It’s the middle of the night, total darkness, and your body is resting, trying to recharge from the day you just finished. But something grabs you out of the slumber and you awaken, only you can’t move. At all. You’re perfectly aware you’re awake and this isn’t a dream, and your anxiety suddenly begins to thunderstorm through your system, crippling you with fear.
Sleep paralysis is a horrifying trauma, an event that only lasts a minute or two, but if you don’t know what’s happening, it can be a petrifying event that scars you horribly. It’s a real-life incident that’s scarier than demons and devils and blood, and it’s the theme of “Zmora,” the new full-length album (his second overall) from black metal force Bialywilk. The project is solely helmed by Marek Cimochowicz (formerly of Vukari), and his dive into this phenomenon is oddly serene at times even when it’s raining down with nails. But for the rest, the intensity squeezes and storms, making you try to grip to your remaining psychological wellness, hanging on just so you can move and speak again when consciousness returns.
“NDE” starts feeling like it’s floating in space, synth surrounding you and immersing your mind in a dream land that’s about to become a terror. The title track awakens with guitars driving and swelling as the growls flex and merge into a strange transmission. Howls barrel out of that as the force stings flesh, melody builds and glazes, and everything boils with ferocity, the atmosphere thickening and adding pressure to your skull. “Fever Dreams” is punchy and aggressive as growls emerge, melodies release smoke, and the wildness triples and echoes. The vocals wrench as the playing increases its grip, slashing away as the sonic violence buries you in power. A gusty surge breaks as vile growls reemerge and challenge your physical and mental well-being before disappearing into a fog.
“Nine of Swords” has a massive open as the melodies barge their way through the doors, and the pace is plastering, making it impossible to find steady footing. The playing has great, even infectious energy, punishing and pulsating, the drums laying waste to everything laid before it. The beast turns and gushes with power, the growls hammer anew, and a gigantic avalanche crushes bones before fading away. “The Apical Drive” has growls bursting from the seams, tornadic forces sending shrapnel flying, and a storming, blistering pace that becomes a force with which to be reckoned. The drums send pulses rippling through your veins, a heavy melodic surge tears through the fabric of time, and the guitars sting, leaving flesh prone and writhing. “NDE II” closes the album with synth enveloping, the stars coming back and chilling your brain, bleeding and blurring into time, your body releasing you from your prison.
The thematic elements of “Zmora” is more terrifying than what is on so many other black metal records because waking in the middle of the night, crippled, panic racing through your body is about as horrifying a concept as anything. The fact that Cimochowicz makes this music so captivating and even exciting is a credit to creating something so horrible yet believably palpable. Bialywilk’s journey has just gotten started, and with records as strong and emotionally provoking as this one, we’re merely on the precipice of what Cimochowicz is capable with in this project.
For more on the band, go here: https://bialywilk.bandcamp.com/track/nine-of-swords
To buy the album, go here: https://vendettarecords.bigcartel.com/category/vendetta-records-releases
Or here: https://vitadetestabilisrecords.bandcamp.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://vendetta-records.com/
Meat Mead Metal 