I Come in Peace

Well, this is going to be tough because I kind of knew the band when they were still around. A mate and I used to have this fanzine scam going in the early nineties and as we had a relatively small circulation and were really lame to start with, none of the big names in Poland like Vader, Imperator or Armageddon would speak to us. We were confined to lesser known acts, some of which were destined for greatness, such as Hate or Lost Soul. Vehement Thrower, which featured in the third and fourth issues of our ‘zine, was typical fanzine fodder in those days. They were quite happy to write back when we asked them for an interview, my co-ed later got friendly with them and got invited to some anniversary gig of theirs, while our graphic designer drew up their logo, as seen on the cover of ‘I come in Peace’.

So, as you will have guessed by now, I’m going to slate the release. Yes, to tell you the truth, I did not like it when it first came out and I like it even less today. Why? Because it is boring and unmemorable. Their first demo ‘Worm’ was short and badly produced but somehow intriguing in the same way as Nuclear Death’s debut album ‘Bride of Insect’. It was quite brutal and dirty grinding death metal, which made you wonder if underneath all that fuzziness and grime there weren’t actually some good ideas and musicianship. And I believe it is still quite listenable – I would readily give it say 70 per cent if I were to review it on it’s own, mainly for capturing the spirit of those days. Ah, 1991 in Polish underground metal - crap intruments, crap studios, average musicianship and ideas, first releases of obscure one-man independent cassette labels. Those were the days – glad to see the back of them.

Two years later they released the tape I’m trying to write about on Baron Records – a major pirate of foreign metal releases freshly turned legit. The slightly ‘better’, by which I mean more selective, production brought out the repetitiveness and plainness of those songs really nicely. Even though the longest track, which happens to be the title one, stands at 4:20 and the average length is below the three minute mark, those songs seem to go on forever. There is not a single one which stands out in any shape or form. ‘Mother’, which I thought was a great opener of the debut demo with some quite nifty hooks, just plods on and on here. What the fuck? Has it been slowed down? No, I checked the times – 3:54, either version. I must have imagined things to be happening underneath all that horrid production, while most obviously they weren’t. To think something like that used to pass for brutal deathcore in those days. Brutally mind-numbing death-like turd, more like. Could I compare them to some well-known band to give you some idea what they were about? No, they were only similar to other now mercifully forgotten boring early nineties ensembles.

Well boys and girls, time for some conclusion. Don’t be so quick to knock bands like Yattering, Decapitated, Hate, Behemoth or Vader once you have realised they’ve been repeating themselves and each other. At least they’ve got the decency to have learnt to play and have generated a few good tracks. Remember we had it much harder, what with rubbish like ‘ I come in Peace’. And before I retire to my armchair with my trusty pipe, here’s a few more tips on relatively popular Polish 90’s bands to avoid at all cost: Danger Drive, Gutted Corpse, Crom Cruach and Sparagmos.