If
any Metal sleeve ever fit the description "so ugly it's beautiful"
it's this one. What could be more Death Metal than a picture of the army
of the dead marching into some post-apocalyptic, urban warzone drawn by
a 10-year old? Some might be put-off by artwork like that, but for me
it was a certain buy, although my expectations of the music wasn't that
high. Surprisingly QUO VADIS fuckin shred! Really high-class, old-school
Thrash/Death full to the brim with neat riffing and hooks. The production
has a nice, simple 80's in-your-face vibe to it, and musically there's
plenty of parallels to be drawn to other eastern block bands like ASESSOR,
KOROSSIA METALLA, early ROOT, etc, as well as western icons like in the
MORBID ANGEL-meets-DESTRUCTION-style "Wegetacja" and "Trzy
Szósteczki" (dig that neat "Black Magic"-break!)
and the aggressive KREATOR/SADUS-like opener "NKWD". Some of
their faster twin leads sound almost like modern Black Metal, and I think
it's in the way they so elegantly manage to combine both classic Thrash,
Death and Black Metal riffing in their music that elevates them from the
horde of mediocre Thrash-acts of the time (craPULTURA anyone?) and I can
honestly not think of a better "Deathrash" record from this
era. They could be the INFERNAL MÄJESTY of the east, and that's about
as fine a compliment you'll get from this reviewer! Can't end this review
without mentioning the intro to "Ból Istnienia", their
superb "token mid-paced crusher". I think it's the only intro
I've ever heard that
really gave me the creeps! No, I won't go
into details. You'll have to get a copy for yourselves. Really. Should
you not find the LP, there's an original cassette-version of this record
with titles and lyrix in English. I don't know if the actual music has
English vocals added though, coz I never heard it. It comes with a simple
but eye-catching black sleeve with a golden embossed band logo.
Update: The band is apparently still active and has released
a number of CDs since. I haven't heard any of them, but well-informed
sources has told me that the last one was in a more "modern"
Thrash-vein:/
The good news is that the debut LP is out on CD with bonus trax. If you
read Polish you can always check out their
homepage
for more info.