Review by Norbert on December 30, 2025.

Ancient Hindu scriptures depict the vision of the rishi Markandeya, a saint who, at the moment of pralaya—the cosmic end of the world—drifted alone on a vast ocean of destruction. He saw mountains melt like wax, the sun extinguish, and all beings, gods and demons, vanish into nothingness. Only he remained, suspended between life and death, until he saw a child lying on a fig leaf—the smiling god Vishnu, who in this child carried the seed of the future world. This is what pralaya looks like—end and beginning in one, death giving birth to another existence.

The myth of Markandeya perfectly captures the character of the प्रलय (Pralaya) project, whose music sounds like a sonic interpretation of this apocalyptic vision. Beyond The Tattered Curtain Of Unspeakable Madness, the duo's debut album, released by Ancient Dead, is a contemporary song about the end of the cycle, in which black and death metal become instruments of cosmic disintegration. Demoniac (known for Temple Desecration) and Thisworld Outof (Upon The Altar, Kult Mogił) are behind this work, and this is evident from the very first seconds. Pralaya's sound is not just a continuation of the aforementioned projects by these charming gentlemen, but their spiritual mutation: even heavier, even more blasphemous, immersed even deeper in chaos.

What began on Pralaya's two earlier EPs (Fallen Temples and Satanic Violence) reaches its fullest on this full-length debut—a sonic form of total destruction, where black and death metal fuse into one. Pralaya doesn't seek originality in a formal sense; its strength lies in its consistency, in its determination to make every sound a blow, and every silence a breath after an execution. Beyond The Tattered Curtain Of Unspeakable Madness is a sultry, sticky, and inhospitable album, like the air in a temple where someone has been performing the same blasphemous ritual for centuries.

Although let's be honest, this is a niche offering. Extremely niche. Even for experienced listeners of broadly defined metal music, this duo's artistic offerings can be a difficult dish to digest, perhaps even a portion of mindless noise at first, blending into a monotonous clatter in faster passages, like the work of a mechanical mole in a nearby coal mine. This is a very unpleasant music, oscillating between death, doom, war, and black metal, an overwhelming, crushing storm combined with the swampy sound of Vassafor or Temple Nightside.

The album's opening track, 'Aeon Of Dissolution', sets the tone for the entire album – seven minutes of constant, seething chaos, in which a wall of guitars and drums melds with Demoniac's vocals, sometimes attempting a growl from the depths of hell, sometimes whispering like an exorcism. Demoniac (who also shreds with guitar and bass, Thisworld Outof is responsible for the drums) creates a distinct universe with his voice – a range of sounds in which blasphemy, madness, and inhuman ecstasy can be heard. He weaves in fragments in Polish that sound like filthy prayers. The entire production is supported by a powerful yet opaque production – an intentional filth and suffocation that are part of the narrative, not an accident. This is music that doesn't seek light, but deepens the darkness.

There's no randomness in this sonic monolith: even the wildest passages seem planned, like a ritual of extermination. When Pralaya slows down, as in 'Emanations Of Furious Deities' or the title track, the weight of the music becomes almost physical – bulldozing riffs and pacing tempos transform into a song of destruction, each note echoing like a hammer in the catacombs.

Beyond The Tattered Curtain Of Unspeakable Madness isn't just for background listening—it's an experience that absorbs and repulses at once. Pralaya creates a kind of spiritual catharsis through destruction, a sonic meditation on the end of everything. Where others seek melody or structure, this duo finds meaning in chaos. At times, the album resembles a prayer composed in a language no one understands anymore—alien, unsettling, yet irresistibly captivating.

This apocalyptic work is one of the most powerful debuts in recent years from Poland – not because it explores new territory, but because it delves into familiar territory with such passion and absolutism that everything else pales in comparison. There's method in this chaos, beauty in ugliness, and pure, uncompromising truth in madness.

I've been a fan of Upon The Altar since the very beginning, and I fell in love with Temple Desecration in 2018, when I first heard a sampled excerpt from Andrzej Żuławski's "Diabeł"—"The world is in captivity. The weak are in captivity to the strong, the wise in captivity to criminals, the poor in captivity to fools, and all of us—dwarfs among dwarfs—are in captivity to God"—followed by a pointed shot to the back of the head in the form of 'Nameless Hordes,' the opening track on "Whirlwinds Of Fathomless Chaos." For me, the Pralaya album is more than just a continuation of that spirit. It's its full rebirth in a new, even more destructive and blasphemous form.

Rating: 10 out of 10