Johann Wolfgang Pozoj - Birth Of Pozoj review
| Band: | Johann Wolfgang Pozoj |
| Album: | Birth Of Pozoj |
| Style: | Avantgarde metal, Progressive metal |
| Release date: | 2011 |
01. Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes
02. Queen Emeraldas
Well, Johann Wolfgang Pozoj is a band hailing from Croatia with an obscure name as you may have noticed and an even more obscure music. As the label sheet indicates, the moniker of the band has its origins in a pre-Indo-European myth concerning a dragon named Pozoj. I'm here to talk about the first album,Birth Of Pozoj, of a trilogy coming our way in the future. In fact, this work was released a few years ago under the same title, with the only difference that the band nowadays can present it under Code666 to a bigger audience. I haven't listened to the original 2007 work, henceforth I can't say how far from it's birth patterns it is, but I'll trust the label sheet and say that this version has been "re-arranged, re-thought and re-recorded".
Johann Wolfgang Pozoj play some kind of avant-garde-driven black-flirting metal and Birth Of Pozoj consists of two compositions, lasting 35 and 21 minutes equally. Their length indicates that they take their time to unfold everything the band has to say and I have to admit that it's not the type of music you could listen to anytime, anyplace. You can't wake up one morning and say, "alright, let's listen to Birth Of Pozoj", it would be a crime and you'd probably not appreciate the album. A relaxed mind during nighttime when not many things can distract your attention is all you require and the journey begins.
The first impression always comes from the cover artwork, which I found really good, it's like a hollow eclipse of the sun and with this I mean, in first sight it seems like an eclipse (and it is, or maybe not?), but during the second sight in the centre of the eclipse it's the universe. The way the album flows varies from slowly expanding acoustic/atmospheric moments with recites and chanting clean vocals or more ambient phases to groovier moments that turn to powerful and more fast-paced passages with dynamic riffing and unearthly screams. There are times you get the impression as if you were reading a dreary fairytale with its ups and downs in intensity. This is the ambiance I receive while listening to Birth Of Pozoj and this feeling gets stronger through the repetition of ideas during each song excursion.
"Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes" has to be the calm before the storm, with its own thundering moments that prologue the forthcoming rain and "Queen Emeraldas" is the storm itself with the threatening tranquility between every outburst and an escalating ending. Henceforth during the first one the instruments play an atmosphere-evoking role, whereas during the second they get their chance to strengthen their presence and depict a more complex and structured face. The classical/acoustic/distorted guitars play an important role and so do the keyboards (either floating or more to the front), the rhythm section accompanies in any tempo with some interesting ideas here and there and the vocals, well, lend voice to the compositions whether they are soothing or entrancing. The production is very good and helps every sound aspect, damn, even the bass lines are vivid.
Concluding, I would recommend to all those weirdoes out there who are willing to give it a shot, it won't be enough. Spend some time with it and it will reward you, according to each one's tastes and expectations of course.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 17.08.2011 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind." |
Comments
Comments: 25
Visited by: 168 users
| Kuroboshi Posts: 1168  |
Will definitely check this out. Thanks for a well worded review. "henceforth I can't say how far from it's birth patterns it is" I saw what you did there! 
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| Tranquillizer Account deleted |
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The few clips I found on Youtube sound really promising. I have no idea how this band passed under my radar up to now. 
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10084  |
From the looks of it, this is one of the most pretentious albums released lately.
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| Milena gloom cookie staff Posts: 4603  |
Wow, a band from Balkan. Interesting...
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| malaikat Posts: 405  |
Damn, how did I miss this? Sounds amazing, based on th review. They should definitely promote this album in th Ex-Yugoslavia countries, if nothing else - we've got pretty nice BM and experimental BM underground scene in Serbia, so they're always welcome here 
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| Enissa Posts: 815  |
Wow, really beautifully written review, gotta check'em out! wait, this band has two albums with the same title, one in 2007, and the other in 2011, what's up with that?!!
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Milena gloom cookie staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by malaikat on 18.08.2011 at 13:13 Dude, I never heard of experimental BM here, just the regular stuff  but maybe that's because I don't listen to black metal. Anyway, there's certainly a great number of black metal fans here, so I'll ask them how they feel about this release after some time
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| malaikat Posts: 405 |
Written by Milena on 18.08.2011 at 15:50 Well, experimental BM bands here (in Novi Sad and Vojvodina in general) are more side projects of a side projects of a side project, so... :S After all, everybody wants to be heard(and earn some money ofc), and experimental BM is just not that profitable or popular, even when comparing it to traditional BM :/ But again, there are many post/experimental metal bands emerging (check out Pry from Novi Sad, they are awesome), so that gives me some hope that experimental BM will also become more popular as time goes
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| Milena gloom cookie staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by malaikat on 18.08.2011 at 16:26 Nah, I think that, before we start experimenting, we should focus on building decent studios and making decent music in the more traditional vein, that's the basis of everything. And yep, people in Vojvodina are pretty crazy! Don't like the power metal, but the rest of music you guys make...well done.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| KwonVerge Odysseus elite Posts: 5068  |
Is there any balkan band that uses traditional elements from its region or balkans in general and marries it with metal? i've always thought it would be kind of cool and, well... different!
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| KwonVerge Odysseus elite Posts: 5068 |
Yeah, something like that, sounds nice, thanks! Although i'd prefer some more slow-paced mixture of doom-or-black with the melancholic part of balkanian heritage, but that's a personal preference.
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Enissa Posts: 815 |
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| KwonVerge Odysseus elite Posts: 5068 |
Written by Enissa on 18.08.2011 at 19:56 I guess you should contact Code666 the label, or ask a local metal store or a music store in general if they can get this album for you or something, or buy it from the net in general.
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Enissa Posts: 815 |
Written by KwonVerge on 18.08.2011 at 20:04 sadly everything you mentioned is hard (or lets be realistic and say impossible) to do here...!! I meant if there's a digital copy or a free link or something!
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| Yugosaki Posts: 140  |
Written by KwonVerge on 18.08.2011 at 17:28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxE2bUmHdc
---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaEBpRWr2IA
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| KwonVerge Odysseus elite Posts: 5068 |
Written by Yugosaki on 18.08.2011 at 22:11 Listened to this song and "behold the mountains" on youtube, pretty close to what i'm searching, thanks a lot, i will definitely invest more into them 
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Yugosaki Posts: 140 |
Written by KwonVerge on 18.08.2011 at 22:26 you should listen to, they are very good 
---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaEBpRWr2IA
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10084 |
Written by KwonVerge on 18.08.2011 at 17:28 um.. just from Romania i can name GOD's old albums, Negura Bunget, Bucovina, Bucium, there are lots of them
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| Mihovil Posts: 1 |
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| KwonVerge Odysseus elite Posts: 5068 |
Written by Mihovil on 29.08.2011 at 01:22 Damn, i pretty much enjoyed those songs and hell yeah, this instrument you mentioned really adds something to the songs! It has a nice sound, thanks for the recommendation
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Milena gloom cookie staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by KwonVerge on 18.08.2011 at 17:10 There's actually a slightly proggy band called Uneven who does that, it's real Serbian folk metal.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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