Short Reviews [Adam Jurczynski - 2024 - "Cold Winter"]

This is the first time I have come across Adam Jurczynski (guitars, vocals , bass, keyboards), who has been joined on this release by Bobi (drums) and guest Malgorzata "Margo" Szkoda-Hreczuch who provides vocals on the title cut and is the frontwoman for Moyra who released their debut album last year. I would have liked to have heard more from her, as she definitely adds an additional element, but even with her only being involved on the first song this is quite an intriguing album which never sounds like a solo project but a full band. This is a concept album where we find Adam moving between technical metal and prog metal with a harsh vocal style and crunching guitars. Then just when we think we have a handle on what is going on we get oriental guitar on “Tears of the East” which is quite distracting and means we no longer make the assumptions about what may be coming next. Given that Adam is shown on the album cover with a guitar and a samurai side strapped to his back, anything is possible. “Bright Sunbeam” in an interlude of sorts, an instrumental with some interesting percussive bowls which then lead us into the crunching “New Form of Live”. Lynx Music have long been one of my favourite labels, as they have been promoting amazing bands from Poland for decades, many of which I have been fortunate enough to hear, and I have always felt that Poland is a massively overlooked resource for great prog music. This also shows the breadth of the label as it is heavier than what I would normally expect from them and while not essential is certainly an interesting romp.