One of my favorite things in the world is being turned onto new bands. It doesn’t get any better than that, and I was fortunate enough to recently be pointed in the direction of a burgeoning scene in Warsaw, Poland, centered around several quality unsigned bands making a go of it. Hence the “Vol. 1” above, because there are going to be a couple of these as we spotlight different groups from the area. Just so there’s no confusion, I’m hearing these acts for the first time myself, so we’re learning together. Which is nice.

Broken Betty (from the end of whose name I can’t shake a “ram ba lam” even though I know it doesn’t belong there) hail from Gdynia, on the Gulf of Danzig in the north of Poland. The trio plays a ’90s-informed style of heavy rock that has what in the US would probably be considered a commercial sheen thanks to the clean vocals of bassist Dziablas, but they don’t cross the line into nü-metal nonsensities at all on the songs posted at their MySpace page.

Instead, they show a capable use of melody in both the music and the vocals — Pacior handling the guitar and Seba the drums — and a recognizable cohesion as a unit. Their self-released EP came out last year, and is posted in its entirety for free on the aforementioned MySpace, but if you’re looking for a place to start, I’d recommend “Pull in Like a Black Hole,” which has some more stoner elements than some of the other songs and isn’t afraid to let them show. Occasionally the material dips into Helmet-style noise, but Broken Betty seem equally apt to keep that in check in favor of a more straightforward approach.

Whatever they’re doing, it’s not half bad. Like their recently-reviewed countrymen, Luna Negra, Broken Betty aren’t redefining the genre in which they reside, but given that they’re part of a small scene that — so far as I know — is the first generation in Poland to take on this style, their actions are commendable nonetheless, and definitely worth keeping on the radar.

Tags: Broken Betty, Poland, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm and is filed under On the Radar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.