Martwa Aura "Contra Mundi Contra Vitae" CD

Martwa Aura was formed in Poznan, Poland in 2010. It is well known that during this decade Polish black metal has developed a very distinctive sound and style, and frequently a very high quality. Martwa Aura tends to follow the Polish formula and the feeling in their music reminds of Mgła, Plaga and others.
The music offered here is indisputably grim and aggressive. Songs are mostly fast, with killer blast beating accompanying some memorable heavy riffs and tremolo picked guitars. But there are also some slower "doomish" parts where melancholic arpeggios entry and the atmosphere of the songs becomes very cold and dense. Appropriately located breaks and tempo changes make the songs flow in a very natural manner. The guitar tone is buzzy to make it seem mystical along with the vocals. I really like the songwriting in this album. Each "meditation" (as they called the songs) is diverse and has its own approach to the album's theme.
Vocals are the most controversial point of the album. Vocalist M.W. is almost all time just talking or reciting (no shrieks), but his voice was recorded with an echo effect or some other one that makes the voice sound very distant and spectral. Sounds like a necromancer summoning an evil spirit, or something ghost related. I think the idea of the guys was to create something dark and horrifying to accompany the music. And they accomplished it in part. The problem is that the effect is a bit exaggerated and after a couple of songs you start to think "why is this guy singing from inside a can of tomatoes??". Yes, it becomes very annoying. But anyways, I don't hate it completely. It's just a matter of getting used to it. Since the lyrics are in Polish, I have no idea what are the songs about (probably about death, sure nothing nice) but this language adds a plus of ritualistic darkness to the chants. All in all this kind of vocals make the atmosphere of the album very sinister and that's what this music is all about.
This is an excellent black metal album. Very consistent, even with the "vocal problem". Production is very correct and the robotic vocals were mixed adequately, so after a shocking first listen, you start getting used to it and enjoying this great release. So I don't recommend listeners to judge the album after 10 minutes. It's an album that requires some time, but at the end it turns out to be outstanding. Martwa Aura is not a very prominent band in the Polish scene, but one of the most interesting I've heard so far.

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