The End Of An Era: Polish Metal and the semi-retirement of Demon Scourge

 Editors Note: Demon Scourge is such a busy mercenary, as he is always hunting stray wyverns in Samur, battling wisp wizards in the Time Desert, polishing his vinyl collection at Jenkabala, ect. He is so busy, in fact, that he barely has time to chronicle our adventures. And I am too busy looking at porn to do such things. He will continue with the story, but at a slower pace, and it shall be a separate entity from the reviews of the albums we listened to. I know that all five of you who follow our blog are deeply disappointed, and that rapid change sends you into into a homicidal Asperger's frenzy, but so it goes, my friends. Also, 'Editor' is not the name of a new Metal Night character. It's just me.....BLOODMACE!!!! AND I AM THE JUDGEMENT OF METAL NIGHT!!!!!!!


Forget the Polack jokes. Polish metal will punish you. We took a peak behind the Iron Curtain for some prime Polski power! On your knees, sausages!!!!!!!!

Turbo is officially herald as Poland's first metal band. Kawaleria Szatana is their third album, released in 1986. The lyrics are in Polish. It is your basic traditional Maiden fest, with a few speed metal overtones thrown in here and there. The vocalist has gritty raspy instead of souring tenor, and his lack of range makes his vocals the weak link on the album. All else is rough and ready riffing, meat and potatoes rhythm. Again, the lyrics are Polish, so I have no clue what the fuck these songs are about. The glory of Communism? Of Solidarity? Hopeful it's just beasts, beer and babes. I wasn't highly impressed by this album. Demon Scourge was all about it, though, and he's the power metal guy. This seems like a pretty good start for the Polish scene, which would become insane within a few years of this release. Somebody please fuck me in the ass with a razor dildo because I can't think of another word to write about this album.

Vader's The Ultimate Incantation is more to my taste. Released on Earache in 1992  by Earache, it got a huge amount of attention for a new Death Metal band, but it was not unwarranted. This is prime old school death metal in the Slayer and Morbid Angel vein. Rapid tremolo riffs meet roaring blastbeats on an occult platter of violence and spiritual chaos. The compositions seem almost bloated compared to the sleek, stripped down approach of later works like Litany, but the vicious enthusiasm keeps these songs from getting boring or ponderous. A great first album from Poland's best known death metal band.

 Originally, Vader was going to be my choice for winner, but Kat's Metal and Hell snuck up on me and convinced me of its greatness. This is an old school thrash fest, kind of like Sodom meets Accept. Obviously, some German thrash was making it's way over the Iron Curtain The vibe is fast and loose, denim and leather, bikes and babes, and chains in the mosh pit. The low production value jankiness lends to its charm. These guys get no points for originality, but the riffs and songs hammer you into happy submission.