It’s a bit strange nowadays to find certain bands that preserve the spirit of Black Metal from the first half of the ’90s and that have a certain level of good musical production, that allows us to better appreciate the great music made in the ’90s by the pioneers of this style, but without straying too far from this characteristic or having a too polished or contemporary sound. This adds magic to the musical composition made in each song. And I’m not talking about the bands of this new “Revival” movement purposely generating gloomy and minimalist dark covers and using a sound with very little musical production, but rather keeping a raw, dark and sinister style, raging melodies on the guitars and with riffs created in moments of true artistic inspiration. The label or mention of being part of the list of albums of the year is selected for certain musical works that have a certain level of mastery from start to finish, both in the composition of each song individually, and also because of the feelings, impressions and experiences they generate when listening to an album from beginning to end, especially if their song titles and lyrics convey emotions and messages to capture the listener, and the imprint that leaves in our minds listening to a certain album takes us back in the past, to the glorious times and rising of this artistic and spiritual expression called Black Metal. Among the albums of this genre that will go down in history as the best of the year 2023, this album should belong to that list in honor of justice. The band SZNUR (Rope) presents us their fourth album and follows the successful trail of their previous productions, generating in each album between five and six songs of medium length with a total of approximately 30 minutes, but which are pure artistic quality and without any waste in any of its sections, neither individually in each song nor collectively to listen from beginning to end. Song titles and lyrics always relate to themes of self-reflection, limits of human understanding, questioning mental health, delusions and hallucinations. It is no coincidence that the band’s logo contains a rope as a symbol, which makes us question our own existence and mental health, and our own perception of the reality in which we live as well as its limits between what is real and what is outside of this world. The mastermind behind this band is Seth, an experienced multi-instrumentalist and renowned musician from Poland from the band MOONTOWER, a distinguished band in the consolidation of Black Metal worldwide in the late ’90s and 2000s. Its quality in musical composition can be seen in the fact that SZNUR’s first album dates from 2018 and the following year they published a work equally as a masterpiece as its predecessor. The sound of the drummer Psyho is that of a highly worked human machine, aggressive and technical at the same time, and with a galloping sound combined with the timpani, drums, pedals and cymbals. It is very remarkable not to have a constant, simple and monotonous sound as usual, either in blast beats or in half paces, but rather resembles several people playing each of the drum parts with their own rhythm and at the same time synchronized between all of them, like a concert made by a single human being sitting on a battery. Typical of the great Poland to give us drummers of this level and with that unique and differentiated characteristic in their style of playing. Vocalist Zer0’s sound doesn’t have the common sonority of a Black Metal band that uses only shrieks, but instead has the guttural power of 100 rabid individuals inside one person, and generates feelings of majesty, anger and power as if a leader would address his nation or dominate an individual vocally. Typical of the bands from this region, they give us vocal sound and at the same time aggressive and dark melodies through singing. This is SZNUR’s second album under the Polish label Godz Ov War Productions which has been releasing excellent quality albums by bands of the last decade that keep alive the flame of true Black Metal in its original spirit. The cover shows us a very close and detailed shot of the skin of a human being with grains and its characteristic details that make me reflect on what we are beyond flesh, skin and bones, and what meaning or value we give to all what the mind generates in us through ideas, thoughts, emotions and feelings, creating certain identification with others and the concept of ourselves. The album length is about 35 minutes long and has six fierce, high-energy songs. It is a masterpiece and even though their previous album “Dom Człowieka” (House of Man) was already phenomenal, they have gone a step further in generating songs, which any of them could be representative of the album and considered the best of it. You won’t get tired of listening to this album from beginning to end since the delight is also in appreciating a work in its entirety. One of the works that stands out this year, which has a great variety of “Revival” bands that fuse various genres or lean towards others that are not so natural to Black Metal. Fierce and melodic (grim and dark) Black Metal for our enjoyment. Put your rope around your neck and follow them at www.facebook.com/projektsznur, www.facebook.com/godzovwar