MiR: New Project Feat. Spaceslug Members Releasing Season Unknown This Week; Video Posted
There are two songs streaming now from Season Unknown, the debut album of Polish progressive black metallers MiR, who feature in their ranks Spaceslug guitarist/vocalist Bartosz Janik and bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka as well as guitarist Michał Zieleniewski of 71tonman and drummer Krzystof Kamisiński of Burning Hands. The first is raging, squibbly-inflected opener “Altar of Liar,” which duly scorches the earth so that it can be repainted in the greys and blacks one finds similarly manifested on the album’s cover, and the penultimate “Yesterday Rotten,” which departs in its second half toward more subdued and melodic fare, with Rutka and Kamil Ziółkowski (also Spaceslug) contributing vocals, and between the two, something of an atmospheric impression representing the record as a whole comes through.
It’s not the full story — MiR‘s Season Unknown runs eight songs and 43 minutes and puts that time to expansive use — but in severity and sprawl, a picture emerges. The best advice I can give is do go in with an open mind and don’t go in expecting Spaceslug. If you caught wind of 2021’s Memorial (review here), you know that outing had its moments of char as well, so MiR aren’t completely out of context, but it’s a purposeful step away from heavy psych, even if some cosmic aspects speak to the reach of a band like Oranssi Pazuzu in their furious churn en route to the sum-of-all that is seven-minute Season Unknown closer “Illusive Loss of Inner Frame.”
The project has been in the works for about half a decade, apparently, which explains the cohesion in the material throughout Season Unknown, but this is still a first release, and part of the impression it makes is for sure in the potential for MiR to reach deeper into the abyss they’re conjuring here, finding a place for themselves in post-black metal that’s neither lost the intensity of the root genre nor forsaken ambience in service to that.
A bit of info follows, culled from Bandcamp and social media, blah blah, and there’s the info for the release party on April 1, which is like this weekend or something, but consider the audio and just-posted video — directed and shot by Janik — the real point here, especially if you’re feeling like something that’s a little (okay a lot) out of the norm around these parts. Any and all opinions welcome either way in the comments:
Second single from upcoming full length just landed.
This time we brought Kamil and Jan from Spaceslug for special featuring and collaboration on vocal parts to complete this track and its dark essence.
Enjoy eternity.
-CD/Vinyl/Merch coming soon-
MiR – Season Unknown LP
Release date: 31.03.2023
Album recorded at Perlazza Studio 4.04-15.04.2022
Mixed and mastered by Perła from Perlazza Studio and MiR
Tracklisting:
1. Altar of Liar
2. In the Stones
3. Lost in Vision
4. Sum of all Mourn
5. Moonlight Fever
6. Ashen
7. Yesterday Rotten
8. Illusive Loss of Inner Frame
Season Unknown” LP release party
01/04/2023
Event: https://fb.me/e/3vX1xXsE7?mibextid=RQdjqZ
MiR is:
Bartosz Janik – Vocals, Guitars
Michał Zieleniewski – Guitars
Jan Rutka – Bass
Krzystof Kamisiński – Drums
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089773474016
https://mirofficial.bandcamp.com/
Always happy to see something blackened here. If it is good it’s good.
On which note currently listening to the new Downfall of Gaia