Sat here listening to this album on a bright summer’s day, I was amazed at how cold I suddenly felt, as the chill of the music swept over me, and although there wasn’t a cloud in the sky it didn’t seem quite so bright outside. Formed in 2010 by members of Mentor, ARRM and Furia, this Polish black/experimental act combines black metal with sludge, doom and sonic experiments, as well as noise, electronics and free-impro. Recorded during sessions scattered over various periods of time, the album is divided into five pieces which evolve in multiple directions. As well as black metal noise, there is drone, and the understanding that traditional musical constructs have no place here.
There are many black metal bands who are taking music to an extreme, and Thaw have been at the vanguard for a while, and this album is only going to cement further the importance of their place within the canon. One just doesn’t know what is going to come next, and somehow electronically distorted vocals (so that the singer almost becomes a dalek), makes as much sense as anything else they are doing. I don’t think that one could say that this is an easy album to listen to, as it follows a strange and distorted path, and it is one that needs to have close attention paid to it at all times, but the end result is strangely satisfying, even if the listener needs to a conscious step back into reality once it has finished. Only for the adventurous.
