(Find out why the new album from Zmarłym is one of Andy Synn‘s favourites of the year so far)
I may catch a little bit of flack for this… but… from my perspective the first third (since we’re almost a third of the way through the year now) of 2025 has been kind of slow, musically speaking.
I’m not saying it’s been a bad year, by any means, and if it’s been working for you then that’s not a bad thing either, but for me 2025 so far feels like a bit of a step down from 2024 (and 2023, and so on), with a lot of the “big” names or highly hyped new releases just coming across as “ok”.
That being said, there have definitely been a few notable stand-outs (some of which I’ve been able to write about and review here), and a lot more potential highlights to look forward to, so I wouldn’t exactly say we should be ready to write off the whole year just yet.
Especially when we’ve got bands like Zmarłym putting out such a distinct, dynamic, and deviously unorthodox take on Black Metal with their recently-released second album, Wielkie Zanikanie.
While there is no question in my mind that Zmarłym are a Black Metal band deep in their bones – commendable comparisons to the likes of Panzerfaust and Beltez can clearly be made during impressively powerful, yet intricately layered, opener “Miejsca” for example, while much of the album (especially the electrifying “Ludzie Schronu (2034)”) possesses a gleaming obsidian sheen reminiscent of Gaerea or Der Weg einer Freiheit – there’s also a good chance that Wielkie Zanikanie, with its more eclectic, “Post-Black Metal” leanings, will alienate many of those with a more “traditionalist” mindset.
But that seems to be a chance Zmarłym are more than willing to take if it means allowing them to inject their sound with more of their own unique character and a more fully-realised sense of identity, whether that’s in the form of the sneering, almost punky, clean vocals which pop up during “Idziemy W Mgłę” (and even more prominently during the electrifyingly anthemic “A Good Day”), the prominent, bass-driven pulse of “Bunt Maszyn”, or the shimmering, sci-fi synths which underpin the mesmerising title-track.
As a matter of fact, I’d say that the unsettling synth-infused undercurrent of the band’s sound, all technicolour texture and luridly Lynch-ian tension, is a big part – sometimes subtly (“Idziemy W Mgłę”) at other times much more overtly (“Miejsca”, “Plamy I”) – of what makes Wielkie Zanikanie such a brilliantly distinctive piece of work, helping the group add an artsy, without ever coming across as self-indulgently “avant-garde”, edge to the music.
Of course it also helps that Zmarłym aren’t afraid to put the pedal to the proverbial metal either, with drummer Michał Piekarski unleashing a flurry of ferocious blastbeats and high-velocity kick patterns during songs such as “Sny O Lataniu” and “Plamy II”, while the dual guitars of Kacper Biedrzycki and frontman Andrzej Kądziela prove themselves equally capable of ripping out scything riffs and seething tremolo runs as they are weaving in these elaborate threads of moodily melodic leads and hauntingly hypnotic harmonics throughout the album.
Make no mistake about it, as instantly arresting and insidiously hooky as this album is – which will be both a major selling point for some, and possibly cause for concern for others – there’s just as much substance, just as much depth and nuance, as there is style to this release, which only seems to get better the more I listen to it and the more deeply immersed I become.
And it’s my sincere hope that the same holds true for at least some of you out there reading this as well.