Gontyna Kry are a Polish black metal band of dubious political inclination. Their name loosely translates to "Temple of Blood" from it's proto-slavic origin. Everything Gonyna Kry has released has been magic, but it is "Welowie" (Ancestors) that is widely regarded by fans as the band's pinnacle. It is indeed an amazing album of mournful, layered black metal. The drums sometimes struggle to keep up but this is due to the fact that they were recorded after the guitars. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of recording knows why this is usually a terrible idea, but in the case of "Welowie" it only serves to add to the chaotic swirl of the album. There is something very distant and lonely about "Welowie". Gontyna Kry are not so much hateful bigots as they are reflective and despondent over the erosion of their ancient slavonic traditions, but they also hold an optimistic belief that someday ancient pagan values will be restored to Poland. Founding member Thargelion elaborates on this notion: "Today's world is full of corruption, lies and lack of responsibility. Most people do not take care of the achievements of their ancestors, it is unimportant for them, indeed, even senseless. Yet they fail to notice that behaving as they are, they are becoming worthless materialists, caring about their splendid career and money. I consider that a man lacking respect for the past of their country should not call themselves a citizen (partly a patriot) of that country. Personally, I foster and take care of the past of my Fatherland, actively support it in writing and music. I count on it that some beautiful day everything will go back to its roots, we will again become those people for whom ideals; honour and Fatherland were important. Today's world is devoid of these very values, morale falls down, ethos does not count anymore; only a small group of people, those real patriots, are aiming for the past to not be forgotten, and they still take care of the ancestors' achievements. There ought to be more such people, yet our times are very hard so one does not know how things will turn out to be; what one knows is that only the commonly known materialism counts, which actually is a kind of utopia for the whole of mankind."http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RTFX6HD3
4 comments:
I see what you mean about the politics. Cool sounding stuff, but, the rhetoric does sounds like sugar-coated Nationalism. Interesting post nonetheless/as always...
The speech is kind of a big clichéd repeated by every pagan nationalist band around. The truth is that, in most cases, it's just empty words. Not that they are consciously fooling their listeners, they are actually fooling themselves more than anything else. To repeat that speech makes them believe they are better than the others, they are special, but they are no different. The overall attitude is the same everywhere, they are as degenerated and materialist as the ones they judge, the only difference is that they have a band and a speech. Making pagan metal is for them the ultimate act of sacrifice for the nation, for the forefathers, for the truth. They are naive enough to really believe they are like pagan heroes, superior beings, the heralds of a new age. But their new age will never come, they are a perfect product of this age, they need everything to be the reverse of their utopia, otherwise they will not feel special, they will not be the elite. They are like any other tribe with a speech, all parte of the same tribal social phenomenon we can observe these days.
I could care less for waxing poetic about their politics. I agree, this is a beautiful and haunting album that is set apart from many other NSBM albums by it's dynamics and melody. The longing practically pours out of the speakers. The clean intro to the first song is just heartbreaking. Nice post.
Nice one G. - it lookds like your comment is a peqarl before the feed of swine from the preceding
Martin C
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