I’m not a cinema-goer but I do know who Max von Sydow was. This “pure satanic, death worshipping” album from the Polish black metal band Manbryne is in memory of him. One of the band members plays in Blaze of Perdition but this is Manbryne’s debut work.
Fumes and foreboding emanate from “Pustka, którą znam” (The Emptiness I Know), the opening track. The air is black as the triggering drum and contemptuous guitar rhythm fill the space murderously. The whole scene is menacing. Death is not quick It’s by a thousand cuts. “Pustka, którą znam” is strong and impressive. Quiet menace then leads to an explosion of fury. The creepy, whispering scene returns. The storm clouds rise again and “W pogoni za wiarą” (In Pursuit of Faith) shows its darkly majestic face. It’s battery over subtlety. “Ostatni splot” (The Last Knot) certainly is that. The groove is set at carcinogenic mode, dropping off occasionally for a break and some spoken evil. “Majestat upadku” (Majesty of the Fall) angrily drives us forward, surrounding itself as ever with an impressive wall of sheer heaviness and copious suffering thrown in. “Na trupa trup” (Corpse Upon Corpse) completes this no nonsense set. It ends with the sound of crows. They are no doubt waiting to pounce on the deathly scene.
The title of this album broadly translates as “Of the Torment of the Body and the Wandering of the Soul”. Well there’s plenty of torment, all couched in fiery, furious black scenes. “Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy” is typical of the Polish black metal breed of raging darkness.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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