Gorycz - Piach

Poland seems to be a hotbed these days for new and untouched musical experiments from within the underbelly of their black metal scene. While the more well known Polish black metal bands have maintained the stylistic connection to the Second Wave bands, and a large portion have taken the deeper underground road towards the decidedly Eastern European black metal subset such as Arkona and Graveland, there now seems to be a wellspring of renewed vigor towards creating something unique and definable. Gorycz are in this grouping of bands, easily labelled post-black, but that classification ignores the subject matter on a deeper level. Additionally, I don't think anyone that is currently involved with this movement would care to have any labels attached their music. When Przemek Grabowski, Tomek Kukliński, Wojtek Błaszkowski, and Krysiek Górski managed to coalesce into Gorcyz, their aim was in fact nothing defined other than "writing and playing music without a set concept or goal other than to enjoy themselves." This lack of a concept or goal would, it seems, get thrown out the window.

Tomek Kuklinksi, lyricist and vocalist explained to me a bit more about the foundation of the band. "The origin is substantially typical. Przemek, Wojtek and Krzysiek were involved in Non Opus Dei. After the release of “Diabeł” album they decided that they need a break from the band's formula, and to play something different. Without any plans, really." Tomek also told me that releasing Gorycz under the Pagan Records banner was not a difficult prolonged decision. "Pagan Records seemed to be the obvious choice for us. They have released a tremendous number of albums we were fond of over the years proving to be fearless of risk and artistic challenges. They've been around the Polish underground metal scene for a very long time and their publishing always seemed to be honest." With Piach, the band is a perfect fit for Pagan Records eclectic roster of forward thinking bands.

Their album, Piach, it's name translating to 'heavy sand', circumnavigates a concept best described by Tomek himself. "It is more a heavy sand than just a sand. The same they'll cover us up with at the end. The ultimate purpose. The very meaning of life itself is to become the food and the fertilizer. Senility, illness and death are being effectively displaced by the narcissistic cult of youth. It is a denial regarding the truth about human. Human is just a sack of meat, a cancer which takes us prettily, it is a fertility being pushed off the margins of the culture of love. We are alone, clunky really, without any justification. That is why we are far from all the philosophy of life. We call in a vacuum, death is a fact. One of the few in absurd life." The lyrics came rather naturally apparently. "The words emerged from observation. There is no message in them, nor sublime ensure, nor statements. We are just a living matter and there is nothing to marvel about it, nothing miraculous. We are an accident, a quirk of fate if you like. Very often we don't realize how peculiarly and suddenly our mortality can reveal itself to us. I think that immortality is our ultimate desire, therefore we've created the culture itself along with absurdity of the art, gods and dreams. It seems to me that awareness of death is our only goal we should post sincerely. To tame our coffin, to love the heavy sand they'll put on you at the end, to incorporate the presence of the grave into our life. This is our connection to the earth in a physical sense."



Their efforts with Piach have resulted in a powerful twist on what Furia and Licho have done recently. Gorycz retain the black metal elements on the release however there is a heightened amount of myriad influences added. "We are not a generic band. Nyia, Burzum, Portishead, Rope Sect inspire us equally." Rhythmically Gorycz showcase these numerous influences. Mechanical rhythmic sensibilities courtesy of drummer Błaszkowski are often found as a backdrop to a trudging and patient pace. Tomek agreed with that this patience is integral. "It's nice you've noticed this patience. Piach is the presence. We try to mark that we are. With all the signs of the absurd, though. Perhaps thence the pulse you've mentioned. Life is a pulse, a rhythm. I think life fertilized Gorycz." I also felt there was influence from another band that showed heavily through - Deathspell Omega. Tomek once again validated my belief that the French visionaries were on their radar: "Deathspell Omega has answered all the black metal questions in my opinion."

This combination yields an intentness and strangely indifferent urgency that is hard to put a finger on. While Gorycz' do occasionally roar by with faster elements such as at the end of "Czarna Ciecz" or during the band's eponymous closing track, the majority of Piach is the equivalent of sitting in a funeral home. This is set against Gorycz' own unique style of atmospheric minimalism. Grabowski's guitar tone is mostly thin and tinny that rings long on chosen tail end notes, offering the majority of the album's melodic space to bassist Górski, who reigns supreme over the album with a nearly perfect chunky and rich bass tone. Piach is at once sonically lush and emotionally wilted, a dynamic that required multiple listens for me to understand how this auditory contradiction can be reflective of the album's deeper concept. For Tomek, our individual human existence is that of an empty purposeless creature which lives in a vibrant and vast earth we have become unable to connect to.

I've enjoyed exploring the experimentation emanating from the Polish scene lately but Tomek doesn't see these changes as a localized event but rather a global movement to seek outside of the box. "Black metal, death metal etc. are outdated categories. It is archaic thinking in today's world. You rightly call them stereotypical, which, however people need to define music, to categorize and to rationalize it. Nobody, including us is free from these. This is due to our natural predispositions and needs. It is hard for the author to break free from these forms. The movement you mentioned is noticeable in all of the music genres. I think this is the effect of globalization. The internet caused the enormous accessibility of every art form. Anyone can be a poet, a musician and an artist with its small, yet devoted audience. Suddenly, it turned out that artistic sincerity can thrive on its own in pursuit of the originality."

Gorycz is then yet another example of what to me seems to be the next direction for black metal. Piach doesn't quite leave me as emotionally invested, potentially due to the more mechanical sounding rhythmic direction, as some other albums from this Polish grouping but it's nevertheless impossible to simply not appreciate the material here. Perhaps that is the best compliment one could boast. In the current climate of living in the niches we choose and want to live in and with the ability to totally ignore entire swaths of artistic perspective, that a band's album can be good enough that even someone that wouldn't normally enjoy aspects of it can see the whole as something big and cohesive is merit well levied. Gorycz have masterfully blended many unique textures, mature themes, and perplexing instrumental arrangements on Piach to match an equally unique and individualized conceptual vision.