Review: Polynove Pole “On The Edge of the Abyss”

Polynove Pole “On The Edge of the Abyss”

I’ve probably moaned about this a few times in my reviews, but most of the female fronted Metal bands all sound the same and the genre is awash with mediocrity.

That wasn’t my view 20 years ago when I was discovering the likes of Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation etc… and a few years later it was Epica. But it all got stale pretty quickly for me when a plethora of crap bands flooded the market.

So it takes a special band to get my attention these days, and thankfully, we have one here today.

Polynove Pole (Ukrainian: Полинове Поле, “The Wormwood Field”) have a proper opera singer at the helm and it’s Marianna Laba’s vocals that lift this up, way beyond most of their competition.

Musically, Polynove Pole drift off into hypnotic Death/Doom territory, but obviously the duelling male/female vocals give this a bit of a Gothic edge… but the biggest plus point for me, is the song writing.

Like Draconian, Polynove Pole write proper songs, not just vehicles for a bit of female warbling. And that is where most of the Gothic/ female fronted bands go wrong these days.

Opener, Сивий Ангел (Grey Angel) has a Middle Eastern vibe to it, but it also has a classic Death/Doom sound, with the two vocalist playing their parts perfectly… And with Marianna Laba’s stunning vocals, I’m not sure many bands can match them for quality either.

And the quality continues right throughout this release. You don’t need a song by song breakdown, because the first song is as good as the last, or should that be the other way round?

In a time where no one likes to pay for music, you can get a digital version of the album for just $1 via Bandcamp: https://polynovepole.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-edge-of-the-abyss

If I love this release as much as I do a couple of years down the line, then I’ll consider it a classic…

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