Recommended for fans of: Oranssi Pazuzu, White Ward, Grey Aura
It’s been a busy month, and time is short, so let’s dispense with the preamble, shall we?
Suffice it to say that if you’re looking for some richly textured, darkly evocative music that combines the best bits of “Blackened Post-Metal” and “Post-Black Metal” (of the more avant-garde kind, rather than the more populist one) into something that can best be described as “post-genre”… then Poland’s Gorycz might just be for you.
And with their third album, Zasypia, having just been released back at the beginning of the month now seemed like the perfect time to shine a spotlight on the band.
2018 – PIACH
While all sharing a similar sonic source, each of the band’s three albums so far have demonstrated a subtly different focus, with debut album Piach favouring the more brooding and atmospheric side of things… as the hypnotic, bass-driven throb of opener “Ziemia” should immediately make clear.
Blending gloom-shrouded chords with piercing harmonics, topped off with a series of sinister, snarling vocalisations, it sets out the band’s moody, morose stall with confident, consumnate ease, allowing the even darker, doomier strains of “Czarna Ciecz” – which further showcases both the intricate, creative drum work underpinning the album and the oppressive, ominous atmosphere the group have already built up – to push things even further (concluding with a stunning eruption of dissonant blackened intensity).
“Ciżba wyje” then doubles-down on this even further, it’s hefty, rumbling bass tone and equally weighty guitars – combined with some increasingly pounding percussion – combining to create a heavy, yet haunting, sense of gloomy claustrophobia and doom-laden dread, after which the booming guitars and shape-shifting drums of “Lament” (interspersed with moments of eerie introspection) slowly but surely build in both intensity and complexity as the song progresses.
The undulating grooves and infectiously dissonant anti-melodies of “Strach na ludzi” then step up to prove that Gorycz are more than capable of inorporating an array of off-kilter hooks into their unorthodox amalgam of strange sound and fury (signifying only that they’re beholden to nothing and no-one), before the eponymous “Gorycz” provides perhaps the definitive manifesto for the band as it broods and grooves, slithers and simmers… before finally exploding in an eruption of angular, abrasive Black Metal angst.
2022 – KAMIENIE
Somehow even darker than its predecessor (that opening bass line to “Zabieram Skórze Twoją Twarz” is a gloriously unsettling way to start the album, make no mistake), Kamienie also finds the band pushing their more Black Metal/”blackened” side a little more towards the foreground, with the aforementioned opener marrying sullen, doomy pressure and asphyxiating ambience with sudden surges of blasting drums and jerky, jagged guitars clearly designed to keep both the band and the listener on their toes.
“Matka” then puts the Black Metal side of the band’s sound – all neck-snapping snare beats, bone-jarring riffs, and throat-scarring snarls – right up front, only to then make a sudden turn towards the weirder, more avant-garde side of things with its transition towards a proggier and more intricately arranged amalgam of ringing, discordant note patterns and rippling, writhing bass-lines, topped off with a series of keening, semi-clean vocals and underpinned by a series of subtly complex percussive patterns that give the song an undeniable, yet unpredictable, sense of moody momentum.
“No Dno” is then, if anything, even more abrasive, while still maintaining this overarching sense of bleak, noir-ish ambience – all gloaming shadows and shimmering shades of grey – after which the maddening repetition of “Chcę Inne Oczy” and the hypnotically harsh “Szczurom Niebieskim” (which features some of the most creatively complex and unpredictable drum work on the album) continue to remind you that Gorycz are just as capable of being cruelly catchy as they are compellingly caustic.
And while the short instrumental interlude of “Wybija Czas” doesn’t necessarily add a whole lot to the record, the same can’t be said about the oddly melodic “Znoszone Dłonie”, which adds a touch of introspective (yet oddly chaotic) calm to the album… though this is soon shattered by the propulsive percussion and piercing disharmonies of “Na Czerwono Odpłyną Lzy”, which combines taut, twitchy guitars and bleak, brooding bass-lines into one of the band’s moodiest and most multi-faceted tracks yet.
Concluding with the pseudo-title-track, “Kamiennie Milczą”, which seamlessly marries avant-garde, atmosphere-heavy weirdness with harsh, hammering intensity, the band’s second album only reaffirms that Gorycz are about as atypical of a “Black Metal” band… if that term still applies… as any of their more infamous peers!
2025 – ZASYPIA
And if Kamienie successfully challenged the perception of Gorycz as a “Black Metal” band, then Zasypia firmly establishes them as a band… “Black Metal” or not… beholden to no rules or restrictions beyond those which they choose to impose on themselves.
From the expansive exploration of eerie negative space, seething dissonance, and pulsating, propulsive rhythms that is “Kocha” through to the final thundering note of the compulsive title-track, it’s an album which rarely (if ever) takes the easy route, preferring instead to zig where others would zag as it throws elements of Black Metal, Post-Metal, Prog, and Sludge into the blender with what at first seems like reckless abandon but which soon becomes clear is in fact merciless, methodical precision.
“Budzi”, for example, settles in for a simmering slow-burn, taking its time to build up layers of dissonance and density and asphyxiating atmosphere over the course of just over five increasingly intense, doom-laden minutes, while “Tańczy” finds the band exploring their more deviously (and disturbingly) melodic side which in turn builds up to a densely discordant finale, before the prowling, pounding, Post-Punk-meets-Black-Jazz amalgam of “Pije” completely shatters any remaining genre boundaries.
This complete disregard for the limitations of custom or convention then continues throughout both “Zdrazda” – which embodies the sound of doing opium in a smoke-filled club from a world where Miles Davis joined Mayhem – and “Wybacza” (with the latter being of a particularly dark and sinister, blackened “post-genre” hue that should, nevertheless, appeal to fans of noir-ish nihilism from across the spectrum).
Indeed, “sinister” might just be the key word to bear in mind when considering this record, as there’s something absolutely bone-chilling about the disquieting melodies of “Milczy” – the band opting for a “less is more” approach, at least at first, which really gets under your skin – which results in a sense of haunting horror overlaying the rest of the track, even as it builds and builds in pulse-pounding intensity.
The bassy palpitations and agitated, anxiety-inducing chords of “Błądzi” also possess a similarly unnerving atmosphere, but it’s the claustrophobic atmospherics and dense metallic weight of “Starzeje” – layers upon layers of dissonance, distortion, and ambience that combine to create something greater than the simple sum of their parts – which really set out how incredibly intricate and immersive (not to mention wholly individual) Gorycz‘s sound has become!