Metalmania '87

“...przywódcy piekielnej konnicy, wiedzieli, że mało jest czasu...”

In the mid/late ‘80s, some Polish record labels brought into creation a handful of live split compilations with the purpose of showcasing Polish metal up n’ comers. Making it more interesting, however, is the fact that multiple splits were recorded from the same festival and were pressed the same year with very similar sleeves, with the only visual difference being the band logos. Sure, the logos are conspicuous enough, but throw these splits some extra attention, especially if you’re lookin’ to buy. There’s a reason why I'm staring at two copies of this thing in front of me here.

Recorded live at the April 4, 1987 Metalmania Festival in Spodek, Katowice (and for a live recording, it’s quite decent), this particular edition spotlights Poznan’s Wilczy Pajak a.k.a. Wolf Spider and Katowice’s Dragon. Important to know is that during this time period neither band had released anything more than a private demo or similar clandestine recording (Wilczy Pajak’s s/t debut comes in a few months while Dragon’s first, Horde of Gog/Horda Goda, won't flap into existence for two years), so these collective nine tracks should’ve been new to most ears.

Thrash is the featured style, verbose with lotsa tempo breakdowns and melodic touches and their pedigree in these areas is more or less neck-in-neck, however smoke-snorting Dragon comes off as the more aggressive of the two only because of Marek Wojcieski’s harsher, more cutting vocals which help power strong-riffed “Niedaleki Koniec” and memorable bully/fave off their future debut, “Armagedon”, to the album’s close. That doesn’t mean Wilczy Pajak fails to flatten things with cool tunes like “Jazda Lucyfera” and “Zemsta Msciciela”, however, therefore consider these two acts adequately represented here.

The album sleeves to these collective splits are made of that coolly thinner, much more malleable and seemingly more tear-resistant pseudo-cardboard material predominately associated with European pressings, or so it seems.

That lyrical blurb way at the top…I have no idea what it says.