ZØRZA – IEI

IEI, short for ”Ignoramus Et Ignorabimus” a Latin phrase meaning ‘We Do Not Know And Will Not Know” is both a staple of learning in modern science; Namely, that it is impossible to know everything but that should hardly limit or stunt the pursuit of what knowledge can be gained – And now, the first ever release of Polish Post-Metal duo ZØRZA (whose stylized name is Polish for ‘Northern Lights’ as far as I am able to gather).

Their first outing into ‘physical’ media (in this case said media is a digital release on Bandcamp), IEI is a twenty-four minutes long EP, consisting of three tracks ranging in length from the shortest of five minutes to the track the record is named after at nearly ten minutes – As well as an instrumental track thrown inbetween, carrying the name of the band itself at around three-and-a-half minutes. And now that the technical, number-heavy parts have been dealt with, let us dive into the primary focus of this little scribble of mine: How does the band play and sound?
Quite well, as it turns out. Post-Black Metal has always been an interesting sub-genre, taking the raw and gritty violent aggression of Black Metal and refining it, cleaning up the sound, adding breakdowns as well as an overall more restrained approach. Sometimes it works, creating something somewhat new yet still clearly in the mould of its predecessors and other times… Well, it ends up too far from the source material to truly even fall under the same umbrella.

Luckily for me however, ZØRZA falls firmly into the former camp.

While not quite delving deep into the Atmospheric camp, IEI nevertheless plays much like the ebb and tide, one track seamlessly flowing into the next, surging with slow, evershifting energy, never going dull for a moment nor at any point rising to a fever pitch. ‘Restrained’ really is the most apt description for their performance, and that is by no means meant as the insult it easily could sound like. It is clear that the two musicians had a distinct vision in mind, one which they meticulously laboured towards – And I reckon, succeeded in creating.

In many ways they remind me of the performances of Au-Dessus – And as such I will naturally recommend any fans of one of these to the other.

A very succinct and enjoyable little release – I will be looking forward to a Full-length (and hopefully properly physical) version somewhere down the line.

https://www.facebook.com/zorza.pbm

https://zorzapbm.bandcamp.com/album/iei