Piołun |Exolvuntur |Malignant Voices

Piołun is a black metal project founded in 2019 in Lublin, Poland by Sorh, widely known in the underground as XCIII, the guitarist of Blaze Of Perdition, Oremus, and Manbryne. Piołun emerged as the spiritual continuation of Oremus following internal line-up shifts and a shift in lyrical direction. The debut, "Rzeki Goryczy", dropped in November 2022 through Malignant Voices and quickly gained traction among devotees of the Polish and Scandinavian 90s black metal currents. The current lineup consists of Sorh on guitars, vocals, and lyrics, Neither on bass, and Vitor on drums. Blaze Of Perdition, for context, was founded by XCIII in 2007 in Lublin, evolving from an earlier project called Perdition and going on to release six full-lengths, the last being "Upharsin" in 2024 via Metal Blade Records, a band that earned its standing as one of Poland's most respected black metal outfits. Malignant Voices is an independent Polish label and distributor with a long track record of putting out quality underground black metal, home to names like Deus Mortem, Doombringer, Mānbryne, and Medico Peste.

"Exolvuntur" is rooted in 90s Scandinavian and Polish black metal, with a colder, more melodic shape than the debut. The riffs have that old frost in them, the vocals stay bitter and dry, and the whole album walks through themes of life, death, decay, and nature without turning into empty poetry. It is black metal with form, not random noise dressed in corpsepaint.

The production by Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio gives the album power without sanding down its edges. The guitars have enough space to create atmosphere, the drums sound alive, and the vocals sit where they should, harsh and present. "Manifest Kresu", "Sierpniowy Brzask", "Czas", and "Moribunda" show the album’s colder side, while "Hiems" closes it with a longer, darker path that needs patience.

For a second album, "Exolvuntur" is a very good step forward. It has atmosphere, discipline, and enough poison in its veins to leave a mark. It is more assured in its construction, more nuanced in its melodicism, and consistent enough across its runtime to justify the four-year gap. A strong Polish black metal release, cold in the right places and human in its decay.

|8.5