review: KŁY

KŁY

Wyrzyny

Pagan Records

8 May 2020

The category of “Polish extreme metal” here in the U.S. has been dominated by a few bands that play death metal that in many ways is instantly recognizable to the U.S. death metal fan. It may be Polish metal, but it is also not foreign to the ears of the U.S. fans. Of course, people enjoy those bands because they are good and professional at what they do, and because those bands play international, marketable death metal that follows specific standards, the rules of the extreme metal business.

This album right here represents something else, even for the fans of non-commercial sounds. It’s not just that the lyrics are in Polish, it’s that the music sounds curiously odd even as a form of something related to black metal. Call it avant-garde, psychedelic, post-whatever, trippy or what have you, the music is rumbling, bumpy, unsettled, but not young nor amateur music, but an older, weirder, more purposeful sound. It does not come across as a type of look-at-me-I’m-so-angry-or-alienated brouhaha, but as a strange aura, a more peculiar, marginal, oddity in black metal.

The official propaganda says this is something like shamanic black metal of the mushrooms. Take that as you will. At least it gives you an idea of what to expect. However, this is not experimental music in the sense of anti-song, super lunatic, cartoonish crazy stuff. There are songs here, there is melody here. Black metal fans are still the primary listeners for this music, but anyone looking for Polish metal that is different from the main line of the dominant extreme metal from that country will hear something much more daring, but also still done well, and with plenty of melody to keep you listening. What is key within this atmospheric black metal, within the psychedelia, and the dream-like feel, is that they have music and melody. Sure, for instance, song number five has a dream-like beginning of hallucination, but then the song kicks in and the melodies of the atmospheric black metal open up the road and it makes sense. The vocals are trippy and crazed at times, but the music is remarkably song-oriented, despite the curious introduction. Strange, sure, but worth investigating for fans of the more unique forms of black metal.

paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wyrzyny