Poland has a rich history of top-tier Black Metal. Everyone who knows their frostbitten riffs from their corpse paint already understands this. The Polish scene has produced some of the most unrelenting, uncompromising, and spiritually violent acts in the genre’s entire history — bands that take that familiar Scandinavian chill and lace it with something distinctly Eastern European: a bitterness, a ferocity, a certain nihilistic grandeur.
So when I say that you can now add Angrrsth to that already formidable list, know that I’m not throwing that statement around lightly.
Their latest album, Złudnia, is an absolute masterpiece. A record that doesn’t just demand your attention — it seizes it, throttles it, and drags you screaming into its obsidian heart.
From the very first note of the opening track Kolejna Pętla, Angrrsth make it clear that this isn’t just another Black Metal record. This is the kind of work that reminds you why you fell in love with this music in the first place — the sound of fury and transcendence intertwining until you can no longer tell where one ends and the other begins.
Złudnia doesn’t waste time. It erupts. The opening track hits like a celestial hammer — guitars cutting through the void with surgical precision, blast beats detonating like mortars in a spiritual warzone, and vocals that don’t so much scream as they exorcise. There’s rage, there’s anguish, there’s something sacred and profane all at once.
You don’t listen to Angrrsth; you endure them, and somehow come out of it enlightened and half-dead.
Production-wise, this album nails the perfect balance between clarity and chaos. You can hear every instrument, every nuance, every layer — but it still sounds dangerous, unpredictable, feral. The guitars are sharp and cold as blades, but they bleed melody through the wounds they inflict. The drums are colossal — relentless but never mechanical — and the bass roars with enough power to crack concrete.
And the vocals are pure, hellfire, rage, and conviction. You believe every word, even if you don’t understand the language. Because the emotion — that primal, all-consuming emotion — translates perfectly.
What really stands out about Złudnia is its sense of scale. Angrrsth manage to craft songs that feel huge without ever slipping into self-indulgence. There’s atmosphere here, yes, but it’s not of the misty, ambient kind. This is atmosphere built from the sound of collapsing worlds — vast, oppressive, awe-inspiring. The tracks twist and shift with purpose; they breathe. The transitions between blistering speed and measured, suffocating tension are handled with the confidence of a band who know exactly how much power they’re wielding.
And make no mistake — power is the word here. This album radiates it. Each track feels like an invocation, a ritual, a violent communion between musician and listener. It’s the kind of music that makes you forget where you are, what time it is, and maybe even who you are.
There’s something spiritually destructive about Złudnia, but also something oddly affirming. It’s darkness that understands itself — not just an aesthetic, but a worldview. It doesn’t just play at being evil; it embodies it, and through that, it becomes something transcendental.
By the time the final track ends, you’re left staring into the void, half-hoping it stares back. It’s not just that Angrrsth have made an excellent record — they’ve made something important. Something that sits comfortably alongside the titans of modern Black Metal. And if there’s any fucking justice in this bleak world, Złudnia will be recognised as one of the best releases of the year, not just from Poland, but anywhere.
This is the kind of album I live for — the kind that doesn’t just blow you away, but redefines what you thought Black Metal could be. A sprawling, violent, living, breathing dark beast that exists for one purpose: to consume your fucking soul.
Złudnia is available now via the Angrrsth Bandcamp page.
CHOICE CUT: Widziałem Go
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: Angrrsth have created a modern classic. Złudnia is an unholy storm of power, melody, and annihilation — a record that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best in the genre, and spits in their faces while it’s at it. Poland continues to reign supreme. All hail the black flame.
