Polish black metal unit Furia has always been a strange beast, but their latest EP Halny feels almost like a manifesto for their unconventional sound. The single 20-minute track on Halny is unlike anything else the band has put out - while consistent with the band’s dark and menacing tone, the music is much more progressive and feels highly improvisational. The psychedelic guitar constructions rarely assemble themselves into anything close to black metal, but their progressive weavings combined with the infernal bellow of vocalist Nihil work to add more depth to the band’s decayed and morbid sound. Longtime followers of Furia will likely not be surprised by the direction the band has taken, but fans of more progressive metal or just weird metal in general who usually don’t listen to this type of music should also really consider adding Halny to their collection.

The EP’s length feels somewhat deceptive because the music on Halny doesn’t really flow consistently, which was a bit distracting at first. The band will get a good progressive jam session going for a few minutes, but then drop out completely while the guitar tones linger in the air. Then they’ll jump back in again and repeat the cycle. It almost seems like the composition is made up of several songs, except that all the different pieces fit together musically.

So many non-doom bands that attempt really long songs like this seem to crash and burn, and usually it seems like the bands are unable to come up with enough ideas to keep things interesting over the whole song. Halny is definitely one of the exceptions. Furia is one of the more creative and interesting bands in black metal, and Halny is just the latest example of what makes them unique.

» Buy Halny from Amazon.com