Polish Metal

Decapitated – Blood Mantra Review

By Kronos on October 1, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Polish Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 22 comments

“August. Cicaidas scream in the oaks. The punishing sun presses vapors from the Earth, rendering the air nearly drinkable. You could brew tea in the steam rising in the morning light. Even the dogs relinquish their rightfully-given portion of summer in favor of an air-conditioned shelter. Inside of that shelter, complete with the high-speed internet needed to distract one from the horrors of the season, a terrible, moments-long sound streams from the wide, unblinking eyes of the speakers. It sounds like fucking Decapitated.” Death, thy name is Decapitated.

Vader – Tibi Et Igni Review

By Steel Druhm on May 31, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Polish Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 34 comments

“Vader has more albums than I have old socks. They’re an institution in Polish death metal and they pretty much put their homeland on the map of extreme metal (Behemoth helped a little too). Tibi Et Igni is their twelfth opus of raging death metal and much like 2011s Welcome to the Morbid Reich, it’s a fast, furious and largely unhinged affair written by old time death metal purists, for old time death metal purists while also mixing in copious thrash influences as well.” Were you worried if this would be good or not? I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Things You Might Have Missed 2013: Obscure Sphinx – Void Mother

By Madam X on December 1, 2013 in 2013, Fuck the Tag Records, Polish Metal, Post-Rock, Things You Might Have Missed 2013, Post-Metal, 16 comments

“Dark, murderous, blood-soaked dolls get to me! I can’t really explain it, to most they’re ugly I guess, but I can’t help seeing something beautiful in their glassy eyes and I just want to collect and keep them all, like my own little tiny prisoners. Seeing the doll adorned cover of the second full length release by Polish band Obscure Sphinx, literally had me scrambling to pick up Void Mother WITHOUT having heard even an utterance of what to expect.” Doll’s eyes creep me the fuck out, but Madam X loves them more than she loves a good snuff movie. She also enjoys this weird post metal act from Poland, which you may have missed this year!

Riverside – Shrine of New Generation Slaves Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 12, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, InsideOut, Polish Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Progressive Rock, 1 comment

Back in 2009 when I started this website, I was really getting back into metal and music in general, after having spent the previous year working on my own music and being really invested in learning a new language and trying to integrate into a new country. Upon having done this, I started up Angry Metal Guy with the purpose of giving myself something to do and a crash course in new music. One of the first labels I actually got a hold of was InsideOut (via Century Media) and received several very cool promos at around the same time. 2009 was actually a really good year, with several awesome releases that still stick out for me. One of these is the modern rock tinged opus Anno Domini High Definition with the slightly embarrassing acronym of ADHD. The record was modern, heavy and progressive. I was impressed and have been looking forward to the band’s follow up since.

Hate – Erebos Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 22, 2011 in 2011, 3.0, Death Metal, Listenable Records, Reviews, Death Metal, 3 comments

In the early days Hate was a death metal band. A pretty solid one, sort of in the same vein as Vader, pretty blasty and not super melodic. As they developed with time, they actually got arguably better and started putting out some pretty good stuff, groovy, a little bit more black metal influenced but still solid death metal. This development pretty much peaked in 2005 with Anaclasis – A Haunting Gospel of Malice and Hatred, which is widely considered their best record. While 2009’s Morphosis was a pretty good follow-up it didn’t live up to Anaclasis for many fans. However, Erebos offers some new life for the band, but also some unfortunate and appropriate comparisons to Poland’s biggest heavy metal phenomenon.

Votum – Metafiction Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 26, 2010 in 2.0, 2010, Mystic Productions, Progressive Metal, Reviews, 0 comments

Poland’s progressive rock and metal scene has definitely been strong of late. In the last year I’ve discovered some really great bands, particularly Indukti and Riverside which have just blown me away from the Polish scene. Turns out Poland doesn’t have just black metal and death metal in their veins, but instead there are a good number of proggy dudes who really dig the new wave of prog that has been pushing its way into metal in the last decade. Votum’s second album is another one of these Polish prog rock records that’s definitely influenced by neo-prog bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Anathema. In 2008, Votum released their first album Time Must Have a Stop, which impressed some but left me cold. Metafiction is the next step in the band’s development, but still doesn’t impress.

Behemoth – Evangelion Review

By Angry Metal Guy on August 10, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, Black Metal, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 4 comments

Maybe I’m alone in this, but Behemoth’s tremendous success over the last few years, starting with the record Demigod has long been a great surprise to me. Not that the band isn’t good and doesn’t deserve the success. Frankly, they are great and they do deserve the success, but just the idea that a blackened death metal band from Poland would be causing such a stir wasn’t something that had crept into my mind a few years ago, before they released their first real popular “opus.” Demigod of course was followed up by a weaker The Apostasy which, while good, couldn’t possibly have lived up to the expectations of the earlier material. And, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it’s probably never bad to be hotly anticipated) for the band, Evangelion is one of the most hotly anticipated records of the year. I’ve been trying to get my hands on it for a while and now that I’ve finally got a promo version of it, I’ve been playing the hell out of it.