WEEK 145 – DARZAMAT

My HeadBangers please welcome from Katowice, Poland the Atmospheric Black Metal Band:

DARZAMAT

“The Sleeping Prophet”

“The Great Blaze”

My HeadBangers there is nothing that stirs my blood more than the sound of the guitar and bass that is part of European bands.  It is such a different sound, I have tried to explain it so many times but if you can’t hear it my explaining it falls on deft ears.  Some people have “the ear”, I have been told I have it.  Basically what it means is that a person can tell where a band comes from by the sound of their instruments.  To me it is plain as day, to others they can’t tell the difference.  When I hear my European, Nordic Bands it just makes me come alive.  It is such a rush, like water to a person dying of thirst.  That may sound dramatic but that is how it makes me feel.  There’s nothing else that can compare to it for me.

Let’s look at some bio on this incredibly talented band:

Darzamat is a Polish atmospheric black metal band, founded in 1995. After a few initial releases the founding member Flauros (vocals) managed to gather musicians who have since been identified as the band’s core: guitar players Chris and Daamr, female vocalist Nera and keyboard player Spectre. The album Semidevilish, released in 2004, established the sound of the newly consolidated band and gave it strength to start appearing more regularly on stage.

The following year saw the release of Transkarpatia. The album, produced by Andy LaRocque, the guitar force behind King Diamond. As a result, the name Darzamat started to be featured on posters for such European festivals as Rock Hard Open, Wave Gothic Treffen, Hard Rock Laager, S-Hammer Festival, Last Night on Earth, Dong Open Festival, Moscow After Midnight and Metal Head Mission. At that time, the band found themselves performing for an ever widening circle of audiences in Balkan states, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Holland, Italy, France and Germany. Also around that time Darzamat embarked on tours supporting Sabaton in Benelux countries and Moonspell in Poland.

The year 2007 saw the band perform on Winternachtstraum Festival and on the 21st edition of the venerable Polish Metalmania Festival, organized since the 1980s. This performance was documented on the DVD album Live Profanity (Visiting the Graves of the Heretics) was released internationally.

In the 2009 Darzamat landed a worldwide record deal with Massacre Records, a German label, and delivered the fifth album of its career, Solfernus’ Path, also made available in Japan. This  marked the first time the band ever ventured into a concept album territory. Andy LaRocque moved from the production seat to the guest-musician spot and contributed a solo on ‘The King of the Burning Anthems’. The song, along with two other ones—’Pain Collector’ and ‘Chimera’—was selected to promote the album and all three were made into videos. Darzamat toured in Poland, Mexico, France, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Belgium, then returned to Poland to make an appearance at the Castle Party Festival.

In 2011 the band took a long break. Nera used her time away to focus on her solo project, NeraNature, which features gentler, atmospheric rock laced with electronics. She delivered three albums, with the latest one, MagJa, released in 2018. Flauros, on the other hand, decided to bring back the black metal act Mastiphal. In 2011 Parvzya (Witching Hour) was released, the first new full-length since the 1995 debut For a Glory of All Evil Spirits.

In 2019 Darzamat announced a new album “The Burning Kingdom”. The fans can expect another concept album, picking up the story right where its predecessor left off. Flauros, the main creative force behind the work, has revealed that this chapter takes place in London and that the lyrics for the album were penned by him and a long-time friend and writer, Jesion Kowal. Musically, the album opens a new era in Darzamat’s history: gone are the keyboards, up till now characteristically prominent. In their place the band inserts more diversified and complex guitar sounds. Pre-production and recording sessions for The Burning Kingdom were overseen by Maurycy Stefanowicz of Vader fame; production and mixing were handled by one of the most talented Polish producers, Jaroslaw Baran. The record was due for release in 2020.

Let’s meet the band:

Rafal “Flauros” Góral – Vocals (1995-present)

Agnieszka “Nera” Górecka – Vocals (2003-present)

Krzysztof “Chris” Michalak – Guitar (2001-present)

Marek “Markus” Tkocz – Bass (2009-present)

My Thoughts:

As I said at the beginning, the sound of this band stirs my blood and calls to me.  As one that has had the pleasure to hear many European/Nordic Bands live, unless you can experience it you don’t know what you are missing.   Don’t get me wrong American Bands always bring their game as you can see by the ones that are on the blog.  As a metal blogger I’m not supposed to be partial to one type of metal, band, or country they hail from, however, it maybe because one side of my grandparents were from Belgium the other side from Canada, maybe just something in the blood.  Either way  Euro/Nordic Bands just play and I follow, that’s just how it is.  As with Darzamat, there is something in the sound, in the words, that gets me on another level.  Music is not just music to me.  It’s so many things, it’s the bigger part of my life.  It keeps me sane in this time of confusion, the mess this planet is in.  The one thing that is always there, any day and any time is the music.  I can close my eyes and let it take me where ever it wants, like I said it’s more than just music, more than just sound.  It’s life to me, it’s the most important thing….. 

That’s it for this week my HeadBangers.  Join me next week for another band and another song.  In the meantime don’t stand to close to the fire if you can’t handle the burn…..