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Album Review – Komutator / We Don’t Owe You Anything (2026)

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These Polish thrashers are back after 13 years with a new album, exploring the gradual collapse of humanity through the everyday choices that erode values, freedom and human identity.

Founded in 2006 by guitarist Michał “Kinder” Kowalski, Ozimek, Poland-based Thrash Metal brigade Komutator has quickly established themselves within the Polish underground metal scene with their debut album Metal Sadism. Following years of inactivity, the band returns now after a 13-year hiatus with their sophomore album, titled We Don’t Owe You Anything, bringing new energy and a renewed creative vision while remaining faithful to their uncompromising approach to heavy music. Recorded at Heinrich House Studio and Turnia Studio, and mixed and mastered by Filip Hałucha at Heinrich House Studio, the new album by the aforementioned Michał “Kinder” Kowalski alongside vocalist Jacek Zema, guitarist Maciek Zalasiński, and drummer Andrzej Halupczok is their most diverse work to date, combining relentless Thrash Metal aggression with moments of melancholy, tension and reflection while exploring the gradual collapse of humanity, not through apocalyptic destruction, but through the everyday choices that erode values, freedom and human identity.

The cinematic intro Harbinger sets the stage for the band to crush our hopes and dreams with The Doom We Crave, featuring guest vocals by Szczepan Inglot (Wolfpack Heading Nowhere), with Michał and Maciek slashing their axes nonstop in the name of old school Thrash Metal, while Let It Bomb brings to our ears pure, unfiltered savagery by those Polish rockers, with the raspy vocals by Jacek walking hand in hand with the hammering drums by Andrzej. They keep the atmosphere as harsh and caustic as possible with Inhuman Resources, again featuring guest Szczepan Inglot, offering an overdose of violence and rebelliousness flowing from all instruments; whereas Metathesiophobia, featuring guest Wojciech Kostrzewa (Asgaard) on samples, presents elements from modern styles like Metalcore, sounding a bit too mellow compared to all other songs.

Featuring a guest guitar solo by Jacek Hiro (Sceptic), Watch Beauty Die brings the band back to their more ferocious mode, with Jacek once again growling and screaming in the best Randy Blythe and Max Cavalera style, melting our faces with his undisputed savagery, followed by Monster, again leaning towards modern-day Thrash Metal, with the guitars by Michał and Maciek exhaling anger and fury. Then investing in a fusion of Thrash and Groove Metal the likes of Machine Head we have Season of Storms, where the quartet keeps piercing our minds with their scathing riffs and pounding drums, and lastly, we face the frantic, high-octane title-track We Don’t Owe You Anything, with Jacek once again leading his horde with his infuriated screams supported by another killer riff attack by Michał and Maciek.

Focusing on humanity’s self-inflicted decline, the new album by Komutator examines a world where truth is distorted, freedom becomes illusion, and people are treated as resources rather than individuals, and if you also agree with their apocalyptic vision of our future as a whole you can start following the band on Facebook and on Instagram, and stream their killer music on any available platform such as Spotify. Furthermore, if you love the rebellious sounds blasted by Sepultura, Exumer, Exhorder, Cavalera Conspiracy, and Morbid Saint, you must grab a copy of Komutator’s new album from their own Bandcamp or from Via Nocturna. But you better hurry, because the world as we know it is coming to an end, and it’s not going to be an easy one.

Best moments of the album: Let It Bomb, Inhuman Resources and We Don’t Owe You Anything.

Worst moments of the album: Metathesiophobia.

Released in 2026 Via Nocturna

Track listing
1. Harbinger 1:32
2. The Doom We Crave 5:21
3. Let It Bomb 2:06
4. Inhuman Resources 6:08
5. Metathesiophobia 5:23
6. Watch Beauty Die 6:13
7. Monster 5:40
8. Season of Storms 5:29
9. We Don’t Owe You Anything 5:28

Band members
Jacek Zema – vocals
Michał Kowalski – guitars, backing vocals
Maciek Zalasiński – guitars
Andrzej Halupczok – drums

Guest musicians
Szczepan Inglot – vocals on “The Doom We Crave” and “Inhuman Resources”
Jacek Hiro – guitar solo on “Watch Beauty Die”
Wojciech Kostrzewa – samples on “Metathesiophobia”

Album Review – Hållbar / Nemesis (2025)

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Behold this excellent album of “Contemporary Black Metal” made in Poland, reminding us all that sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

Forged in the fires of Warsaw, Poland in 2023, Melodic Black/Death Metal horde Hållbar, a Swedish word that translates to “durable” or “sustainable” in English, is ready to crush our souls with their first full-length album, simply titled Nemesis. Self-recorded at Okrutnik Studio, mixed and mastered by Filip “Heinrich” Hałucha at Heinrich House Studio, and with artwork and design by Dariusz Barabaś from Seeg Design and Bartosz Rybitwa, the debut opus by Gosia Marczak on vocals, Przemysław Janusz Gracel and Jakub Bałdyga on the guitars, Bartosz Wietnam Mitura on bass and Sebastian Kredek Cieciera on drums brings to our avid ears a crossover between Black Metal and Melodic Death Metal with Deathcore-like female screams, or in other words, a unique belnd that the band likes to call as “Contemporary Black Metal”.

The cryptic, eerie intro Ambiguous Loss will darken our minds before the band comes ripping in Mental Apraxia, with Sebastian hammering his drums manically, offering Gosia all she needs to bark and roar like a true she-demon; and the guitars by Przemysław and Jakub exhale heaviness and sound as sharp as a knife in Face to the Ground, presenting a great fusion of Melodic Death and Black Metal. The title-track Nemesis brings forward obscure lyrics barked by Gosia (“You’re the hero of your personal myth / You’re an obdurate cancer running through my veins / You’re the buffalo with predator’s teeth / Nemesis! Oh! / Show me everything it is worth to die for / Nemesis! / Show me everything you just want to die for / Let them free!”), whereas Bartosz and Sebastian make the earth tremble with their metallic kitchen in the venomous Love/Hate Language.

After such a hurricane of blackened sounds, we face a more introspective, serene start in Fears, with Gosia gnarling deeply before all explodes into a headbanging extravaganza led by the massive drums by Sebastian, resulting in maybe the most Black Metal of all songs. The band continues to pave their darkened path in Voodoo Doll, another excellent option for some vigorous headbanging with the riffs by Przemysław and Jakub transpiring sulfur; and there’s no time to breathe as their caustic fusion of Death and Black Metal keeps penetrating deep inside our souls in Aposiopesis, while Gosia blasts an overdose of harsh roars in Tormentor, supported by the thunderous sounds crafted by her bandmates. Puppet String, the second to last song of the album, again ventures through darker lands, sounding perfect for some mosh pit action, whereas lastly we have Possibilities, a solid tune that puts a visceral yet melodic ending to the album.

“Nemesis is a tale of unprocessed experiences and emotions that, difficult and aggravating at first, eventually teach important lessons – stories of mental illness, codependency, perfectionism, patterns of unreflective behavior and loneliness. Nemesis is about each of us, because we are sometimes our own worst enemies,” commented Gosia about the band’s debut offering, and you can join the band in that never-ending fight against our inner demons by following them on Facebook and on Instagram, by subscribing to their YouTube channel, by streaming their music on Spotify, and by grabbing a copy of Nemesis from BandCamp or from DistroKid. We’re definitely our worst enemies in life, which is why we have high quality bands like Hållbar among us, to give us strength through their music to continue moving forward no matter what.

Best moments of the album: Face to the Ground, Fears and Aposiopesis.

Worst moments of the album: Tormentor.

Released in 2025 Independent

Track listing
1. Ambiguous Loss 0:41
2. Mental Apraxia 3:54
3. Face to the Ground 3:19
4. Nemesis 3:10
5. Love/Hate Language 3:47
6. Fears 3:33
7. Voodoo Doll 4:45
8. Aposiopesis 3:29
9. Tormentor 3:24
10. Puppet String 4:05
11. Possibilities 3:51

Band members
Gosia Marczak – vocals
Przemysław Janusz Gracel – guitar
Jakub Bałdyga – guitar
Bartosz Wietnam Mitura – bass
Sebastian Kredek Cieciera – drums