The beauty of the digital age: I like Locrian and happened to listen to their radio on last.fm only to have found two amazing sludge acts, Terra Tenebrosa and this Polish gem. Apparently, Obscure Sphinx won a contest for best new and upcoming band at the Summer Breeze Open Air festival this year and so I seemed to have caught them at the beginning of their climb with this debut released last year with two prior demos under their belts. They play a sludgier version of post-metal made popular by bands that I don’t really listen to, but these folks truly grabbed me by how simply good their music is.

Interestingly, in English, the word ‘anesthetic’ used to denote painkillers or basically any form of medication that numbs sensation. I don’t know about Obscure Sphinx’s proficiency in English, but they resort to the original spelling an-aesthetic, which would mean to be without sensation. Yet that is exactly what they are not doing here. This album exudes passion. After a rather, for lack of a better word, industrial intro with clattering that builds anticipation, the album enters into what amount to about four albums of quality material with an interlude between the two pairs, lightening the load of tracks that might blend into one another without a proper disconnect.

Nastiez begins with some chanting from the star of the show, Wielebna, the foxy female vocalist, before a Meshuggah-like riff kicks in, chugging away at an eighth of those guys’ speed. The repetition of the riff enables the lady to show off her pipes, having moved away from the haunting chants that began the song to a raspier scream echoed by her shouts layered over top of one another. The drums are rather minimal, giving the riff a chance to widdle its way into your brain as more space-y sounds emerge. The riffing stops but the guitar keeps twanging into a build-up that demonstrates Wielebna’s ability to contrast vocal styles like no other part of the album.

I am past that moment in my life of fetishizing female vocals as such, and I only dwell on describing hers because they are so damn good at creating the atmosphere the band operates with. She fluctuates between an ominous clarity that one might find in listening to The Devil’s Blood with a dash of Julie Christmas to a gnarly scream that never pierces like Kat Katz’, but she might be the one most comparable to Wielebna’s scream.

Eternity relies on a two-minute build up at the beginning, but weaves a rather melancholic web around a doomy riff that evolves into a widdling tremolo pace by the end. These ten minute plus tracks create quite elaborate journeys that are intriguing to follow along. The first part of Bleed in Me is a somber affair that lays the groundwork for the heavier second part that is instantly noticeable as a shift in pace as the riff begins. The drums never stand out, but work in creating a solid rhythm throughout the album. The lyrics are nothing to write home about and I’m always little too conscious of her accent, but they never detract from the overall presentation.

A complaint that I could imagine arising is that there are other bands that do this better. As a debut album, I don’t think this is re-inventing the wheel, but it does what it does very well in a neat and concise manner. The album never overstays its welcome and the tracks never meander or leave you bored. In each moment, the band is doing something different albeit not wholly new. If Isis has you bored or if Rosetta are too technical for your liking, this might be worth a listen or two. And if you don’t catch this album, I’m sure you’ll catch the next because barring a breakup, their next album should be a doozy if they can refine and perfect what they have here.

If you're interested, check out the tracks, Nastiez and Eternity here.