56th part of short reviews.
JARUN – Wziemiozstąpienie
Year of release: 2012 (original) / 2018 (this version)
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 7 / 10
The debut album of the Polish band with an unusual approach to folk metal. A large number of progressive elements make music related to NEGURA BUNGET and later THY WORSHIPER. Technically, “Wziemiozstąpienie” is closer to the Romanians, but the specific Polish melancholy (among other things) makes them more related to their fellow countrymen. Unlike the second and third albums, “Wziemiozstąpienie” sounds a little shy, as if afraid to move away from the traditional foundations. But many flaws are covered by magnificent atmospheric finds that make this album very attractive.
AZELS MOUNTAIN – Wieczny sen
Year of release: 2019
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 6 / 10
The second AZELS MOUNTAIN album, like the first one, didn’t catch me. The band's ideology is good, the design is beautiful, but there is nothing interesting to listen to. Sometimes you can hear something from the glorious times of Poland in the music, but then it dissolves in the air, leaving only academic material, for lack of a better definition. he ENSLAVED cover at the end of the album is very good though.
UNRUHE / ZAWRAT / FLAME OF WAR – Meditations upon the Cold Mountains
Year of release: 2019
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 6,2 / 10
Triple split that brings back memories of the early days of Werewolf Promotion or, say, Stellar Winter. Three underground gangs with strong convictions and ass sound - all as we love. Unfortunately, I somehow could not feel the magic hidden behind the clumsy compositions of UNRUHE: after a good ambient introduction, there are two tracks of obscure metal in the vein of DUSK losing to Hungarians in all respects. The tracks of the anonymous British project ZAWRAT (probably of Polish origin) are a little more interesting at first, but in some places they are played so fucking rough that you can’t justify it with any “underground” attitude. However, there is something in them. Finally, we have one song from FLAME OF WAR, but for 15 minutes. Somehow this monumental thing manages to stay on the chosen path, although along the way it seems many times that it is about to slide into a hole with a sad shit and remain there forever. The final impression of the split is closer to the negative - nostalgia mixed with a squint.
ATRA HORA – Τέμενος
Year of release: 2020
Label: Darknagar Records
Rating: 7 / 10
A fresh album from the Pyatigorsk band, founded by Darknagar Records owner and his friends. The music here is not my cup of tea at all, so evaluating it against the backdrop of similar bands is difficult. This is Dark Metal with an “oriental” flavor in sound, reminiscent of MELECHESH, ORPHANED LAND, mid-late ROTTING CHRIST, etc. A distinctive feature of the album is a very, very complex structure of compositions, replete with additional elements. In addition, the musicians really know how to play and do not hesitate to use their skills. Songs are full of progressive tricks, and sometimes I even wanted to describe the sounds coming from the speakers with the swear word "fusion". However, the band manages to weave and adequate musical canvas from all this stuff, without turning the album into a heap of show-off pieces. The approach is serious; anyone interested can find out some interesting details on creating the album from other reviews. On the shortcomings: the sound here is somehow strangled (not to be confused with compression) - the instruments seem to overwhelm each other, while being covered with a cotton blanket, and occasionally they go to the background, moving the vocal track forward too much. And here the second flaw catches the ears - the accent of both vocalists, albeit not the worst I've heard in my life. I can't find negative sides in anything else, since the rest is already outside the scope of my competence. The God-fighting philosophical lyrics for the album are generally digestible and competent, and the digipack design is very stylish and neat. A good album, although there are hardly any fans of this style among Bagnik Zine readers. But you never know...
ALLONE – Allone
Year of release: 2018
Label: Aesthetic Death
Rating: 5,5 / 10
Another proof that East or West, home is best is ALLONE. The Poles are very fond of moving to London in search of a better life, and the diaspora there probably only rivals the Hindu in terms of size. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Polish migrants, having moved to England, quickly pick up some kind of infection from the local fog and begin to play bullshit. Probably, only THY WORSHIPER and BLACK ALTAR did not go bad, and even them I mention with reservations. ALLONE, for example, is a project of a relatively unknown musician, but he also has visitors like Alexandros from MACABRE OMEN and famous Mauser (ex-VADER, ex-DIES IRAE), and even Icanraz on drums, who played in ABUSED MAJESTY, CHRIST AGONY, HERMH , DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS (the band’s page on Bandcamp proudly tells which companies the aforementioned drummer is the endorser of, as if someone gives a fuck about that). These bands are united by the fact that they always worked not for themselves, but for the market, therefore it is not surprising that ALLONE turned out to be a high-quality, but completely faceless project. The pluses of music include its extremely uncomfortable atmosphere, but otherwise it is a rather mediocre, modestly avant-garde metal, similar to the late MAYHEM. Well, the acoustics play here along with the lead guitar, so what? Instead of their own lyrics, the band used verses by Charles Bukowski - appropriate verses, but the idea of playing all the music on other people's thoughts seems rather dubious to me. It is not surprising that the best track on the album is the last, instrumental.
English (UK) 
Крыўская