KOłYSANKI

When a band reappears after over a decade of silence, any of a number of things can happen. The band can carry on as if no time had passed whatsoever, releasing music that is clearly of a piece with their earlier work, as Änglagård did. They can experiment with their sound, making music that is a progression from their earlier work but still clearly the work of the same band, as My Bloody Valentine and Gorguts did. Or they can just throw all the rules out the window entirely and release material that doesn't even sound like the work of the same band.

Poland's erstwhile black metal band Lux Occulta opted for the latter option. While there are a few metallic moments on this album, they are few and far between, and they have far more to do with industrial metal than they do with black metal (what's more, the trademark harsh vocals of the genre are almost nowhere to be found). The non-metal parts of the band's previous record, The Mother and the Enemy, offer vague clues to some of the places the band have taken their sound (avant-garde jazz, electronica), but more of the record is new ground entirely. Not just for the band, but for music itself. The list of genres on Wikipedia gives you a vague idea what you're in for ("electronic rock, free jazz, avant-garde rock/metal, spoken word"), as does the list of instruments (which includes accordion, violin, trumpet, double bass, and cajón), but even that won't prepare you for how utterly weird this album is. Where else can you hear accordions and violins duel with industrial guitar riffs and samples of Polish folk music? The diversity of this album bears mention as well. While the album maintains a consistent atmosphere throughout, not one song sounds like any other, and in fact even within the same song you will frequently hear a wide range of stylistic ground covered.

There is nothing else like this album in existence, and it is a mind trip like little else you will hear this year or any other. Strongly recommended.

"Kołysanki" is the fifth full-length studio album by Polish music act Lux Occulta. The album was released through the Trzecie Ucho label in March 2014. Lux Occulta were originally active from 1994 until 2002, but in 2012 it was announced by guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (Decapitated, Vader, Machine Head, Sceptic) that Lux Occulta were working on a new album. That album became "Kołysanki". Only Kiełtyka (who in addition to playing guitars also plays accordion on this release), lead vocalist Jarosław Szubrycht and keyboard player Jerzy Głód remain from the lineup who recorded "The Mother and the Enemy" (Lux Occulta´s fourth full-length studio album from November 2001). New in the lineup is guitarist Maciej Tomczyk.

If you´re familiar with the avant-garde extreme metal sound of "The Mother and the Enemy", you´ll know that Lux Occulta occasionally toyed with both jazz, electronic music, and trip-hop parts during that otherwise quite extreme and black/death metal oriented release ("Yet Another Armageddon" is for example a fully fledged female vocal-led trip-hop track) and on "Kołysanki" those elements are the dominant ones. You´ll find metal oriented sections here and there, but "Kołysanki" is predominantly not a heavy metal oriented release (although raw shouted vocals and a few distorted guitar riffs do appear on occasion). The tracks are quite experimental and feature a lot of interesting vocals (often in Polish) and effects. Regular vers/chorus structures aren´t really Lux Occulta´s thing. It´s not easy listening music by any means and it´s some of the more experimental works of an artist like Ulver I´m reminded of and also 70s progressive/experimental music artists like Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper (of course in a more contemporary setting).

It´s definitely an interesting, darkly atmospheric, and avant-garde oriented music release and it´s quite bold considering that Lux Occulta after all released four metal oriented albums before this one. I guess you could say that you were warned after listening to "The Mother and the Enemy", but "Kołysanki" does after all take the experimental ideas in a completely different direction and add other textures and jazzy electronic elements to them, so you are excused if you find this a confusing album. Confusing in this case means great, bold, and adventurous, and it´s obvious from the sound production, to the performances, and the intriguing compositions that Luc Occulta have struck gold and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).