Polish Subcarpathian black metal act Kalt Vindur‘s their third full-length album, Magna Mater, is out now on the Greek The Circle Music label, as is a new video for the instrumental track ‘Mist Over Cergova’, that you can check out here at RAMzine.
The new video follows in the wake of the title track as a single, about which Kalt Vindur’s guitarist Svart said of the track: “’Magna Mater’ is our next musical step, a journey through the forests of the Subcarpathian region, along paths trodden by our grandfathers and fathers that lead through beautiful and sometimes dark and dangerous forests, streams and windy mountain peaks…”
‘Magna Mater’ and previous singles ‘Visions of Purification’, ‘Agonizing Luminosity’ and ‘Żywioły are available on all digital platforms here – You can also check out videos for some of those here at RAMzine.
Vocalist Celsus said of the earlier single ‘Żywioły’: “‘Żywioły’ is a nod to our ancestors, whose deeds, lives and desires are reflected in each of the evoked title elements. Your relationship to spirituality, religion, etc. is not important. The energy of your predecessors is still present, even though their bodies have long since crumbled into dust. This energy drives our lives today, just as our energy will go back to the next generations.”
Svart added: “‘Żywioły’ is a trance track, the introduction is followed by a total blast, for more than a minute there is no slowing down, there is a permanent blow after blow, then it calms down to go into a rollicking epic story about our Slavic ancestors.”
Before that even, they released ‘Bless Us’, and Svart said of it: “’Bless Us’ is a good preview of the music contained on Magna Mater, which is a mixture of atmospheric and progressive black metal.
“The album consists of seven compositions including one instrumental, different from the rest of the album. “We are excited to be working with The Circle Music for the release of this album. We’re definitely in good company with great acts such as Necromantia, The Magus, Melan Selas and Corax B.M among many other high-quality bands.”
Maria Papageorgiou at The Circle Music added: “We welcome pagan black metallers Kalt Vindur to the family. Hailing from Dukla, Kalt Vindur is the first Polish band to join our roster. Their upcoming third album Magna Mater is by far the best they have composed and compared to the previous ones (Delusions, …And Nothing Is Endless), I would say that the band has made enormous progress.”
Kalt Vindur was established in the spring of 2015 in Dukla, Poland. After personnel changes in the line-up of Artur (Svart) on guitar, Julian (Xakhariash) on drums, Szymon (S) on bass guitar, Wojciech (Celsus) on vocals, the band recorded their first album entitled Delusions and released in 2017 by Polish record label Mara Productions. Following that, Kalt Vindur were joined by guitarist Marcin (Ver) for live performances and shortly after became a permanent member of the band.
The band’s first album consists of six compositions set in the climate of progressive black metal, characterised by the climate of the Podkarpacie region demonstrated by the melodies and aggressive rhythms. The themes of the lyrics include man’s struggle with his inner demons, weaknesses, as well as events related to the history of the Podkarpacie region, such as the devastating battles of the Second World War, death, destruction and suffering.
In 2020, the second album entitled …And Nothing Is Endless was released by Witching Hour Productions, and the band further developed their style and cemented their unique presentation of Subcarpathian black metal. Kalt Vindur played concerts alongside such bands as Pandemonium, Hate, Batushka, Jarun and Zmarłym,and performed at Siekiera Fest 2021.
In 2022, the band recorded the material for their third album entitled Magna Mater. The drum recordings for the new album were made by new talented percussionist Rafal Chruścicki (Czarnuch), who replaced previous drummer Julian (Xakhariash). The band’s style has also evolved this time, and is said to make it their most mature work thus far, with some surprising changes, but at the same time a multidimensional and coherent album.
The Magna Mater album can be ordered via The Circle Music here and on digital services here.
