Lately I have received many promo CD's from Polish bands that "belong" to the extreme Metal scene. What I have noticed is that more and more bands use Idustrial elements in their music. One of them is this quintet from Poznan (the goat city as the bands there call it), EMPTY PLAYGROUND. What made the first impression one me was the band's name, which at first seemed too "simple", but if you just think of this empty playground image, can be too spooky...

The band has been alive and kicking for 6 years, and it has already managed to release two EP's, one self financed and one through its current label Witching Hour Productions, the label which also released EMPTY PLAYGROUND's debut album "Under Dead Skin".

With a music that is too brutal to be described as Industrial, yet too "electronic" to be described as Death Metal, EMPTY PLAYGROUND stand somewhere in the middle. With many samples from horror movies, brutal beats and a totally cold atmosphere, the polish madmen manage to attract your attention and serve you their own suggestion of how modern brutal music should sound like. Their music has this distinctive Polish Death/Black Metal sound, which may remind you a bit of DIES IRAE or THY DISEASE. The production is also really strong, as it should be since with Industrial elements in your sound you ought to have a crystal clear sound, and "Under Dead Skin" reveals every little detail it hides armed with this sound.

What isn't so attractive in here is that the band may have some interesting ideas, but it ends up tiring after some listening sessions. I guess this is mostly because the songs have a similar character and atmosphere, something that makes them sound the same. It maybe also because of the samples from the horror movies, since they are so many that sound cool up to one point, after that they just sound boring...

Anyway, EMPTY PLAYGROUND clearly seems like a band with huge potential and they just need to take advantage of it and start spending a bit more time on the music itself, than the image, the samples and other "extra" stuff. Check them out because I think everyone may find even one interesting thing in there.