Blindead 23 - Vanishing

Band:	Blindead 23
Album:	Vanishing
Style:	Sludge metal
Release date:	September 27, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Haunting
02. Let Them Speak
03. Void

A significant name in the Polish metal scene, the curtain fell for Blindead in 2022 after two decades of existence, but as one door closed, another opened for Blindead 23.

The path to dissolution perhaps started for Blindead a while before its ultimate demise; a strong founding core of musicians that remained stable across the band’s first few releases gradually departed throughout the 2010s, albeit not before releasing the cult icon post-metal album Affliction XXIX II MXMVI. That record marked the final release with the group for founding guitarist Mateusz ‘Havoc’ Smierzchalski (ex-Behemoth), but after the disbandment of the original Blindead, Smierzchalski reshaped a nascent musical project of his into a new incarnation of the band alongside original vocalist Patrick Zwolinski, with ex-Vader/Decapitated drummer Paweł Jaroszewicz rounding out the core of Blindead 23.

Although I enjoyed their subsequent releases, Affliction XXIX II MXMVI is ultimately the album that I remember Blindead for, so hearing some of the personnel behind that record writing more music within the genre is an enticing prospect. After the single Towards The Dark in 2022, new EP Vanishing is the first substantial offering of music from Blindead 23. Although Blindead 23 are credited as a six-man line-up (also including Roger Öjersson of Tiamat and Katatonia, among other names), this EP seems to be primarily the product of the aforementioned 3-man core line-up due to other engagements for the remaining members (Dool’s John-Bart Van Der Wal covered bass duties for the EP), and despite not being a full album, this 26-minute composition divided into three parts is certainly not lacking in ambition on the part of this trio.

Blindead’s output was typically categorized as post-metal and/or progressive metal, and true to the name, Blindead 23’s sound on Vanishing finds a similar balance between complexity, atmosphere and heaviness. Jaroszewicz gets right to work during “Haunting” with an intensive tom workout; the guitars and vocals on this song fluctuate between gloomy melody and more ominous darkness, although there are times when the vocals turn harsh while the guitars remain melodic, and vice versa, which helps avoid predictability setting in. The delicate textures and evocative clean singing during the most melodic portions of the song are rather touching, but as it works its way towards its conclusion, “Haunting” gradually slips into more malevolent, jaunty aggression.

That darkness and dissonance is explored more deeply during “Let Them Speak”, a pounding, groovy effort driven by rhythmic riff patterns and bleak roars, with only faint synth tones in the latter minutes offering much in the way of levity. The rhythm-focused, percussive nature of this song does a good job of recapitulating one of the many strengths of Affliction XXIX II MXMVI-era Blindead; the EP’s final song explores a different avenue. Spanning nearly half the record’s runtime, the 12 minutes of “Void” initially put a heavy emphasis (arguably too heavy) on dark ambient noise, as it’s not until nearly the 4-minute mark that the underlying ambient noise foundation is accompanied by any vocals or instrumentation, and it’s not until the 9-minute mark that the track turns truly metallic with an impromptu onslaught of shrieks and blasts.

The intervening 5 minutes is perhaps the most fascinating portion of Vanishing, however; sparse, haunting wordless vocal lines drift in the background behind muted electronic pulses and ominous guitar motifs, before the song suddenly changes direction and shifts into a symphonic march, Zwolinski’s rich cleans and emphatic percussion alongside unexpected orchestrations crafting an ensemble of sound that is not heard either before or after this point of the EP. Still, even as steady processional percussion is taken over by all-out blasting, the melancholic melodicism of this segment is retained, and the closing minutes of the EP bring together many of Blindead 23’s different components and styles into a compelling blend that helps one remember why the name Blindead carried so much importance during the band’s heyday.

While it is (hopefully) but a prelude before a more substantial demonstration of Blindead 23’s full capabilities (particularly if the remaining members are able to contribute more to subsequent writing efforts), Vanishing is a very good indicator that Smierzchalski’s decision to return to this sonic universe will ultimately be a very fruitful one.