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Released on October 1, 2015 via Unquiet Records
Polish black metal is a serious force to be reckoned with. Whilst trawling the stranger and darker corners of Bandcamp I have discovered countless bands who really grasp me, but some of the best have been from the Polish black metal scene. A notable group is Mg?a, not to mention the titans themselves, Behemoth. It was last year were I stumbled across Thaw, a Polish four piece who had just released their deafening sophomore record Earth Ground, hooking me to their music immediately. Noise slathered black metal that was the sonic equivalent of being torn apart by a blizzard. There was a quality and precision among the blaring guitars and cacophonous drumming that made there sound confident and refreshing.
So when I heard that the band were putting out an experimental dark ambient release, I was instantly intrigued to see how they would pull it off with such loud and skull-shattering albums under their belt. They had already dabbled in lengthy experiments in a split with Echoes Of Yul, their contribution being far more savage in sound than what they put forward on St. Phenome Alley.
The two totally improvised pieces on this record are a new beast altogether for Thaw. Clocking in just under 48 minutes collectively, these tracks will take you by force to the coldest reaches of the Earth, and leave you there to find your way out. I am a sucker for “walking in the dark” music, this record provides the ultimate soundtrack for that.
The first piece is the most terrifying, a slow build to begin with in the opening minutes, nothing but sporadic percussion echoing over the distant sounds of chains rattling; a sound so isolating and cold that only a black metal band could achieve it. An unnerving, consistent, high pitched drone then settles with the other instruments, before revealing the deep pulsing single note of a bass guitar, drowned by the growing frequency of percussion sounds. The vibrations are around you at this point, disorientating you, the track then allowing for an incredible amount of tension to strain underneath the congregation of chaos.
Around half way the climax is reached into a Godspeed You! Black Emperor style crescendo, however far colder and uninviting; pacing through fog and mist the drums and guitars now osculate. The track then dies down the only way it could (as if you weren’t chilled to your bones enough at this point), by introducing screeches that pierce the drums around it, a sound somewhere between the howl of a phantom or a frigid iron gate closing.
Thaw manage to make such a length of time with minimal sounds and fluctuations extremely memorable, a trait not easily reached when tackling such a testing style of experimentation.
They continued to impress me in the next piece, a deep throbbing now starts off the track, suffocating when compared to the space and dissonance created in the first piece. The distant rattling begins once more, before introducing ceremonial drumming and symbol crashes, everything sounds incredibly primitive at this point, continuing to clatter and grow in unfathomable strength. I was glued to the spot on first listen, Thaw had ruptured the Earth in front of me, all there is to see is the cavernous abyss that the monolithic drones now drag you into. Before the track ends, the guitars become cripplingly heavy, and through the thunderous noise is a sorrowful string melody, possibly from a Cello, drifting encompassed by the storm.
St. Phenome Alley is nothing less then an unimaginable and fear inducing journey of music, rarely accomplished so well by bands of this ilk. Whilst creating a balance between delicate, quieter ambiance and outright avalanches of instrumentation, Thaw incorporate dark ambience and post-rock elements to a degree of sheer effectiveness. When also considering this is all improvised, it is safe to say that Thaw is a band to watch.
This solidifies St. Phenome Alley as one of their most distinguished releases yet. Step into Thaw’s glacial realm and behold one of the finest bands in the current state of experimental black metal.
