You probably never heard of Manbryne, but they’re here.
Recently created in Poland, the band formed of S (vocals), Renz (guitar/bass), Wyrd (guitar) and Priest (bass) releases Heilsweg: O udrece ciala i tulaczce duszy, its first album, as a tribute to the actor Max von Sydow, deceased in 2020.
Very mysterious, the band evolves into a visceral and unholy Black Metal. If you don’t speak polish, the album’s title can be literally translated by “Of Carnal Torment and Wandering of the Soul”, and that’s precisely into this mystical melting that the band soaks its raw riffs, surmounted by vocals in polish.
Only noticing a single song would be heresy, and even if the idea could please the band, you have to listen to the album in its entirety to have a real idea. It’s only this way that you can feel this progression into hatred and violence the members create. After an introductive sample, the first song begins, with heady tones, quiet howlings and this solid rhythmic that will follow all along the album. Dissonance is clearly part of the band’s melodies, overflowing with blackness, and we can progressively hear it, the oppression becoming more and more worrying with the second song. Melancholy joins acrimony, offering tearing harmonics, airy breaks like on the third song, as well as parts with some peacefully spoken words. Whispers strengthen the oppression that reigns, like on the fourth track, which is however more vindictive and raw. Drums offers more accessible parts, while letting the other instruments weave this dark veil, then it’s with the last song, which is also the shortest and the more visceral, that the album ends.
The first time I heard it, Heilsweg: O udrece ciala i tulaczce duszy caught me into a time spiral before spitting me out. And even if the album becomes more accessible, it is Manbryne’s strength, a mystical vortex of blackness.
90/100