After the coming of acts as VADER, HATE and (especially) BEHEMOTH, the extreme Metal scene of Poland gained a ‘DNA’, or in other words, a set of features that are from the Polish bands. It’s obvious that it’s a matter of hearing, experiencing and thinking about it to have such idea, a thing that demands time and patience (what is unusual today, when people in music wants to do many things when listening to music, and not to pay attention to what’s playing). But formulas exist to be broken by bands with courage, bands as HEGEROTH, from Katowice, Silesia (Poland), as heard on their fifth album, “Desintegration”, a pure breed Polish Black Metal release. They broke the conception of ‘Polish extreme Metal’ formula due their personal way of playing Melodic Black Metal that bears influences from the 90s, but without being something that could be said as Old School Black Metal as well (besides some touches similar to what DØDHEIMSGARD, GLOOMY GRIM and MAYHEM did on the 90s can be heard).

It’s nasty, somber and oppressive, full of bleak melodies and due the absence of keyboards, is focuses on guitars to create the right melodic and funereal ambiences. The formula isn’t new, but gains a new life and energy in the hands of these two guys. It’s really a very good release, nasty and aggressive, but charming in all songs. The sound engineering, mixing and mastering were done by the band’s guitarist/bassist Bene. His efforts were to find a blend between and old fashioned set of ideas for the instrumental tunes, to bear an organic sense that’s essential to the genre. But on the other hand, it means that things are defined and understandable as well, what means that anyone can understand what’s being expressed. And the work of Maciej Kamuda (artwork) and Chris Berestecki (layout) is really very good, giving shape to the band’s music.

Nine Hellfire arrows are heard on “Disintegration”, all of them showing that the experience that Bene and Bila bear made the difference, as heard on “The Snake” (that brings a blend between traditional Black Metal with melodic adornments, as the charming tremolo picking parts on the guitars), “Debased” (some disturbing slow moments heard are excellent due the charming darkened ambiences, but some faster parts appear, based on good technical work on bass guitar and drums), “The Dirt” (fast and aggressive as Old School Black Metal must be, but pointed by some slower disturbing moments), “The Shepherd” (excellent nasty and bleak melodies weaved by the guitars creates the right conditions to lay the personal shrieked tunes of the vocals), “The Queen of Spiders” (excellent disturbing parts, again based on a combination of a fine instrumental work with excellent vocals), and “An Accident”. But all the songs are great.

It’s great to hear a band as HEGEROTH doing such a good work, so find “Disintegration” and buy it! And listen to it out loud!