Pogarda – Czarne Obrazy

The brave new world seems to march invariably on, for better or worse. And if you, like me, have a tendency to wallow in the more negative aspects of life, drawing nourishment from the sheer beauty of melancholy; Fear not, you are not alone! As of this summer, Polish Progressive Black Metallers Pogarda have your back (with Pogarda even being Polish for ‘Contempt’).

So far the band has released a single EP onto the world, carrying the title Czarne Obrazy – Unsurprisingly also Polish, but in this case translating into ‘Black Paintings’. It consists of twenty-one minutes of pure, unrepentant misery, disdain, hate and jealousy practically divided across five bite-sized chunks. Just long enough to immerse you and leaving you wanting more.

All in all, I am having a interestingly hard time pinning down this album. On paper, the very progressive approaches alone should have been enough to leave me cold, citing my long-standing aversion to innovation and general change as the main reasoning behind it – The fact that it is super-imposed onto a Polish-inspired Black Metal framework should have done very little to alleviate this, considering how I normally revert to the more ‘standard’ Black Metal sound. However, slowing down the music, keeping it ever-so-slightly off-key as well as the complete suffusion throughout both lyrical and instrumental performances – It speaks volumes about the injustices of the world and draws me in, hook line and sinker in much the samme manner that Funeral Doom has a tendency to do.

Not really sure what else to say to promote exactly how much this band positively surprised me, honestly – If you are into experimental Black metal with a nihilistic twist, give them a spin – And do feel free to look me up if you are ever in the neighbourhood. I would love to compare notes.

https://www.facebook.com/pogarda.bm