“From Nowhere” is the translation of this EP from black metal band Angrrsth. Actually they come from Toruń in Poland, and this is their debut work.
The first track is a bit of a riot – harsh as hell of course as it’s Polish, heavy, crusty and violent. By the end of “Krew I Trans” it sounds like the lads are having a laugh. The rough edge is clearly or not so clearly Angrrsth’s trademark, and this continues into “I Kopyt Slyszę Stuk”. Whilst I realise that black metal doesn’t have to be structured and the harsh rawness is integral, the energy and firepower of this don’t really make up for the apparent lack of continuity. Angrrsth to be fair do put their all into this organically crusty black metal. “Upadiem” starts in more solemn style but the flailing fire returns. After a passage of pomp, guns blaze and sore throats are in evidence as “Upadiem” enigmatically reaches its end. “Siarka I Kwas” (Sulphur and Acid) is like being in the middle of a war and fires off at all angles before ending on an almost sophisticated note, at least by the standards of the rest of this work. The sleeve notes suggested there were going to be four tracks, but out of nowhere in keeping with the album title there is a fifth. The seven minute mystery track is in fact the most coherent of the bunch and has a lively riff, around which Angrrsth build a substantial track with losing the menace. It’s a revelation after the previous mish-mash. After a bit of research I concluded that the mystery track is in fact “Nad Glową Sznur”.
Leaving aside the merits of the mystery track, slick this is not. “Znikąd” is a raw, cold assault with no apparent purpose other than to bludgeon us into submission. There are transitions but whilst they’re not exactly clumsy, they are not in any way streamlined. This is raw, largely unrefined underground black metal. It’s too crude to get my top mark for technical structure, and there’s much more that could have been done to develop the atmosphere, but I still liked its energy.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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