Ritual (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 370-2) by Wieloryb – in cover art and title seems to convey a lot of the concerns and themes of this Polish label, with its bleak cover images containing a despairing message about man’s relationship to the industrial environment which threatens to eclipse our humanity.
Wieloryb have been around since 1994 and used to be a duo producing hammering industrial metal grimmitude, but now might be the solo work of Pawel Kmiecik from Gdansk. Ritual first appeared in 2021 on the Polish Antyscena label as a file-based release and with horrific cover art of skulls and wolves interwoven in the mode of a Black Metal logo. For this reissue, three bonus cuts have been added providing an additional 12 mins of claustrophobic Hell. This primo example of “Rhythmic Noise” isn’t quite in my line, but even so Wieloryb does exhibit ingenious variations on the basic hammering action, sometimes approaching a form of syncopation in his remorseless beats. He also keeps things simple; having established an atmosphere or mood of black dismalness, he sticks with it with remarkable tenacity. A very fatiguing listen.
Second item by same fellow is called God’s Final Breath (ZOHAR 371-2); more of the same intense heavy-industrial onslaught, but this time with some added vocal elements as Wieloryb chants and declaims, mostly to issue stern warnings about mind control – how the populace is enslaved by our faceless oppressors overseeing a corrupt system. Apart from shouting out slogans about “break the chains” and “resistance”, this record isn’t much of a call to action, rather it wallows in pain and futility for 45 mins. (26/02/2026)