NON OPUS DEI "Glod"

NON OPUS DEI

“Glod”

Like almost all product on the Pagan Records label, NON OPUS DEI is resolutely Polish, including lyrics. “Glod” translates as “famine” and the band explores the concept of hunger here.

This is one dreary, dissonant record. I guess you could call it black metal in the broadest sense but it doesn’t resemble any popular concept of the genre. It is cold, dragging and ultimately barren. No doubt N.O.D. were going for this feeling but they succeeded too well here. After the creepy intro “Siew”, “Po Jalowej Ziemi” seems like it lasts for an eternity, with mid-placed jangly drone and not much in the way of strong riffing. This is the template for most of the album. Ironically, the longest track “Do Otarzy W Piekle” has the most energy and power, starting with the closest thing to full out black metal attack on the album. But eventually this, too, collapses under its own weight.

There is a place for utter negativity in extreme metal, but even there, it’s possible to overdo it. This was just an exhausting trudge through the freezing slush of a miserable Polish winter.

PAGAN RECORDS

NON OPUS DEI