Czarne rytuały otchłani

By the time I opened the envelope and I put out the alum of Aryman, I understood that something good is going on here. It is not just the sympathy that I feel for the scene of Poland, but also the simple but special artwork of the album. So I placed the cd into the cd player to listen just to the first track so that I understand what they are about. As you can understand didn’t manage to stop at the first track. I just stopped listening to any other album that I was listening and I decided to get into this one. Aryman was a two member band and since 2015 they have become a five member band, they exist since 2000 and they have already released one demo, two Eps, one split album and two full lengths. “Czarne rytuały otchłani” is their second full length album which was released in late May and it contains twelve tracks one of which is an introduction, of overall duration of about forty minutes.

The music that Aryman present here, is an absolutely violent, barbaric, harsh and monotonous Black Metal which will remind you of the harsh European – Scandinavian Black Metal, combined with elements of the brutal, monotonous, American sound like the style of Demoncy. The riffs are harsh, other times melodic – cold, other times warlike reminding the style of Marduk and other times monotonous and barbaric. There a lot of atmospheric, foggy parts that they create images of darkness and cold feelings. The long, high pitched riffs achieve to put out some very intense feelings, as also some very vivid images of war and destruction. All the aforementioned elements combined, they offer an awesome, warlike experience. However, although the tracks have the regular length, from three to five minutes, into some parts they seem somehow long and tedious. This is happening due to the monotonous, with very few changes approach of the band regarding the composition, something that on one hand takes the listener out of the atmosphere, but on the other hand in that way it creates that depressing, chaotic and brutal depiction of war.

The performance of the band regarding the instruments is of a high level one. The guitars are harsh and barbaric, played with much passion and intense feeling. They present the riffs like a massive war machine, ready to destroy everything. The bass is not clearly audible, it is covered by the guitars, but it fills the sound flawlessly. The drums have very interesting lines, fast and powerful without lacking in the technical, slower passages. Their performance is flawless, they put out the violence, the passion and the power that the compositions demand. The vocals are a very special part of the album. Other times with their weird recitations they remind of Attila from Mayhem, other times with the madness that they put out they remind of Franta Štorm from Master’s Hammer, while other times they remind of Cultes Des Ghoules. Finally, the production is clear and the mixture quite balanced, they produce a very intense and solid result. The lyrics are written in Polish.

Summing up, the second full length work of Aryman is a high level one and it can offer to the listener vivid images and very intense feelings. The band shows that it is working and it is getting improved, something that it confirms my belief that into their next release they will improve and correct the few problems that there are into some parts of their compositions. The fans of the brutal, warlike, European Black Metal buy it with no second thought. The rest of you listen to it and I am sure that you will appreciate it.