Band:	Gruzja
Album:	Koniec Wakacji
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Black metal
Release date:	October 2023

01. Jerusalem Shore
02. Aleksandria
03. Pomnik
04. Od Przedszkola Do Okopa
05. Poczytaj Mi Tato
06. Moda Nienawiści
07. Kciuk Cel Pal
08. Sałynka
09. Następna Stacja Getto [feat. Mold]
10. Do Pokoju
11. Koniec Wakacji
12. Już Po Dzwonku [feat. LARMO]
13. Wojna Domowa
14. Kciuk Cel Pal [Perturbator remix]

You know you landed in a weird zone when the user reviews for an album on a certain website are all 9/10s basically translating to "fuck Gruzja, it's the worst shit".

It does feel like some inside joke that I'm not Polish enough to understand. But if Primus sucks, so can Gruzja. The Polish black metal scene has never shied away from experimentation (sometimes for the worst, sometimes for the best), and a lot of it has been the blending of various genres as well as a sense of weirdness, and nobody encapsulates that better that Gruzja, a band that started out as more of a punky black metal band. That skeleton is still present in their music, but the punk side evolved to contain a larger umbrella of related genres, and their willingness to step out of the convention and just be plain weird made 2019's Jeszcze nie mamy na was pomysłu a pretty well regarded landmark in the current scene, and one that would create a lot of anticipation.

What followed that album was a "Priest Simulator" OST, Vulgator, something that didn't really feel like a "main album" even if the music isn't very soundtrack-like and does sound quite in line with what Gruzja were already doing, but expanding upon it. The punk element is something that is pretty vital to Gruzja's sound, and Vulgator went a bit deeper into post-punk and related subgenres but without losing any of the sarcastic rowdiness of the crustier punk that Gruzja originally tackled. And that's quite a preview for what would be the case for Koniec wakacji as well, one where the punk would go into both a very direct rowdiness and a more experimental and ever-expanding sound, even if this time around that lands less in post-punk and more in... well... it's tough to say in a single sentence without going track by track, but let's just say that a lot of it goes very far from the core sound.

Sure, a lot of the tracks still contain mostly or at least a significant trace of the punky black metal. That's how the album starts and those are still some of the best moments. Because the less straight-forward moments lead to a larger discussion about experimentation. Tried and tested waters can lead to stagnation and jumping into the unknown can lead to unexpected results, which include both the impressive and the grating. And both of them find themselves in Koniec wakacji. A lot of electronics, some in a power noise direction, some synthier, offer the biggest contrasting alternative to the core sound, along with some even more dramatic clean vocals, weird processing, pulsating beats, and a Perturbator remix. It's not the first time I felt an avant-garde album's language barrier getting in the way of properly enjoying an album's experimental intent, especially with how much Gruzja's entire appeal feels like an inside joke you're not in on, as great as the musicianship clearly is.

Koniec wakacji ends up being Gruzja's least grounded release so far, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. Say what you will about it, but it's not boring.