Review by Vladimir on April 1, 2023.

So here I am back with more Polish black metal, this time focusing on a new band called Gołoledź (“black ice” in Polish) from Zielona Góra/Lubusz. Gołoledź has been active since 2021, and has released their self-titled debut album on November 18th, 2022 via D.I.Y. Koło Records. Although at first glance you might think that you’ll be facing another raw polish black metal band, on the contrary it’s not what you’d expect.

The first track 'Sam Na Zawsze' starts everything with a slow doomy riff, but is then followed with melodic tremolo picking and alternate picking guitar work with blast beat drums with lots of double-bass work and screeching vocals. Other tracks such as 'Odwet', 'Wojna O Pokój' and 'Gołoledź' take things to a different turn, introducing d-beat and crust punk elements fused with black metal, while still incorporating the established double-bass drum work which more frequently used on this album. There are also instances of some slow and atmospheric moments which can be heard on 'Najgorsza Kara' and 'Wolność Umysłu'. The music of Gołoledź could pretty much be considered as modern black metal for its C standard tuned guitars and the songwriting style, with influences of crust punk/d-beat which were fused quite well with the atmospheric, melodic and alternative riffs. Although I said that it is a modern-day black metal band, it’s important to note that their music doesn’t in any way resemble the sound of Mgła (except maybe for "With Hearts Towards None") or any other bands which fall in that category. I was surprised that this wasn’t a case of your typical black metal, but an interesting turn which might give you goosebumps if you’re more into the newer stuff that’s out there. What I really like beside their songwriting is the album production, which although is very high quality, isn’t sterile and thus manages to push the guitar tone to a certain point where it’s borderline death metal sounding, while also carefully bringing the vocals, distorted bass and the drums on the right level in the mix.

I must say that I was more than surprised to have come across such a powerful and unusual black metal release which hasn’t mishandled anything, thus successfully achieving its goal to break out of the comfort zone and bring something interesting to the table. The album is quite a banger and Gołoledź certainly does show more than just a potential for a solid future within the world of extreme metal music. For fans of modern black metal, as well as fans of black metal fused with crust punk and d-beat, check this out, you surely don’t want to miss it. 

Rating: 9 out of 10