Varmia – ‘Prolog’ (EP 2022)
Rating: 7/10
Release: 6 January 2023
Label: Independent / Bandcamp
It is my first time listening to this polish band’s material and I am even not really keen on black metal but I have now heard their latest ep “prolog” and I’ll admit that I didn’t have too bad of an experience. Reading some history I found out that this band’s purpose is to combine black metal (which you can clearly find throughout the totality of songs they provide us) with traditional folk instruments (such as the goat horn and the tagelharpa) you can recognize here and there during the songs.
The first two songs are filled with raw guitars but perhaps this rawness has been made on purpose. I am listening to some of their older material from third album “bal Lada” and this feature sounds even stronger than now. During the songs, the drummer ranges between faster rhythms and slower ones where more space is given to instruments such as the bass or the folk instruments.
Overall the band manages to find a correct balance between folk and black, and vocals manage to reach this goal by switching between more “dirty” screams and “whitevoice” singing which by the way is another peculiarity of the band.
The third track is acoustic and here rhythm is lead by the guitar and drums while we are driven into the depth of the song first through clean vocals, and some screams into the last minute of song who eventually leave us into a fading wind’s sound and then at the end of the ep. Overall the band successfully reaches its main goal written on the first paragraf but that’s a pity the band has not provided us lyrics to understand what they’re singing. The level is still decent though and despite its short length I can see this work satisfying black metal listeners who will certainly want to hear more from this polish formation.
Tracklist
- Oddal 06:35
- Gorzkie fale 04:27
- 3 04:28