The core trait of any folk/pagan black metal album worth its salt is the ability to transport the listener to an ancient time and place through not only the atmospherics inherent to black metal, but through folk instrumentation — it’s one thing to throw in acoustic guitar interludes and some field recordings, but another to combine ancient and modern to create an entire pagan symphony. Varmia excel in the latter category with numerous techniques both vocal and instrumental on nie nas widzę, a truly impressive effort demonstrating what’s possible within this style of black metal.

Hailing from the historical Warmia region of northern Poland, Varmia use traditional instruments such as tagelharpa and goat horn to not only aid and abet the black metal, but serve as the core melodic component. Wardruna fans will no doubt recognize these instruments, and akin to those Nordic folk legends Varmia seek to rediscover their Baltic roots through a modern musical lens. Of course, given the fragmented nature of memory and history (and the mere passage of time) the ancient past will never be recaptured — yet when you can create music with such awesome moments as a tagelharpa break followed by blast beats, who’s to say you aren’t creating as powerful an atmosphere as that of musicians past?

nie nas widzę follows a four-part structure; each section begins with a folk instrumental track followed by two metal songs, the first with an all-caps title. These tracks are described as the heart of the record, and while they do stray towards a fist-pumping anthemic quality and the driving mid-tempos common in Eastern European black metal — “DIES TREMOR” a particular highlight — it’s often the succeeding songs where Varmia really showcase their ability to integrate folk melody. Take the trading off between horn and guitar on “swaixtan” as an example, which itself leads into a crushing Hammerheart-esque doom section complemented by throat singing and folk percussion that no doubt has Quorthon smiling down with approval. The tribalistic drumming and choral shouts of final track “poswiat” that precede devastating blast beats similarly backed by horn are truly epic and serve to cement that “closing track feeling” that good metal albums (of any genre) manage to put forth.

Bridging past with present, Varmia serve as an example of how to do pagan black metal right. Throat singing and growls, tagelharpa and blast beat, but most importantly the ability to seamlessly blend these elements without sacrificing any of their impact; this is what sets nie nas widzę apart from lesser albums in the folk black pantheon.

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nie nas widzę will be available June 16 on M-Theory Audio. For more information on Varmia, visit their Facebook and Instagram pages.