Sverblôd - Sverblôd

Sverblôd - Sverblôd

(February 1st, 2016, Independent)

   Lately polish black metal scene has grown incredibly fast. If some years ago somebody told me that we will have so many great bands in that genre I would've laughed maniacally and question this person's sanity. But our bands became kind of classic acts not only in polish scene but are also praised worldwide. To be honest, many think we are already one of the countries with the best scene in this genre nowadays. Mgła, Blaze of Perdition, Infernal War, Furia... I could go on and on, but what I want to say - we're pretty strong on that ground. And the best thing about the hype in some genres is the fact that many new bands are getting inspired. Some are good, some are not. Sverblôd is from Kraków and they began their music adventure in 2014. The demo album reviewed below is their first released material.

   
   First of all - Sverblôd try to connect two differet genres; cold wave and black metal. But don't worry, they're doing it in a very subtle way. It's not some kind of strange genre hybrid with two heads all over the place. The only thing they "borrowed" from cold wave is the atmosphere. In fact, they're playing old school black metal, with some slower parts here and there. Cold wave influence is everywhere but not in a pushy way - you can just feel this specific, cold and metallic sound. In fact, it's the one of the biggest advantages of the demo. I like how Sverblôd decided to keep this mood without any miserable and tearful whining. Void of any unnecessary longueurs they just absorb you in their freezing winter atmosphere. That's what I like. Atmospheric, but not in a theatrical manner. Just classic black metal.

   The most promising tracks? Well, the highlight moments of Sverblôd are "Resztki", "Waldeninsamkeit" and a cover of The Cure at the end (which is also the longest track on the album). It kind of reminds of Carpathian Forest's cover of "A Forest", with a slight difference - Sverblôd decided to cover "Siamese Twins", one of the most iconic songs from Pornography era of The Cure. And they did it in a pretty good way - it's a nice cover. Those were some big boots to fill, so - well done! "Resztki" and "Waldeninsamkeit" are, in my opinion, the most significant tracks on the demo... They're the culmination of the aforementioned cold atmosphere. And the rest of the material is quite well balanced. It's a very decent demo, with practically no flaws. I must appreciate one thing - the lyrics in Polish. I think our language is very fitting for black metal and that polish bands shouldn't avoid it. It's good to hear it.

   Sverblôd released a very nice and a promising demo. I wish them well and I'm going to keep an eye on them... Who knows what will happen in the future. It would be pretty nice to have another good band coming from my country. And for now, I just must say - dobra robota!

- Tomek

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