When it comes to raw black metal artists with extremely lo-fi quality, the reactions from listeners can possibly be mixed. Some may praise the production as it's seen as the whole point of raw black metal while some others may condemn it altogether to the point it may be virtually unlistenable. While the black metal scene has it's share of different sub-genres and overall quality throughout the years, we still certainly have plenty of artists whom attempt to preserve the raw side of the genre including obscure underground ones. And what we have here is one of those old obscure artists with their sole demo release "...a piorunem przegnam świt..." with a rather unique take on the raw genre.
Assumed to be released in 1996, this 5-track demo by Poland's very own Weldar delivers an extremely crusty production that maintains a fantasy-like setting for the entire experience. While the song titles are in Polish, the exact translations can be heavily supportive as the instrumentation work for each of these tracks places the listeners in a series of ancient battles and other fantasy-like settings. As the demo opens with the introduction track that translates to "The scream of the last battle", we are quickly delivered a short series of mid-paced string instruments that have a somewhat whimsical tone as it is accompanied by the sound effect of a laughing old hag. This lasts for a good 15 seconds before we are given a choir section and raw booming drum beats that can easily remind the listeners of old fantasy stories and movies such as Excalibur and Conan The Barbarian. The use of the string instruments maintain a whimsical conduct that play alongside the choir performance as a use of trumpets and other horn instruments are also brought into the setting. This lasts for a good moment until the middle range of the track's length introduces sound effects of battle taking place such as swords clashing, men grunting in pain, horses whining and marching, and thrown weapons piercing the flesh of fighters. This lasts for the remainder of the entire track until it all eventually fades out. The production quality also gives a very strong static effect and as such, it's very hard to tell if the artist simply took the entire track's composition and sound effects from a movie or it's something completely original.
As we enter the second track that translates to "Blood Revenge", we are immediately greeted by a guitar feedback effect for a short 3 seconds before it quickly performs a somewhat fast-paced tremolo riffs. If the listener's ears can pass the production's strong raw static effect, they can easily identify the guitar work with it's distorted effect has a strong melodic tone that's somewhat standard for raw black metal bands that play pagan or other fantasy-related music. The drum work is also heavily buried in the raw mix so it's almost hard to hear it at times, although the listener would at least be able to make out the drum's use of cymbal crashes that switches it's tempo from medium to fast pace at times while the snare beat maintains a fast pace. The vocal style itself delivers a combination of harsh croaks that somewhat resembles early Mayhem and Darkthrone along with slow gloomy singing with an echo effect that's somewhat reminiscent of a choir. Now of course, there are moments when the guitar work doesn't always stick to it's fast paced tremolo as it eventually switches it's tempo to a mid-paced riff that maintains melodic scales. Upon reaching near the end of the track, we get caught off-guard when the track suddenly vibrates a very weird glitch as the audio gives a strong electrical-like explosive effect that only last for almost 3 seconds before the audio returns to the normal raw performance. This is not the only time it happens as the very same thing happens as the outro for the fifth track. So as such, It's literally impossible to tell if these two moments were truly a glitch during the recording or if it was something intentional. Although they're thankfully not exactly ear-piercing, they are still enough to cause a downside for this demo due to their sudden appearance from out of nowhere. As we enter the third track, we are quickly given another series of mid-paced guitar riffings and cymbal beatings that has a more doom metal vibe than the earlier track although the guitar does speed up it's tempo for a couple moments like before while the vocal style performances maintains the very same combination mix as before. Now the last two tracks are very much the same deal as they deliver a combination of fast and mid paced instrumentation performance. Although there are no use of keyboards to be heard, the overall instrumentation work mixed with the raw lo-fi production was actually enough to deliver an atmosphere that places my mind in the demo's very own fantasy setting.
This sole demo "...a piorunem przegnam świt..." by Weldar is an extreme 17-minute journey with it's crusty production, melodic guitar scales, muddy drum beats and cold vocals that can place possible listeners in the dark adventures and bloody battles this demo was aiming for. As such, this release is something that fans of raw lo-fi black metal may not want to possibly miss. ... See More
