PANDEMIC – Phantoms

vote
7.0

• Bands:
  PANDEMIC
• Duration: 00:37:29
• Available from: 12/20/2024
• Label:

• Dying Victims Productions

Streaming not yet available

Poland is usually considered a hotbed of talent when it comes to extreme metal, but Pandemic represents a pleasant digression into more traditional sounds close to the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal, even though they include members who obviously also have other types of projects closer to the collective imagination relating to the nation of origin.
The Krakow quartet, active since 2015, is in fact dedicated to bloody thrash/speed metal with a sound very similar to historical bands of the scene such as Exciter and Metal Church, capable of expertly mixing the melody of the guitars of Marcin Konieczny and Wiktor Łobarzewski , the screams of Ghniewko 'Mara' Jelski – also responsible for the bass – and the drums of PhillBag.
After the already interesting “Crooked Mirror”, released in 2023, our team managed to get on the Dying Victims Productions bandwagon for the new “Phantoms”, which reconfirms what we have already heard previously and allows us to spend forty intriguing minutes halfway, precisely , between traditional heavy and a sort of proto-thrash.
The quartet's ability lies precisely in expertly mixing various musical influences of the reference genres, even repeating themselves, but with a clear idea of ​​the type of sound that should come out of the headphones or speakers of those listening to the album: the title track at work is from this point of view a real manifesto.
Bass, drums and vocals are omnipresent at the center of the scene, while the guitars are expertly distributed in our ears at different points to better make us enjoy riffs and solos and rides like that of “Greatest Of Sinners”.
In short, a record that sounds old school but fully produced with the intention of being precise and clean, where perhaps the only weak point is Jelski's voice, not always up to what is proposed. If we write it, it is because, for example, in “Bane Of Brook Hall” Mayheer from fellow countrymen Pursuer is hosted, who is instead able to give an extra edge to the piece and who obviously has a more acute type of vocality than the original singer.
In part, this tendency is recovered by the excellent “Santa Muerte”, a classic song on which to break all your bones while moshing wildly, which starts and ends with a moment of samba, and the vocal level remains on a good slope until the final “…The Horde.”
Of course, we are not at the level of records like those by Vulture, Enforcer and other illustrious representatives of this scene who over the years have made us rediscover the beauty of studs, teased hair and razor blades, but “Phantoms” is an excellent signal that, even in Eastern Europe, more traditional heavy metal is in good health.