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| Artwork by Anna Malarz from Thy Worshiper |
Thy Worshiper originally formed in 1993 in Wroclaw/Poland, but are now, after some changes in their line-up, a six piece band and located in Dublin/Ireland. They already have several releases, some demos and three full length albums, and now they return with Ozimina. They call it an EP, but with its six songs and a playing time of about 36 minutes it could almost pass as a full length album.
Ozimina is an invitation to meet the natural world as well as the supernatural. You're a few minutes into the first song and you feel like you're running through a forest driven by a strong heavy rhythm, accompanied by melodic riffs and the sounds of nature, like howling wolves, dabbling water and tweeting birds later on. The whole EP is an utter percussive matter with ritualistic tribal rhythms, and has, combined with the folky melodies, a great pagan/folk black metal character with obscure gloomy atmospheres.
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| Photo by Abrisad. |
With the first two songs you are just running and following the forceful, compelling rhythms and enchanting melodies. With the third song "Ozyny" you find yourself in some kind of shamanic conjuration of supernatural spirits. A droning hypnotic didgeridoo sound and heartbeat backdrop, spoken words (which I unfortunately don't understand, because they are, like all the lyrics, in Polish) that sound like some magic formula, Jew's harp and bagpipe - all add up to a dense, obscure and dangerous atmosphere of a spiritual world. Other than this song with its thick droning sound, all other songs rather have an open, reverberating sound, which lends them a great dynamic and depth.
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| Photo by Abrisad. |
The next track "Wietlica" throws you back into the "peaceful" forest, beginning with singing birds and a simple rhythm produced by some wooden percussion instrument, which btw. contributes a lot to the overall "forest-feel" of the EP. Yet you get the impression that from here everything is not like it was before "Ozyny", as if the experience of the ritual has altered your mindset by some terrifying and saddening knowledge.
Like I mentioned above, it's too bad I don't understand the lyrics. On the other hand, this way I'm free to develop my own stories to the music. Ozimina is a folk black metal album with a great portion of ethnical tunes from eastern Europe and pagan style rhythms, carefully balanced and with an exciting dynamic flow.
The song "Halny" is featured on The Wicked Lady Show 97