Viamaer has come into being.
Created from the most personal ideas of Polish musician Krystian Jurkiewicz (all instruments/vocals), the project unveils itself with a debut album, In Luminae Lunae, in early 2026.
A first melody carries our minds away on In excitatione terrae, the opening track, leading us naturally to the arrival of saturation and misty whispers, then visceral screams that also seem to be held back behind this veil of coldness that makes them seem distant. The instrumental part is sure to get excited, revealing all its fury before mixing it with the omnipresent emotions that weave their darkness and then break sharply to let In lumine lunae take over and envelop us in its cocoon of dark tranquility, which certainly allows moments of violence to pass, but which also strikes me with its naturalness and gentleness. The track is very dissonant, almost distressing at times, while Dimensio mortis, which is shorter, offers us a more vivid experience between the soaring Post-Punk influences that join the haunting but ultimately unpredictable Black Metal, which sometimes allows itself a few moments of uncertainty. We find this same concept on Ultra insaniam and its very slow beginnings, which easily allow us to lose ourselves in these apathetic riffs and their intoxicating harmonics, but Liberum arbitrium offers a different approach, trading this sluggishness for a heavier evolution where the vocal parts are much more present and different. Nostalgia easily overtakes us during the quiet moments, tortured by more visceral eruptions that ultimately join Haec Vox and its playful tones, which create an interesting contrast with the rest of the composition, alternating all shades of darkness to weave its languid web. Magna paranoia, in turn, carries us away into its impenetrable limbo, suffocating us with clean vocals, screams, and penetrating harmonics to develop this blanket of fog from which the choirs will eventually escape before the icy Smaragdus somnium, which borrows from prog to close the album with a more complex but ultimately equally enjoyable touch, allowing the Shoegaze to gradually evaporate.
If gentleness moves you as much as violence, Viamaer will be your next favorite of 2026. Darkness and misty tones blend beautifully on In Luminae Lunae, the first album from an inspired and striking project that I personally have high hopes for.
90/100