Poland is full of natural ressources. And one of them, metal, especially the one that we find around the neck of athletes climbing the second and third steps of podiums, is still shaped with love. The industry of this raw material is indeed healthy, as judged by the good sales of productions by Acid Drinkers, Kat, Turbo, Vader, Decapitated or Behemoth. However, if those precious metals are massively searched for, they should not overshadow others, like Mastemey, which production deserves as much attention. Quite new in the business of metal, Mastemey have named their first delivery simply Vol. 1, which suggests that the band wishes to exploit further this vein in the future.

Just like elements that populated consecutively the Periodic Classification, there is a lot of effervescence around the discovery of this new metal. In the manufacture where it is shaped, one hears twisting, pounding, buzzing, and speaking at the top of lungs. No, it's not industrial that is made there, but really powerful thrash, driven by a rhythm that is as massive as the panic of mammoths in the storm, and guitar solos as sharpened as the lead of a Stædtler pencil that was just turned in a pencil-sharpener. Between final touches (the assaults galloping with the assurance of a warlord) and unfinished sketches (the rhythms breaking with the hesitation of soldiers treading on unfamiliar grounds), it's an intriguing picture that the model longes to see while keeping away from it as long as its author has not finished it.

Metal alloys are known to be so numerous these days that one could write a thesis about them. However, the blend of foot-tapping groove and head-bobbing thrash of our new polish entity will excite as much bodies in the agitation of muscular stage performances as it will tickle the minds in the calm of headphone listening.

A powerful and convincing thrash/death metal that comes straight out of the czech city of steel, Ostrava

Steming from Czech Republic, the men in black of Nahum propose a music that is just as dark, even if this darkness is drowned in a brutality that is a call to move wildly our bodies rather than torment insidiously our souls. In order to answer this call, a tour would be welcome.

With this new vintage, the band steps even more into the chaotic breach it dug on the already very good first record published two years before. The title of the first track "Raging Chaos" was nevertheless not usurped. In this almost lovecraftian world, the black ink of an octopus hidden in the abyssal depths that a cavernous and horrifying voice haunts, dissolves in a vast ocean that a rain of fast punches and a thunder of tremolos keep rocking. Tired out by the hectic gallops of Neptune's Horses on the surface of an area of water already prey to the caprices of a stormy sky, our poor octopus offers no resistance to the wrath of the deity, anticipating indeed the gruesome fate that would await it otherwise. The animal dares spread its tentacles only to join the alarmed guitar in its imploring calls, as bewitching as the chants of a mermaid.

Little tempted by the company of small affectionate animals that are demanding caresses, Nahum have rather a thing for the death stare of wild animals that they follow in their search for food. The swiftness of Reign In Blood, the brutality of Legion and the oppression of Cause Of Death meet in a primal catharsis thanks to which we are as much amazed and dumbstruck as the first time we heard those albums.

Playing a somewhat conventional progressive metal, the Australian band Teramaze makes it nonetheless appealing through a blend of dynamic structures and craftily worked vocal harmonies. Despite all the technique deployed and the anger of guitars, one will easily notice that the primary objective is to put forward sweet melodies. In fact, the cheerful choruses and a graphic aesthetics akin to this Great White attracted by young women posing lasciviously in the ocean of glam metal boarding the Californian Coast, are only a few of the elements that could support our analysis. This enthusiasm can surprise as the ocean in which it bathes is much choppier than the one in which the famous American shark used to move.

This paradox is nevertheless underlined by the murky darkness that emerges from the official clip to "Out Of Subconscious". The acclimatization to this hostile environment seems to be smooth though. In fact, guitars, keyboards, and drums, in their rush of blind virtuosity, hold out a brotherly hand to the voices that guide them towards a light radiating enthusiasm.

On "Broken", the musicians even lay down the complex arms, to surrender and follow the lulling wave created by the soft wind. When the latter stops nonetheless to blow ("Trapeze"), it’s filled with the melodic lessons learned from them that the other elements interact, even finding the opportunity to reach the canopy of humour.

Hence, far from conceptualizing an architecture that could lead to controversy, Teramaze uses the talent of its members to build melodic constructions that will certainly not raise questions but that should delight the ears of the majority.