Me And That Man
New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1
Napalm Records
2020
I was never the biggest fan of Behemoth, although, I understand their appeal and how their longevity and tenacity along with some key – good releases and the lack of a really edgy extreme metal band these days has allowed them to rise to the echelon of festival line ups.
When Adam “Nergal” Darski, along with a guy named John Porter, created this project and released their debut a couple of years ago, in all honesty, I wasn’t too impressed. Country, acoustic, dark rock... it’s been done before, better yet, but despite the bias, I decided to give this sophomore effort a chance. With John Porter gone, a myriad of guests, assume the role of the “other man”.
Opener, “Run with the Devil” features Jorgen Munkeby from the Shining, on vocals, sadly. It has a sax in it, but despite the thumbing rhythm and nice vibe, the whiny vocal does little to endear its simple melody.
“Coming Home” has Sivert Hoyem on vocals and sounds like something Madrugada could have done… it’s decidedly better, but doesn’t really manage to sell the album.
Mat McNerney/Kvohst is the one who assumes mic duties on “Burning Churches”, a sardoni, foray into Johnny Cash territory and it’s kinda funny, silly and catchy in a self-deprecating way, giving Darski’s past.
“By the River” benefits by a smooth delivery and guitar by Emperor’s Ihsahn sounding like dark gospel. It doesn’t avoid becoming a little monotonous, but its crescendo into a really cleansing solo, saves it, by the bell.
Darski sings “Mestwo” in his native Polish and while is melodic melancholy goes down easy, I ain’t sure if I should feel catatonic or cataleptic... okay, it’s not that bad, but…
“Surrender” continues in the same dark blue/gospel way as its predecessor. Anders Landelius, from Dead Soul, seems to have a huskier but warm voice, that carries the song well and Rob Caggiano, of Anthrax and Volbeat fame, gifts the song with a fittingly poignant solo.
“Deep Down South” goes redneck, complete with banjo and harmonica. It features Łuka Kuba on fiddle, Nicke Anderson, from Entombed and Lucifer, along with the chanteuse of the latter Johanna Sadonis, in something that probably sounds like Dolly Parton on LSD and distortion. Well, it does sound different and I suppose, with the amount of slow and miserable shit that precedes it… it does manage to change the flow a bit, even momentarily.
“Jerome Reuter” of Rome (a neo-folk band) must be one of the most obscure people featured on the album, but is not bad on the extremely dark folk of “Man of the Cross”.
Trivium’s Matt Heafy is too close to the mic, booming along on “You Will Be Mine”, a song of longing and unrequited love, which might have been great, if Heafy was Nick Cave. He’s not however and his impression is pretty meh...
“How Come?” has the capacity to sound good, with Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor sounding more authentic than half of the singers on this album. Caggiano makes a return for the solo along with Mastodon’t’s Brend Hinds, who must be having field day, with this hickey shit. It’s fair and probably one of the songs that actually give this album a reason to exist besides being a contractual obligation.
Lastly, serial self-mutilator Niklas Kvarforth from the Shinning also makes an appearance in the pretty chaotic “Confession” that goes from Cash straight to hell in a handbasket.
With quarantine due to coronavirus taking a bit of a metal toll, I don’t think I need to indulge in bad dark folk that without being as terrible as the first album is nothing to write home about. Two, at best three, roughly interesting tunes and too many guests make this sound like a suicider’s mixtape, only the title I have for it is : “Same shit, different(day) year”.
When Adam “Nergal” Darski, along with a guy named John Porter, created this project and released their debut a couple of years ago, in all honesty, I wasn’t too impressed. Country, acoustic, dark rock... it’s been done before, better yet, but despite the bias, I decided to give this sophomore effort a chance. With John Porter gone, a myriad of guests, assume the role of the “other man”.
Opener, “Run with the Devil” features Jorgen Munkeby from the Shining, on vocals, sadly. It has a sax in it, but despite the thumbing rhythm and nice vibe, the whiny vocal does little to endear its simple melody.
“Coming Home” has Sivert Hoyem on vocals and sounds like something Madrugada could have done… it’s decidedly better, but doesn’t really manage to sell the album.
Mat McNerney/Kvohst is the one who assumes mic duties on “Burning Churches”, a sardoni, foray into Johnny Cash territory and it’s kinda funny, silly and catchy in a self-deprecating way, giving Darski’s past.
“By the River” benefits by a smooth delivery and guitar by Emperor’s Ihsahn sounding like dark gospel. It doesn’t avoid becoming a little monotonous, but its crescendo into a really cleansing solo, saves it, by the bell.
Darski sings “Mestwo” in his native Polish and while is melodic melancholy goes down easy, I ain’t sure if I should feel catatonic or cataleptic... okay, it’s not that bad, but…
“Surrender” continues in the same dark blue/gospel way as its predecessor. Anders Landelius, from Dead Soul, seems to have a huskier but warm voice, that carries the song well and Rob Caggiano, of Anthrax and Volbeat fame, gifts the song with a fittingly poignant solo.
“Deep Down South” goes redneck, complete with banjo and harmonica. It features Łuka Kuba on fiddle, Nicke Anderson, from Entombed and Lucifer, along with the chanteuse of the latter Johanna Sadonis, in something that probably sounds like Dolly Parton on LSD and distortion. Well, it does sound different and I suppose, with the amount of slow and miserable shit that precedes it… it does manage to change the flow a bit, even momentarily.
“Jerome Reuter” of Rome (a neo-folk band) must be one of the most obscure people featured on the album, but is not bad on the extremely dark folk of “Man of the Cross”.
Trivium’s Matt Heafy is too close to the mic, booming along on “You Will Be Mine”, a song of longing and unrequited love, which might have been great, if Heafy was Nick Cave. He’s not however and his impression is pretty meh...
“How Come?” has the capacity to sound good, with Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor sounding more authentic than half of the singers on this album. Caggiano makes a return for the solo along with Mastodon’t’s Brend Hinds, who must be having field day, with this hickey shit. It’s fair and probably one of the songs that actually give this album a reason to exist besides being a contractual obligation.
Lastly, serial self-mutilator Niklas Kvarforth from the Shinning also makes an appearance in the pretty chaotic “Confession” that goes from Cash straight to hell in a handbasket.
With quarantine due to coronavirus taking a bit of a metal toll, I don’t think I need to indulge in bad dark folk that without being as terrible as the first album is nothing to write home about. Two, at best three, roughly interesting tunes and too many guests make this sound like a suicider’s mixtape, only the title I have for it is : “Same shit, different