Ornath - Wyobcowanie

Band: Ornath

Album: Wyobcowanie [EP]

Genre: Post-Metal (self-described as depressive rock)

Country: Poland

Year: 2013

Link

This one-track EP, 3:53 minutes long, bears the same title as its single song, "Wyobcawanie", which means "isolation" in Polish. Immediately we see this big crow on the album cover and know it's going to be dark. The piano in the background only strengthens the Poe-esque connection, and there is certainly a "Gothic" rock feeling which makes the progression dynamic and provides a lot to listen to, although it's not explosive. The guitars aren't very distorted. The vocals aren't bad except for when the double-vocal, where the secondary voice is kind of... uncalled for. God damn it, they just ruin it for me, but thankfully they aren't featured in most of the song. The ending vocal, however, sounds very nice and conclusive, and the mix goes well. 

Over all it's a fun release and a break from the monotonous drudge of usual "black metal" these days.

8/10 for Post-Metal the double vocal man

dp - Astral Connection

Band: Deep-pression

Album: Astral Connection [EP]

Genre: Ambient Black Metal/DSBM (self-described as deepcreep sounds from nowhere) 

Country: Poland

Year: 2012

Link

What to expect with shrooms as its cover art? They've stylized their name as D-P this time.

This minimalist piece starts out with a sample from someone talking about extraterrestrial life,... Terence McKenna maybe? Then it turns to a chill ambient piece with loose-echoing guitar chords and forlorn, long-strung riffs. It's pretty "spacy", rather than heavy, and is nice for just chilling while overlooking a sea or contemplating the universe. Nothing really disagreeable with it as far as D-P goes. 

By the second track, we get some mixing with samples (which aren't as cool as the first) and some guitar sounds. Then... silence. Or near silence. A low brooding atmosphere in the background. 

Third track is strange, you don't really know what to think of it since it's wavering effect is really sort of off-setting. Varies with mood between a circus organ and some kind of dark intermission. 

Layer- I mean Track 4 is an ominous piece with a droning industrial drum-line. No real progression except for a guitar riff becoming clearer. 

Fifth track: again, samples with some low-key scifi drone. The drums are kind of harsh but beat at a low volume. 

Last track: definitely feels like some kind of conclusion or climax is reached. Both sample and guitar are stronger. None of the mangled English lyrics from past releases.

Really, after listening to all this it reminds me of that Apple voice from the opening of the Lain episodes: L A Y E R : 0 9, A L I E N S

7.5/10 for Ambient

Deep-pression

New Moon

I showed them a piece of the universe,

I showed them a piece of a scar,

Where the colours were the most meadowlike,

All stories start somewhere, usually ending nowhere,

Don’t believe! Act!! (Even if it’s poor acting,)

Leave the footprints,

Leave them on a new moon.

Glacial Sun

Cold blue suns hide

Beyond burning horizons,

My eyes stare at the wastelands,

And I listen to skeletal wings

Of hungry birds, fluttering in grey clouds

Above the cold rocks,

Frozen rivers of insanity floating

Down the spine of this fucked-up reality,

We welcome the skies

While embracing dead corpses,

In the mud

Cold blue lies…

On the coldest top I am perched,

It is the highest one!

A great falling-downwards has started,

Magnificent sunsets cry in my chest,

I open my veins on the hill

Under the glacial sun and frozen vultures…

Snow on a Bone

Flickering with silver lights,

Making sound (in my mind),

Snowflakes, invaders from the sky,

Our uniforms are wet

And it’s going to get cold,

Lightning is on the horizon,

Trees fall down with noise,

We crawl in frozen mud

Covered with the first wintry snows,

Wounds are pink, without pain when

The whole body is embraced by cold,

When no more is the soul

And the mind is just a greedy, scared organ

Making a mess of its muscles,

We sleep in the trenches,

Starlit skies…

Above, and lastly,

The last thing I saw,

I can’t swear,

But it was snow on a bone.

Dead to the Bone

She is in the air

Smelling through moisture

And the last evening’s thoughts

Left in the area

Where no wind blows,

Dead-water brings no life

Drowned in colourless oceans,

Sorrows breed,

Shadows rise,

Motionless limbs,

Pale, almost grey

On death-cold ice.

Based on the lyrics by "RH-"