Formed by the Polish drummer Nekrolyte (currently also in Doomslaughter and formerly Deofel and Okulus Diaboli) and Aahros on guitars and vocals (also active in Petit Nuage Noir), Flammae presented their debut album ‘Ordo’ in early 2023. Their Black Metal has a raw but somewhat murky guitar tone with prominent rumbling bass and thundering drums that are accompanied by excellent throaty and somewhat gurgling shrieks. Music wise, it’s hard to deny the influences of old Mayhem on the sound of Flammae. But the songs certainly have a Polish flair to it as well. The band it sounds closest to is Cultes Des Ghoules at the time of their ‘Häxan…’ album (although one can argue that album is very close to early Mayhem as well). And in a way, it has similarities to another strong recent Polish album, the debut released by Lamashtu. Some of the riffs on ‘Ordo’ remind me a bit of the Icelandic scene, in particular the likes of Sinmara and Svartidauði, as well, although in a far less dissonant and chaotic form.
With five tracks condensed in an effective 25 minutes, ‘Ordo’ is straight to the point and seems just about the right duration to give a proper introduction of what we can expect from the band. It’s long enough to see where the band wants to go with their take on traditional Black Metal, with in particular closing track ‘The Oath’ showing the band thinking outside the box through use of a melancholic solo and several interludes interspersed with harsh Black Metal. But it’s also a perfect length to retain intensity throughout and leaves us wanting for more. Flammae delivers a very solid debut record that deserves to be heard, and to be picked up by a label for a release on physical formats for that matter. Another strong effort from the surging Polish scene!
