Hailing from Poland, Koniec Pola (The End Of The Field) is a band comprising members of other respected acts within the field of black metal, experimental music and post rock. The band released their debut, Cy, a mere two years ago in 2018 through Devoted Art Propaganda. Now back with a new effort, Koniec Pola have traced out an ambitious, six-step journey through a haunted dreamscape that evokes the vast, empty landscapes of the Swietokrzyskie in the depths of a cruel winter.
Opening with Pierwsy, Koniec Pola recall the frazzled art rock minimalism of Sonic Youth’s She’s In A Bad Mood from Confusion Is Sex. Rhythms are sketched out, as voices spin in and out of the mix. The lyrics, intoned in the band’s native language, add to the sense of mystery and the piece builds towards a climax before everything falls in on itself with the art-jazz noise of Drugi, a track caught between Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and Swans. A short segue piece that does not even hit the three-minute mark, it draws the listener towards the tribal rhythms of Trzeci. A track driven by Patyr’s sanguine bass and Grzegorz’s rumbling percussion, Trzeci could loosely trace its lineage to black metal, thanks to the harrowing screams of Dominik and Szturpak, although Artur’s dusty guitars have more in common with the seismic noise-rock of Arabrot than Mayhem.
Lost in a dream-like haze, the echoing clarinet of Patyr and the dark violin of Szturpak creates a beautiful, if threatening atmosphere that seems to swallow the listener like a dense fog. A lost track, it gives way to the hypnotic pulse of Piaty, a neo-folk piece that suddenly grows to an ominous size, blocking out the light before slipping back into the stair-stepping beauty of a final third awash in eerie reverb. The album comes to a head with the epic Szosty. What’s past is prologue to this one, monstrous piece of music that expands at a leisurely pace over eleven minutes. Based around the dense, slow-motion bass of Patyr, the violin scrapes a haunted melody and the lyrics are intoned, spoken word style before the whole thing explodes into furious life. Haunting and haunted, it concludes this most mesmerising journey, the listener emerging blinking into the daylight.
A hallucinatory trip, Trop harks back to the wide-eyed experimentation of New York circa the 1980s. Although hints of extreme metal can be seen in the band’s frequently blistering outbursts, the album as a whole is contemplative rather than confrontational, and the way that the tracks ebb and flow over the course of the album’s svelte run time makes for an immersive experience. Fans of Ulver, Arabrot, Sonic Youth and Swans will find much to admire here, and the album makes for a compelling, uniquely fascinating trip across a wide range of musical styles. Not a journey to be undertaken lightly or ill-advisedly, Trop is best experienced as a complete piece, and more than repays the emotional investment of the listener. 9/10
