In the wake of the bus crash that injured The Dillinger Escape Plan and totaled all of their gear in Poland this past weekend, a Gofundme.com campaign has been launched. Here are the details how you can help:Continue reading
Tag Archives: Poland
The Dillinger Escape Plan Involved In A Serious Crash In Poland
The Dillinger Escape Plan were involved in a serious bus accident in Poland last night, but luckily everyone escaped without major injury. Continue reading
Antigama – The Insolent
Hailing from Poland, Antigama are an absolute wrecking ball. Their breed of Grindcore is relentless, and has been since their inception way back in 2000. Now with the release of The Insolent (Selfmadegod) they’re looking to launch another assault within the scene.
The make-up of the band has certainly been very tumultuous since 2000, with only two of the four in the band still original members, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the tightness and fury in the music as formula wise this is very similar to their previous output. They’ve got a system and they pretty much stick to it – a series of short, punchy and breathless tracks.
What makes Antigama a bit more interesting than some of the others in the Grindcore scene is the fact that they’ve clearly got other avenues of influence which they’re keen to explore. Some of the tracks display an erratic series of time signatures and an all around neurotic level of chaos, with influence possibly coming from the Math-y side of heavy music.
This is most clear in the tracks ‘Used To’ and ‘Foul Play’ which both smash by in less than three minutes. Frankly though as the album progresses it all becomes a bit tiresome. Each track feels like they’ve been melded in to one, so unless you’re actually looking at whatever device you’re listening from, you’ll struggle to pick up on track changes. That is until we reach ‘The Land Of Monotony’, the final track on the album. Ironically you’ll feel that your experience getting through the album has become rather monotonous when this track hits, but this seven minute song showcases what exactly the band are capable of if they move away from their standard formula. The track is atmospheric, heavy and chaotic all at the same time and only leaves you wondering why there isn’t more of the same across the album. As good as they are at thrashing their instruments into oblivion; this song alone shows that there could be so much more to this band.
Overall then, a lot of this album is largely forgettable. If you obsess over a good blast beat and chaotic two minute tracks, then you’ll absolutely love this but with this being a seventh studio album the fact that there are only glimpses of different and exciting things being explored is a bit of a shame.
6.5/10
TOM DONNO
The Ongoing Crvsade (Part II) – ATF Sinner of Hate
Adam Buszko is also known as ATF Sinner, leader and founding member of Polish wrecking crew Hate, and he disarms from the outset with his charm, sincerity and good humour, discussing with Ghost Cult new album Crvsade:Zero (Napalm), their lyrical concepts and their place in the respected Polish scene.
“The title, Crvsade:Zero, is about the condition of humanity and its road to self-annihilation. The collective effort of humanity is going to be annulled due to the human inability to collaborate and live in peace, an inability to learn from past generations, past experiences. Humanity has just made the same mistakes over and over again, and it’s going to lead this race to its ruin. That’s how I look at it.”
“It’s not a positive message.”
“We have a tendency for conflict that results in wars (and) we have a seeming inability to live without war. Religion, meanwhile, is just a comfortable illusion. It too brings a lot of horror, a lot of conflict. Bizarrely the première of the video for ‘Valley of Darkness’ occurred on the very day of the Paris massacres – here I had a video with religious icons and symbols burning, whilst on the TV I’m watching this shit in Paris unfold. It was weird, very strange, and sent chills down my spine.”
The Polish scene is so healthy at present, seeming to breed bands full of hostile sounds and built for longevity: Behemoth, Vader, Trauma, Azerath, Decapitated, as well as Hate themselves. The possible reasons for this are complex and yet, Adam believes, rooted in the nation’s past.
“It’s a difficult one to answer, but I’ve tried to analyse it. It’s a cultural phenomenon for sure, and one for the sociologists really, but my own interpretation is that Poland has a really nasty history. The nation’s new generation bears the wounds of previous generations – we still talk about the fucking war all the time, with many modern Polish films featuring the war and its atrocities.”
“There’s subsequently a seriousness, a darkness, in Polish music, so that when rebellious teenagers begin to play metal it must be ferocious, it must be aggressive, twisted in a way. I think Vader started that avalanche, being the first band from behind the Iron Curtain that made their name in the West. When they signed to Earache in the 80s they showed that you could make it abroad, and it was really inspiring for us and many other bands.”
It’s this passion and emotion that still burns bright in Adam’s heart, and the desire to innovate is never far away.
“We’re going to be trying hard to develop the band as much as possible in the future. I have a refreshed energy, and artistically we’re finding common language so I think we’ll be working on our next album very soon.”
“This time, however, it should be something more revolutionary and adventurous. This is what I’d like to do with this line-up of grown-up musicians who are determined, focused on what they do.”
“I can’t wait to be back on tour again. We first accompany Vader around Europe, with four shows in the UK and one in Ireland. Then we travel around with the Hatefest festival, whose name I really like, around Switzerland, Germany and Austria. We hope to do Scandinavia, Greece and Turkey later in the year, so we’re pretty busy. It’s high time to get out there and play this new music to the crowds.”
“I actually see big potential now, and what we’ll be trying to do is push it further beyond the limits. Personally I would like to try and get inspiration from traditional Polish music, poems and lyrics, using the old village, tribal style and rhythms rather than the more well-known material (which is) something that no-one in the metal bands here has really done.”
“I have some clear ideas and have actually recorded some material. It’ll be a good direction to follow.”
For someone who has been creating music for so long, and who has suffered such pain, such desire to re-create and the lack of fear in crossing boundaries is nothing short of inspiring in itself. The new chapter of Hate promises to be an intriguing, enthralling one, but for now, we revel in the evil misery of the present.
AS TOLD TO PAUL QUINN
Decapitated – Blood Mantra
After triumphantly re-emerging from the other side of horror after the truly horrific bus crash of 2007 which claimed the life of drummer Vitek and left front m n Covan in a coma, Polish Death Metallers Decapitated have been on the ascent after 2011’s Carnival is Forever (Nuclear Blast) firmly re-established them as one of the genre’s important bands. Despite a few line-up shuffles, 2014 sees the band utterly at the top of their game with sixth full-length Blood Mantra (Nuclear Blast) the album they have always been threatening to make, and one that should leave the competition choking on (human) dust.
From the second that the searing guitar lines that open first track ‘Exiled in Flesh’ begin until the washed-out, apocalyptic starkness of closing track ‘Red Sun’ fades into the distance, the band seizes you by the throat, shakes every last bit of resistance from your aching body and leaves you utterly spent yet begging for more. The thick, full-bodied production gives each track a monolithic intensity while the subtle yet sinister atmosphere lurking just out of sight in the background gives proceedings an eerie and desolate air not usually found in Death Metal.
But without the songs to back it up, this would be meaningless. Thankfully that is not the case by a long shot.
It’s hard to pick favourites when there are so many choice cuts on offer but the blitzkrieg lunacy of ‘The Blasphemous Psalm to the Dummy God Creation’ should win prizes for sheer intensity as well as most over-the-top song title. The sickeningly catchy riff and merciless percussion of ‘Veins’ is so ludicrously tight and neck-snappingly awesome that it should come with a government health warning, while the chugging brutality of the title track is the kind of song Slipknot would write if they knew anything about heavy music. The accessibility of these songs will no doubt gain Decapitated a whole new legion of mainstream fans, something wholly deserved for not an ounce of integrity or brutality has been sacrificed in the process. They’re just that damn good.
Elsewhere the dead-eyed, clinical technicality of ‘Nest’ flirts with industrial themes before unleashing a gloriously epic solo while the sprawling, progressive riffs of ‘Blindness’ carry us off into the distance to pastures unexplored yet soon to be conquered. All of this would not be possible without the vision and skill of guitarist and band leader Vogg whose talents increase with every record and is firm proof that Death Metal can be innovative and enthralling whilst remaining skull-crushingly heavy and challenging to listen to. Credit must also go to vocalist Rafal Piotrowski who eschews the usual death growl in favour of a hoarse bellow that sounds like he’s coughing up his very soul for all to bear witness to. The rhythm section is flawless, with the new arrivals on bass and drums locking into so many tight grooves it’s almost tempting to believe they possess psychic abilities.
Like their countrymen Behemoth, Decapitated have conquered tragedy and emerged stronger than ever before. However, with no visual aspect to fall back on like Nergal et al, they have had to rely solely on their musical talents to remain relevant in a scene still bursting at the seams. But with this much skill at their disposal, looking back it almost seems embarrassing that they were ever doubted. To use a lazy comparison, Decapitated are like (Marvel Comics anti-hero) Blade; they possess all of the strengths of Death Metal and none of its weaknesses. And it’s increasingly evident they cannot be killed. Quite simply Blood Mantra is one of the finest Death Metal albums to be released now or ever and it’s difficult to see how it can be topped. One thing is for sure though, Vitek would be proud.
9.5/10
JAMES CONWAY