The music of MAW is as curious as their name. If you fashion the ‘a’ just right, you can flip the name upside down and it will say the same thing. Also, is it a gaping maw or just a moist orifice? You see, now I creeped my own self out. At any rate, their label, Argonauta Records, calls them Modern Stoner/Desert, elsewhere they’re referenced as Heavy Psych. I agree with all that plus throw in a bit of Prog and Sludge, mix all that up in some kind of cauldron and you got MAW, the trippy Stoner band out of Krakow.

MAW formed in 2019. They released their self-titled debut in January 2021, after getting stalled by Covid. Four years later during another cold January they released their sophomore album, The Humble Collapse. How to describe their music? Despite having two guitarists, they don’t come at you with chainsaw riffs or tremolo fireballs. Instead, they have a psych jam vibe. Very explorative and at times even experimental. I mean, I thought I had them figured out until I got to the fifth track, “LeCo,” which is like a sludgy cosmic egg. And if you’re struggling to understand what that sounds like, that’s how I felt and I was actually listening to the track.

Let me back up. Tracks 1 – 3 sound like they came out of same womb. Siblings, if you will. Think sludgy Stoner Pysch with slightly gritty vocals—mostly clean, but scruffy like a two-day beard. Of these three, “Black Box” is my fav. Let’s call that one standout track #1.

And then track four, “Umb,” happens and things start to get sideways. Atmospheric, mellow. Sounds like a windy day in the desert. You might call it a shamal wind, blowing hot and sandy over Middle Eastern deserts. Sustaining that motif, track four, “Red Sea,” acts like a cooling presence tamping down the convection oven winds. I should pause here and point out the Middle Eastern theme is a real thing with this album. You feel it with “Umb,” it’s overtly referenced in “Red Sea,” and then there is the whole album cover which looks like a plasticine model of Dubai complete with the Burj Khalifa. No answers for you, just pointing some shit out. Anyway . . .

So, if “Umb” started to veer sideways, then “LeCo” is an out-of-control vortex of weirdness. We stay on that motif through the next two tracks before winding up at track nine, “Still,” a meandering but smooth number that ranks as standout #2 on my list.

Track 10 is a 42 second flashback to a KING CRIMSON wet dream you may or may not have while ingesting ‘shrums. Some spoken word action with this one. Guessing it’s Polish, but as an American, I really have no idea. I’ve been to Krakov many times as well as Warsaw and Gdansk—in fact, Poland is one of my favorite countries—but I can’t understand a word of the language. That brings us to the final track, “Citizen of Dunes,” which is standout track #3 for those who are counting. North of six minutes, this instrumental is just gorgeous. Some groovy breaks, and at the 4:30 mark it gets positively heavy. Hells yeah.  

All in all, The Humble Collapse by MAW is clearly not a Metal album, but what it lacks in volume and viscera it makes up in innovation and trippiness. Definitely worth a few spins, this one. Straight sevens.