitrarily shift between tremolos, chugs and various melodies set to blastbeats or double-pedal punishment at the drummer's discretion. The inaudibility of the lyrics makes it feel like the lyrical content doesn't matter at all, and when held to the incredibly high standard set by many of their peers, Armagedon just doesn't quite compare. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Helix
2. Vultures
3. Cemeteries
4. Self Destruction
5. Altar of Death
6. Black Seed
7. Corridor
8. Tragic Journey


Visit ARMAGEDON on Facebook or at their official site
Visit Mystic Production

In Silent - Potêpienie [Full length] (2013, Self-released)

Having been formed in 1996, In Silent will soon be able to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The Polish band has 4 demos to show for it, the latest being from 2009. Most of the early members of In Silent are long gone from the lineup, with the two guitarists being the only original members, and the core of the band's sound.
The very nucleus of the death metal genre is searing guitar work, scorching vocals and ferocious drumming. In Silent's modern incarnation is ripe with the familiar sound of that classic death metal technique, giving off the feeling that they're old timers within the genre. Potêpienie exudes an atmosphere of devotely following the stipulations of death with thick production values and grooving riffs.

The heavier guitars that make up the majority of the album are at the very forefront of In Silent's behavior. The Polish band twist and wrangle the stringed instruments into submission, accompanied by a powerful veil of merciless drumming, the raw and articulate vocals efficiently tying the whole thing together into the 22 minute opus that it is.

The straightforward musical craftsmanship that the album mainly portrays is obviously where the group have their comfortzone. This, however, leads to very little fluctuation in sound and constitution, the essence of the band being efficiency. What I mean by this is that there is absolutely no effort wasted, and everything is mechanically precise to the point where there's no soul to the music. The pseudo-technical adventures into the higher frets on the guitars come off as choppy and over-simplified, and while the groovy parts work well in their protected environment, almost every track sounds like it needs a few surprises. Most tracks sound like they're roughly the same speed as the previous, and the parts that would normally mix things up a bit aspire to be little other than soft-spoken, anonymous left-over particles.

I find that the albums that grow on me the most are the ones that have incredible depth and intricate songwriting, not necessarily from being overly technical or lengthy, but rather from paying attention to every minor detail in the sound image. In Silent's debut album, Potêpienie, stands out as a piece that is mostly too simple, but without the much needed memorability and hooks that make simpler music enjoyable. The tracks Necro Fucker and Czerwony Parszywy Cheam have the gist of what it takes, but the slowly lumbering pace with oddly placed blastbeats doesn't quite do it in the end. Morbid features one of the album's most ambitious main riffs, but quickly switches to a boring chug rhythm. The album is almost insultingly simple at times, to the point where it actually becomes sort of annoying, and it holds little merrit in the long run, the only real value being that In Silent are sufficiently immersed in their Polish lyrics and groovy rhythms for it to be a fun listen once in a while. Unfortunately, the recipe fails to impress.

Tracklist:
1. Tydzieñ Patriotów
2. Potêpienie
3. Czerwony Parszywy Cheam
4. Necro Fucker
5. Morbid
6. Amputacja
7. Pedofiluzzkleru

Visit the band on Facebook

Mind Affliction - Pathetic Humanity [Full length] (2013, Metal Scrap Records)

Poland is the home of several well-known, and even more less known, metal acts, and if there's anything I've learned from previous reviews it is that new bands from Poland show a remarkably high level of musicianship and production values. Mind Affliction hail from Cracow, one of Poland's oldest cities, and originally emerged in 2009, before releasing their first demo "Mental Disorder" in 2011. In early 2013 they released their first album "Pathetic Humanity" through Metal Scrap Records, with the tracks Mental and Vishe returning in some form from the demo.

It seems like there are enough blackened death metal bands from Poland to form up a full fledged wave, a New Wave of Polish Black Death Metal if you will, or at the very least this is a strong tendency among the good people of Poland. Like many of the bands I have previously had the pleasure of reviewing, including Sphere, Ragehammer, Embrional and Stillborn, Mind Affliction delivers about 40 minutes of death metal behind a thick veil of black metal, neatly intertwining the two genres. With a few ups and downs in terms of tempo, it's still safe to say that what makes up the majority of the music on Pathetic Humanity is deathly guitar riffs with dual vocals on top of a layer high speed drumming with little to no bullshit going on.

It's a time tested recipe, but it leaves little room for surprise, and on more than one occation we find the band delving into the same riff for prolonged periods of time, which really breaks up the otherwise good flow of the album. Especially in Mental and Human Centipede, two of the earliest tracks on the debut, do they drag out the progress of the songs with one simple riff. All of the tracks apart from the intro are in excess of 5 minutes in length, so it's not even like they need to drag things out to this point.

Pathetic Humanity has a nice, thick production with drum sound that packs a LOT of punch, but for the riffs to truly come to their right they could benefit from a more crispy production. There's lots of brutality in the simplicity of riffs, and everything works well as a whole, even if the end result isn't one that is particularly memorable. The Polish band shows a flair for variety with tracks like the groovy and melodic piece Druga Strona Umyslu and the sinister track Vishe II, which still leaves room for fresh melodies. But in the end it's the fact that there are barely any hooks or anything to distinguish Pathetic Humanity by that steers it towards a 6/10 rating.

Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Human Centipede
3. Mental
4. Vishe I
5. Druga Strona Umyslu
6. Vishe II
7. Lithium

Visit Mind Affliction on Facebook or Bandcamp
Visit Metal Scrap Records

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Ragehammer - War Hawks [Demo] (2012, Mythrone Promotion)

Poland's Ragehammer don't waste time, having existed only for a short period of time before unleashing their beastly debut demo "War Hawks". If anything is black/thrash it's Ragehammer, and their lyrics deal with somewhat standard metal subjects like hate, war and religious hipocrisy. However they aren't as such the usual kind of black/thrash Bathory/Venom/Deströyer 666/Desaster clone stuff as they've left room for some pseudo-hardcore based riffs and grindy d-beats which definitely underlines the entire sound of Ragehammer.

Ragehammer immediately assail the ears of the hapless victims listening to War Hawks for the first time. Not knowing what to expect, Ragehammer Rising pounds your eardrums with totally unhinged, maniacal vocals, and the demo is mixed loud as fuck, so you don't even have to turn up your stereo to get fucked. Talk about convenience. There is constantly stuff going on in multiple layers. It's a demanding yet rewarding listening experience in the sense that the band's music is mostly high speed high intensity stuff. Ragehammer have a way of piecing together a song to have a high amount of momentum and energy, never leaving a dull moment even when they slow things down. An example of this is when the second song tunes in. Prophet of Genocide is a song that contrasts strongly to the fast-paced brutality of the first track, Ragehammer Rising, by having a much slower pace and a heavier gait. This track in particular slows things down to a more deliberate heavy-black kind of deal more akin to modern Darkthrone, barring Underground Resistance.

There seems to be a pattern on the War Hawks demo. It seems there's more or less a fast song for every slow song, and that these alternate. It's a surprisingly good way of keeping things interesting, and while the menacing sounds of The Wolfpack as such isn't exactly crawling in tempo it still has a higher capacity for calculated evil rather than the "usual" chaotic approach that Ragehammer takes.

This completely unrelenting, fast as fuck style of black/thrash works well for getting you worked up and ready to go, and it can generally be said for War Hawks that whatever Ragehammer are doing, they're doing it well.Feeling like relaxing with some rockin' tunes where you can sing along to the chorus? Get the fuck outta here, Ragehammer is NOT for you. 8/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Ragehammer Rising
2. Prophet of Genocide
3. Hate Command
4. The Wolfpack
5. Gospel of the Scum

Mythrone Promotion official site

Please leave a comment here on the blog - Tell me what you're thinking, and feel free to share if you want to support underground metal!

Hell United - Aura Damage [Full length] (2012, Hellthrasher Productions)

Poland has had a good run of metalbands that fuse the raw brutality of death metal, the faster elements of thrash metal and the evil that drips from black metal. Like Norway produces black metal bands, Poland has in the last few years produced many great bands, including Behemoth, Hate and Vader that have probably been more or less responsible for creating this new wave of blackened death metal. I've had the pleasure of reviewing many bands like Pandemonium, Centurion, Embrional, Sphere, Stillborn and Empatic, and like these bands Hell United have sought a sound that combines the collected evils of black and death metal with some serious nods towards thrashy tendencies.

9 songs strong, Aura Damage - the second full length album from Hell United - perfectly showcases a great understanding of how to create high-tempo metal riddled with tremolo riffing and blasting drums. Songs like the sinister "Deathlike Cold", the equally fast-paced "Apostle of Plague" and the tenebrous closing track "Totality of I" are what make Aura Damage an album worth checking out if you are into the bands mentioned earlier.
The Polish quartet show great craftsmanship in the terms of writing metal, but it's not all fun and games. While the 2012 album shows great promise and provides great consistency in genuinely good songwriting, I found most of the album to border on a run of the mill type of stuff. True, the album makes for a good listen and consists of mostly pretty good songs, but in the end it all flows together into an immemorable blob, and only the three songs I mentioned earlier are really memorable.

Hell United's Aura Damage is an album that I won't deny has a good vibe to it. It yearns to be listened to, and the energy the album perveys is something speciel. But I gotta be honest and say that it isn't an album I would put on for my own listening pleasure. I wouldn't put it on for anything other than background music for when I do other stuff. But this purpose it serves greatly in that it has a great, oppressive atmosphere, good dynamic song structures and pretty good riffs. But what makes it weak as a piece in its entirity it's the fact that most of the songs sort of blend together. But even so I feel I must give Aura Damage by Hell United 7/10 guitars because of the sheer force that the work conveys.

Tracklist:
1. Red Limitations
2. Apostle of Plague
3. Deathlike Cold
4. Let the Sleeping Dogs Lie
5. Aura Damage
6. Hinterland
7. Maelstorm's Gravity
8. In Odore Sanctitatis
9. Totality of I

HELL UNITED official Facebook
Hellthrasher Productions official site

Listen for yourself!

Centurion - Serve No One [Full length] (2012, Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho)

Centurion takes inspiration from a great variety of bands, but once in a while something shines through, like "Cut the Throat" which has a certain Cannibal Corpse feel to it in the verse parts, mainly because of the really fast vocals. In general it seems the Polish band's focus is on speed maybe rather than riffing, and this results in a very uniform and even album. Come to think of it, it seems many moderne death metal bands are this way. While many of the original death metal acts were also rather fast for their time, I can't help but feel that these bands were superior in the way that they didn't sacrifice listenability and sweet riffs in order to go all-in on speed.

One of the things I have against Centurion's otherwise very good album Serve No One is that it's sort of a one trick pony. Sure, they mix things up from the blast beat powered death metal with the occassional sinister riff now and then, but unfortunately it's not enough to create a varying and diverse album experience.

Serve No One is a phenomenal album if you enjoy fast-as-fuck death metal with a shit-ton of blast beats and well-executed vocal sections, but ultimately those factors, in my book, aren't quite enough to create a great death metal album. This second album from the Polish deathdealers comes ten years after their first one, and from the lack of variety on Serve No One I'm going to assume they didn't use all those years on refining the riffs or polish their sound. Make no mistake, Centurion aren't novices in the terms of death metal music and Serve No One is a text-book example of modern death metal. And maybe even a little too text-book example for me. The band show little personality and doesn't stand out from the crowd enough, and I only hope that they on future releases will be more distinct from the hordes of other bands in the genre.

In closing, Serve No One is a good and fast death metal album. I've heard a lot of death metal since I started listening to metal, and Centurion are certainly above average. Just not sufficiently so to be excellent. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Total Terror
2. Ego Ultimus
3. Sacrilege
4. Gateways to Condemnation
5. Cut the Throat
6. Desecration of the Holy Kingdom
7. Thy Portal
8. Under the Black Banner
9. Ritual Massmurder
10. No One to Serve

CENTURION official site
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho official site

Embrional - Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors [Full length] (2012, Old Temple)

It would seem the Polish are very big on death metal, 'cause here's yet another death metal band from Poland. However the four-man strong band Embrional have a niche a tad bit different; Progressive death metal with some strong black-ish tendencies.

Their sound is utterly chaotic and sounds like the soundtrack to psychosis. The near constant blast-beats mixed with the choppy and incredibly precise guitars makes the music sound a bit segmentary and hacky, but it serves the important purpose of focusing the attention on blistering speeds and intricate riffs.
What this, in turn, affects is my enjoyability of the music. Embrional, like so many other progressive and technical bands, have sacrificed variety, groove and hooks in the pursuit of intricateness and technicality, thereby losing a lot of appeal.

And yet, even if Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors lacks catchy riffs and variety, it kind of grows on you. You start noticing the little things, and the atmosphere isn't half bad. I feel that Embrional needs to mix things up a little, but more melodic tracks like the instrumental Necropolis does help a little in that regard. Yet the fact that most of the songs are incredibly similar actually makes those kind of tracks feel more odd and out of place. However, the fact that the quartet's music sometimes has a certain black metal feel makes it a little more interesting - It gives the music an extra advantage over many of the other bands of the genre, like how Augury's use of clean vocals and Fleshgod Apocalypse's use of classical music makes them stand out.

To round up, Embrional is a promising Polish band with 2 albums on their rap sheet. Their own personal brand of death metal features blistering fast blast beats, technical guitar riffs and deep, growling vocals. Though a bit lacking in variety, they do their thing in a satisfactory manner and Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is an honest and damn solid attempt at the genre. I don't care particularly much for progressive death metal because in my experience most of the bands focus too much of their energy on being "intelligent", but I found Embrional's second album to be worthy of several listens. Their guitar work and vocal efforts especially are strongpoints in this band. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Possessed by Evil
2. Disgraceful Enslavement
3. Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors
4. Necropolis
5. The Last Step into Nothingsness
6. Beyond the Abyss
7. Maniacal Madness
8. Bestial Torture
9. Dismal Sign
10. Mankind's Decline
11. Vermin of the Earth

EMBRIONAL official site
Old Temple official site

Stillborn - Los Asesinos del Sur [Full length] (2011, Ataman Productions)

Having listened to and reviewed all these great Polish bands these last couple of weeks has made me think Poland doesn't have bad metal bands. Let's just say that Stillborn isn't going to change my mind;

Boasting a severe arsenal of semi-technical and fast blackened death metal with a ton of blast beats this fourth album from Stillborn is by no means a light-weight in terms of brutality. Their evil sound and focus on blasphemic themes fits perfectly with their choice of genre, and they do what they do very well. In conjunction with the pretty good vocals, the good production and the tremolo-based riffs this makes for an overall great recipe for fast-as-hell blackened death metal.

What the album Los Asesinos del Sur really lacks is hooks. Getting into it took me quite a few listens, and even then I'm having troubling remembering the individual songs from time to time, even if these are really good in their own right. Other than Antonym, which I feel is Stillborn's best effort on this album, the tracks tend to be "listen-and-forget", probably because they mostly follow the same formular all the way through. It simply isn't as catchy as I would've liked, but then again some may argue that blackened death metal isn't about catchiness.

To boil it all down to a few sentences, Stillborn's Los Asesinos del Sur is a worthy and above average effort in the genre. They should be proud of themselves and I'd recommend listening to Stillborn if you're into blasphemous, malevolent death metal with a twist of black metal. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Overture .966
2. Hymn of Destruction
3. Diamonds of the Last Water
4. Antonym
5. Son of the Holy Motherfucker
6. Blood and Dust
7. Kot Wolanda
8. Los Asesinos del Sur
9. Stillborn II
10. Whore of the Whores

STILLBORN official site
Ataman Productions official site

Pandemonium - Misanthropy [Full length] (2012, Pagan Records)

Blackened death metal has also, to me, seemed like a genre much less appreciated or widespread as other genres like death, black or thrash metal. Only a select few bands like Belphegor, Zyklon, Akercocke, Behemoth and to some extent God Dethroned and Necrophobic have gotten "big" in the scene.

Like their fellow Polish country-men in Behemoth the four man large band Pandemonium play blackened death metal with an emphasis on the death metal part. Also, like Behemoth their current sound is very modern with a huge focus on good production. I could go on about how it kinda sounds like Pandemonium wants to be Behemoth, but instead I will try to let the album "Misanthropy" speak for itself.
The songwriters of Pandemonium do have a certain knack for writing some genuinely enjoyable metal, but only rarely does the music exceed the relatively high standards created by other bands of the genre. While the great production certainly does good things for the band I can't help but feel that there are several things not quite up to par. For instance the vocals are tremendously lacklustre and mostly sound like the drunken ravings of a homeless vodka-enthusiast.

Another thing that bothered me was that Pandemonium seem to be stuck in one tempo. Almost all songs run in the vicinity of the same speeds, and only rarely does the band leave their apparent comfort zone and speed things up a little. This has the effect that most of the tracks can be very hard to distinguish between, and the songs don't really have the necessary build-up to create an actual climax.

Among the highlights of the album could be mentioned the fifth song "Avant-Garde Underground" which has a really memorable riff and is probably also one of the more atypical efforts on Misanthropy along with the melodic tracks "Only the Dead Will see the End of War" and "Misanthropy", which feature some juicy ancient-ish sounding stuff.
All in all Pandemonium's fourth album isn't that bad. Like I mentioned earlier it's a pretty good compilation of what the band themselves call "Satanic Dark Metal", but I think Misanthropy lacks the spirit and enthusiasm that made Behemoth big. 7/10 guitars

Tracklist:
1. The Black Forest
2. God Delusion
3. Necro Judas
4. Stones are Eternal
5. Avant-Garde Underground
6. Everlasting Opposition
7. Only the Dead Will see the End of War
8. Misanthropy

PANDEMONIUM official site
Pagan Records official site

Empatic - Gods of Thousand Souls [Full length] (2010, Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho)

Thrashy semi-melodic death metal is more or less the national metal genre of my home country Denmark, so listening to the Polish band Empatic's newest album, 2010's Gods of Thousand Souls, was almost like listening to bands from home like Hatesphere or Aphyxion.

Like mentioned above, Empatic plays some nice and heavy thrashy half-melodic death metal with a good sense of pace and structure. The 10 original tracks of the album feature some pretty snazzy chunks of metal that beg to be headbanged to. But what the Polish band have in talent for flow they lack in hooks and memorable riffs. Though they are obviously talented musicians I'm missing something truely memorable about the music. The songs simply blend in too much with each other, making the album a bit repetitive because it's hard to distinguish the tracks from each other.

That said their Randy Blythe-esque vocalist goes great with their more ruthless riffs and the tight-as-fuck drums. Songs like False Friend or The Game start out really heavy but then mellow out during the middle until they climax in the end. After a few listens I get the feeling that Empatic has only two settings: Crushingly heavy and melodic flowy stuff, mostly because all their songs have these two modes incorporated in some way. Though this tendency isn't very noticable or prominent, it's still enough so that it can halt an otherwise great pace.

In general I'd say that Gods of Thousand Souls is an honest, down to earth piece of death metal with varying musical tendencies. It's not something blindingly special, and Empatic don't seem like they're trying to create something new and exciting, but they've succeeded in compiling a solid set of songs for metalheads to enjoy. Apart from the hideously out-of-place cover song in the end of the album, Gods of Thousand Souls is pretty good work. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Green Mile
2. G.O.T.S.
3. False Friend
4. The Game
5. Tomorrowland
6. VS
7. So What
8. Dreamer
9. Fulfilled Dreams
10. Empatic
11. Enola Gay (OMD Cover)

EMPATIC official site
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho official site

Sphere - Homo Hereticus [Full length] (2012, Masterful Records)

"Absolutely hellish death metal" was my immediate thought when "Forever Sworn to Blasphemy", the first track of Sphere's Homo Hereticus, toned in on my speakers. However you can never judge a band from just one track, but Poland's SPHERE is no one-trick pony. Having adopted elements from both technical, brutal and melodic death metal aswell as grindcore they make it quite clear that they aren't going to let their music become stale or monotonous. That said, Sphere aren't exactly revolutionizing the genre. They do, however, play some tight fucking death metal.

Switching from simple thrashy riffs to more technical and intricate riffs are among the many strengths the polish band have. The drummer is great at varying his speeds and compositions and the production of everything from the lingering bass to the demonic lead vocals is just genious. They're certainly not afraid to throw in some blistering blastbeats into the mix, and tracks like Sadistfucktion has its' grindcorey moments while the third track "Third Scent Carcass" is borderline brutal death metal. Homo Hereticus is definitely some great shit for the lovers of fast death metal.

Usually after listening to an album a few times one will have found their favourite tracks, but on this 2012 album it's really hard to pick favourites because every track is just plain awesome in its' own right. I imagine Sphere is a great live band, and if they aren't it certainly isn't the music's fault. 9/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Forever Sworn to Blasphemy
2. Godless Profanity
3. Third Scent Carcass
4. Sadistfucktion
5. Homo Hereticus
6. Holistic Paralisys
7. Psalm to the Dark One
8. Grave's Cold Darkness
9. Vengeance's Core
10. Devil's Reunion
11. Beyond Madness of Gods
12. War

SPHERE official site
Masterful Records official site