Must thank the members of Gorycz for granting me an early preview of their second album Kamienie, which will be released November 4, 2022 through Pagan Records. Debut album Piach saw release in 2018, so, with the 4 year stretch altering their line up how does this impact the sound and approach to song craft on Kamienie?
Interestingly enough with guitarist Przemek Grabowski and drummer Wojciech Błaszkowski having ties to Non Opus Dei that signature sound is evident here; however, it serves different function. With Gorycz the atmosphere is designed for creeping dread. Eerie dissonant chords that are prevalent with both acts are given more room to hang in the cosmos and much of that space can be attributed to a couple things in terms of approach. First, Non Opus Dei employ more speed. Though each act is far from a traditional black metal - one could even think of Non Opus Dei being akin to Nyia’s angular death grind twisted into a black metal entity and Gorycz being the despondent, black jazz cousin. The drumming is still busy with Gorycz, but it is more relaxed involving less emphasis on double kicks and blasting. This brings the second significant difference to bear, the guitar tones with Gorycz have diminished dialed-in distortion and the bass is given more weight in tone and features prominently in the mix.
This new incarnation of Gorycz has proven more than capable to meet and exceed the my expectations set from the debut, Piach. In addition to ties to Non Opus Dei there is additional familiarity between players as some were involved with AEON. So, there was really never any doubt as to whether musically things wouldn’t gel in terms of song craft. Something I notice off the bat with Kamienie is further clarity to this recording. It is not at all a detriment to the sound as the songs appear to have a more rhythmic focus and a deliberate choice to use less guitar distortion than before. Also at play is an extremely dynamic mix utilizing left-right guitar separation with very few doubled guitar parts, a centered thick bass guitar tone working with a conventional drum set up. With regard to guitar playing things are working in tandem almost in call/response lines, the use of different delays and reverbs cycling and decaying at dissimilar intervals adding tension and dynamics. The fact that there seem to be only 2 guitar tracks involved in most songs this minimalist approach is allowing for more depth to the sound design. The drum performance is particularly strong throughout and with this open mix it pays dividends to the fills and push/pull nature of what is going on within the arrangements. Bolstering the music is a blistering, mainly maniacal yelling in their native tongue, which to someone such as myself who is unfamiliar to the language adds to the abrasiveness.
Many of the songs have a mid tempo feel, but, there is bounce in these elastic rhythms similar to those prominent in certain Gorguts - Obscura tracks. Gorycz is dissonant in an intentional sour note jazz feel of Virus or Ved Buens Ende rather than the rusty razor strings of Hurdle and Lemay.
I also feel the mix is dynamic from song to song. Whether it is different amps or guitars or a deliberate touch on the mixing board, there sounds to be push and pull with the instruments between songs. For instance the video track “Chcę inne oczy” and “Szczurom niebieskim,” the first having an equal balance between the instruments and the following song having more prominence to the guitars. Even a track such as “Znoszone dłonie”seems to emphasize the drum performance and backing the guitars slightly off until the final third of the song when they, along with the vocals, gain intensity.
The devil is in the details with Kamienie. A black jazz ouroboros should you allow the album to be on repeat and have the closing track “Kamienie milczą” circle back into opener “Zabieram skórze Twoją twarz.” And you would be better for it to simply allow the cycling riffs to hypnotize and bend you to their lunatic will.
While we’re on the subject of Pagan Records, there is new MORD'A'STIGMATA and YFEL 1710 in the wings. A new video track for “I Am the Arm” from Mord’A’Stigmata has recently surfaced.
What else do we detect from Poland? New [4672]. A track featuring vocals from Antigama’s Łukasz "Lucas" Myszkowski for an album that is slated to arrive in 2023. And, as one would expect from [4672] death grind of the highest order.