Review by SzejkElRopa on January 20, 2026.

…how Zørza made me absolutely mesmerised with their debut album "Hellven", which promptly made me delve into the black metal genre. I love that work, and I regularly come back to that full-length. As it usually is with newcomers to the black metal scene, they start off their career with a demo/EP. The latter one, called "IEI" (an acronym for the Latin phrase "Ignoramus et ignorabimus", which is often regarded as an expression of agnosticism), made Zørza emerge in the Polish black metal scene with a bang; the album stream video on YouTube has almost 100 thousand views.

We don't know, and we won't know either, when Zørza will release their next album, despite having announced the recording. One thing is for sure – it won't feature their vocalist Refur, who was present on "Hellven". Why am I bringing this up? Behind the vocals, there is another person that I wouldn’t mind listening to on their next album. The guest vocalist, Mateusz Sibila, operates with high, furious shrieks, making the album cold and mystic in sound. Even though I believe Refur has a more powerful and unique vocal sound, whereas Sibila's vocals are more standard for the genre, he can scream powerfully, making the vocals one of the strongest points of the album. Another thing worth mentioning is the melodic riffs, such as the one in 'Death I' at the very beginning of the album. Riffs like this are icy cold, quite catchy, and work perfectly with the music. Also, the tremolo-picking riffs that lead songs such as the title track burst with black metal grimness. Although the drums are programmed, there is almost no problem with that, albeit undoubtedly a real person behind the drum set would make this album sound even better.

As for Zørza's first work, it comes as no surprise that this album has some flaws. For instance, at times in 'Death I' as well as 'St. Bigot', the wall of sound becomes too suffocating for me, which makes these exact parts sound slightly… bland. However, it is no tragedy, because these fragments are quite energetic. Moreover, even though there are the aforementioned good tremolo lead guitar lines, I don't know why the title track has to be almost 10 minutes long. Of course, it is a very atmospheric track; however, I don't believe there is such a need for a song of that length.

Although I committed a whole paragraph to talking about the flaws of this EP, it goes without saying that I enjoyed this piece of atmospheric black metal. There were many interesting, melodic, and remarkable moments in only 24 minutes of music. I recommend this EP to every fan of "Hellven" who wants to listen to more of Zørza and can't wait for their new album. 8.3, because "IEI" isn't perfect, yet it deserves its recognition

Rating: 8.3 out of 10