Review by SzejkElRopa on January 13, 2026.

Angrrsth is another relatively new Polish black metal band that recently caught my eye. Hailing from Toruń, these artists, in their latest album, "Złudnia", explore the theme of spiritual transformation through harsh and violent black metal.

As mentioned, the album is very vocal-oriented. Hermann operates with growls, harsh screams, and seldom clean singing. This type of black metal is not necessarily my cup of tea, because I prefer more instrument-oriented albums to rasping for 40 minutes. However, this harshness seems to mirror the lyrical topic. With heavy tremolo passages, such as in 'Mane, Tekel, Fares', incredibly brutal drums, and the aforementioned vocals, this album can wreak havoc inside one's head. The band doesn't try to be aggressive at all costs, and there are some mid-tempo fragments, such as in the middle section of the opening track, 'Kolejna Pętla'. Keyboards can be heard there as well. When it comes to my personal experience with this album, I couldn't get the idea of it for a long time. Although it didn’t "stick" to me like the last Imperium Dekadenz album, the balance between more brutal parts and mid-tempo fragments is enjoyable. Unlike many albums I have reviewed, this one is very intense, especially thanks to the vocals. Also, the atmosphere is more rebellious and full of fury, rather than melancholic or nihilistic. Once again, this is thanks to the vocals combined with heavy riffs. This happens, for example, in 'Próg', when the words "Koniec, po prostu koniec" can be heard — the album evokes a feeling of resignation. On the other hand, in 'Amor Fati', the lyrical subject declares rebellion against everything. To sum up, "Złudnia" conjures up many feelings that aren’t typical for black metal I usually hear.

The riffs are heavy, albeit not heavy enough to be considered death metal-esque, and don’t take a dominant role in this album. For the vast majority of the time, they create a wall of sound with tremolo picking, with some exceptions, such as the melodic riff in 'Solve Et Coagula'. As mentioned, Hermann has a great variety of vocals that make the album more interesting. The most striking moment for me was when he screamed the elements of alchemic transformation in 'Solve Et Coagula'. The drums are as heavy as the guitars and navigate the album well, although without any extraordinary moves.

When it comes to the lyrics, these are the most interesting part of the album. As said in the introduction, Angrrsth took on the topic of spiritual transformation. There are biblical motifs in 'Mane, Tekel, Fares' and in the title track (Lucifer and Uriel mentioned), as well as alchemic terminology in 'Solve Et Coagula', with many Latin phrases sneaked in. The lyrics seem to create some kind of story, where the lyrical subject starts from being at rock bottom and slowly decides to take matters into their own hands and start the transformation. Throughout his journey, he rebels, returns from dusk, and gets spiritually cleansed; however, in the last track, he eventually ends up in a place unknown to him. The last line of the album can be translated as "Where am I? I don't know." I'm not a whizz at analyzing poems, nor am I a poet myself, but I believe this is a story to be continued. It is art (though not for everyone), so it is open to interpretation, isn’t it?

While this album is not my type of black metal, I enjoyed most of it. These 40 minutes were certainly an interesting experience, and I cannot say that I won’t check out other releases by this quartet from Toruń. 8.6, simply because of personal taste.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Review by Felix on February 19, 2022.

I am a lucky man, because I possess a vinyl copy of Dark Is The Season. Isn't it fantastic to see the birds flying out off the eye sockets? In my humble opinion, the EP is graced with a really brilliant artwork. It's surreal, ominous, highly atmospheric and it does not glorify violence. That's the way it should be. However, the 12" shares the problem of so many comparable outputs. It suffers from a slightly insubstantial structure. Only two new tracks are put together with two recycled songs and a cover version. It is thus good to know that the quartet of Benediction makes the best of a bad job.

In 1992, Nuclear Blast was a totally different company than it is today. Markus Staiger did not yet have the financial might to sign each and every band which was hanging around somewhere in the universe. Bands like Pungent Stench, Incubus or Benediction, that were slowly rising from the underground, represented the target group of the company. And the British formation left no doubt that it was among the newcomers with a great potential. The hellish adaption of Anvil's "Forged in Fire" made it obvious: Benediction were on a mission of terror. They ennobled the good song fundament with low tuned guitars and the demonic growling of Dave Ingram, who delivered some of the deepest tones that metal from the United Kingdom has ever brought forth. Slowness met brutality in order to generate a sonic apocalypse. The result was and still is absolutely amazing. Hard to imagine that it still can get heavier.

The two new songs reflected a very uncompromising approach as well. The riffs of 'Foetus Noose' cut with surgical precision while the double bass revealed its full force. The fast-paced opener came over the listener like an earthquake or a meteorite impact. Unbelievably heavy, absolutely radical and equipped with the power to fill the waiting room of the local neurologist. The ironclad and diabolic sound made clear that Benediction did not intend to tell jokes. The somewhat clumsy title track, the second new song of the 12", confirmed this statement. It did not reach the high velocity or the brilliance of 'Foetus Noose', but it deepened the profound heaviness of the EP and its lethal aggression.

The new recordings of two tracks - one from The Grand Leveller and one from the debut - filled the B side, and yes, it was a very typical, unspectacular B side. Decent songs, no doubt, but nobody needed these new versions. Nevertheless, for those who had not come in contact with these pieces so far, Benediction presented a strong product with two killer tracks and three solid numbers. All in all, the EP cemented the reputation of the hungry and currish band and it illustrated their further opportunities. Despite the rather useless re-recordings of the B side, Dark Is The Season deserves a good rating.

Rating: 8 out of 10