With the formidable recording capabilities available to bands today, it's a bit harder to distinguish bands that are legitimately heavy from those who just pretend to be, at least for the casual listener. You don't have to be a die-hard, however, to enjoy the raw ferocity of Polish Death Metal trio KURHAN, whose debut LP "Głód" savagely and efficiently batters the listener over its eight tracks.

It's refreshing that the band's take on Extreme Metal, a genre that has stressed the importance of technical skills more than ever in recent years, is such an intense and focused effort of aggression, wasting little time on subtleties or needlessly showy elements. Chaotic ragers like "Porządek" and "Katedra" surround the listener with swarming riffs, with a bruising rhythm section enforcing their presence. KURHAN's confidence is audible in their music as they embrace shifts in mood and tempo that are refreshing and just as heavy. The title track draws more from the traditional art of Black Metal, with its frenzied blastbeats and strange malevolence, whereas songs like the aforementioned "Katedra" and "Światłość wiekuista" bristle with the predatory tenacity of thrash. As the title of the album translates from Polish as "Hungry," it's only fitting that the band seem to get stronger as the album progresses, maintaining a crushing pace all the way through to manic pounding of closer "Koniec."

Another area where the band really shines is with its vocals. Many non-English speaking bands choose to write in the language to broaden their appeal, but if it doesn't sound natural, people might not take them seriously. The band's decision to write and record in their native language, to me, helps give the vocals a more sincere feel, and K. Mazur sounds deranged as he roars furiously throughout the album. "Głód" is a well crafted and highly listenable effort that brings the brutality at all times, a must-listen for Blackened Death Metal fans.<