Track 8 lyrics by Gustaw Daniłowski (1871 - 1927) - poem "Okna".
Track 3 lyrics by Jan Kasprowicz (1860 - 1926) - poem "Życia ogromne morze grzmi przede mną"
The sample in the last track comes from "Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh" (1996 PC adventure game), it's last part is inspired by the "Dimension X" (ending) soundtrack.
I associate the name RIVERS LIKE VEINS with their album that they released in 2019. At that time I did not delve into the work of this band, which today I consider to be a wrong decision, because the album released this year hit me with such force that I absolutely have to go back to the older materials prepared by the Cracovians. In the discography, apart from the mentioned two albums, we can find a demo and a split with STWORZ. This band was born in 2017 and functions as a three-piece and Icyvr is also known for his participation in DIABOLICAL FULLMOON. That's it when it comes to a handful of information, so I invite you to the review below.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the sounds on The Hidden Portals album totally blew me away. Maybe I did not expect some kind of musical stagnation, I rather expected that the album might be average, but it turned out to be the material I want to listen to again and again. There are nine tracks on the album, which together last almost fifty-two minutes and it is not wasted time. Music which is flowing from the speakers is Avant-garde black metal embellished with a powerful dose of atmosphere. The combination of such atmospheres works very well here, and The Hidden Portals literally opens a portal to another dimension, filled with coldness and wild, untamed nature. This album drips with darkness, and the black metal aggression is toned down a bit in favor of atmosphere. Apart from the original tracks, I also liked the cover from a cult TV series, but I don't want to spoil it here and I encourage you to listen to the whole material, because it creates a kind of magical ritual. As for the guitar riffs, they are often based on the tremolo section, but just as often we can hear rhythmic parts, which are woven from darkness. They generate a lot of melodies and at the same time convey an incredible power. You won't miss sensual solos in this material either. The power of the bass guitar is almost equal to the guitars, which do not reduce this instrument to the role of a barely audible background, but together create a unique depth. Keyboards complete the atmosphere and impose a large dose of melody, but also not intrusive. It quietly enters the mind and stays there for a long time. There are also samples which introduce original ambience. Wosd played brilliantly on drums. He finds himself perfectly in slower moments and in faster ones. Personally, I am more in favour of the faster moments, where the drum passages are perfect. From the first track it is clear that we will not have to deal here with simplified drums and in this case it worked really well. Finally, it is necessary to mention the vocals, or rather the vocals, because we have two voices here. A male and a female one. Male vocal is very hoarse, coming from depressive black metal. Whereas the female tone is devoid of emotions, reduced to a spoken form, at the same time it conveys such power that a shiver runs through my body. Summing up this album I have to say that this material is very relaxing and it's not a CD for one listen. If you like atmospheric sounds, this album will hit your taste as hard as it hit mine. I definitely recommend getting familiar with this title.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMBhCzi8YZQ&t=1246s
