Kres "40 Nocy Grudnia" CD

Jewel case with 8-page booklet including artwork made by Misty Visions Art.

Limited to 1000 copies. Recorded in years 2015-2016. 

Melodic, atmospheric black metal with lots of keys and solos. Rock elements.

From what I've seen of this Polish band's entry on the MA website, Kres (meaning "The End" in English) is fairly new - though some members boast impressive CVs in other bands - and so far has released just two albums. Listening to the second full-lengther "40 Nocy Grudnia", you'd swear the band is being overly modest about its origins and that the guys must have more recordings stashed under their garage or a small building, because the music here is so redolent of atmosphere, melancholy and feeling stored up for 20, 30, even 40 years. Even singing in Polish seems to add another layer of passion and fire that otherwise wouldn't exist if the guys had sung in plain boring old English.
Let's get the album's limitations over first: yeah, the songs aren't all that distinctive from one another as the emotion rising out of each is so huge it carries over into the next track, the musicians can't help themselves but like conduits for a greater power than they are, they have to continue with whatever greater spirit is supplying them into the next song and the next, whether they want to or not. So there isn't much variation from one track to the next and the entire album should be played like one overarching work of linked chapters. The guys stay with the basic guitars-n-drums routine which adds to the overall generic nature and even the half-shouted haranguing vocals don't change much from one bout of nagging to the next. The danger exists that the album in parts will fall into boring filler territory where the instruments just keep wallowing in misery and in fact it does do that a few times.
What the album lacks in musical variety though is compensated for by the musicians' passion for their songs: you can really feel the fire of their emotions in the music which at once is both laid-back and blazing with a steady fire, melancholy with a simmering ardour that steadies and sustains the sadness. Melodic post-BM in style, the music has a doleful tone but its edge is steel-sharp. The bass seethes with stern power that is never fully utilised; likewise the drumming gives hints of underlying thunder without revealing it in full. Guitars range from tremolo melodies of longing and nostalgia to weepy blues tones and the lead guitar can't help but stay stuck in its keening banshee wails.
As the album continues, an almost theatrical melodramatic aspect does creep in and some listeners might consider that a liability resulting from the passion and enthusiasm invested in the recording. It can sound overdone but to me the feeling seems sincere and not strained at all. What rescues the album from going completely over the top is the relaxed pace and surprisingly serene, sometimes even radiant background atmosphere in most songs.
When all is said and done, I come away with a feeling of wonder at the atmospheres and complex, hard-to-describe emotions the band has generated throughout the album. Perhaps on later recordings the band can overcome the monotony and lack of variation in its songs and create a richer range of sounds - but those recordings might not recapture the spirit and fire that inform this one.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...