POLARITY

KORZO is just one of the many projects created by Ukrainian metal guitarist Dimitriy Pavlovskiy who has been a member of Bloody Terror, Cantominated, Dimitriy Pavlovskiy's PowerSquad, Grotesque Orchestra and Majesty of Revival. Formed in 2013 in the far Western city of Uzhhorod, KORZO isn't a solo project as many believe but is a band trio with Pavlovskiy on guitar along with Vasiliy "Brazzroll" Irzhak (drums) and YJ (bass).

The band released a couple EPs before cranking out this debut POLARITY the following year of formation and displayed a knack for delivering stellar post-metal fortified with ambient sounds, symphonic elements all enriched with an excellent production job. Despite designated as an official album this one is still quite short clocking in just over 31 minutes of playing time and is all instrumental.

Although falling under the metal banner for the heavily distorted power chords and guitar riffing, the main compositional style is in the post-rock realms with receptive cyclical loops that add subtle elements to build crescendoes however some tracks deviate completely such as 'Topanch' which sounds more like an avant-garde classical work from the 20th century as it relies on a doomy drone while sporadic percussion punctuates and guitars slide all over the place in a chilled out mood. Once the piano enters after a couple minutes though it starts to sound like classic Pink Floyd but eventually gets to some killer metal bombast.

While i wouldn't call this the most exciting album ever to be released, it does a masterful tightrope act between ambient and psychedelic post-rock and the heavier post-metal parts. The tones and timbres are extremely well thought out as to how sounds are placed together and Pavlovskiy sneaks in some interesting guitar licks here and there which is usually not the case in post-anything music.

All is all this is a really decent album as a debut as it has a rather chilled delivery system with just enough metal heft to keep it from sputtering off into dreamy dreamland. Also nice additions of avant-garde classical sounds from time to time and the tracks flow together quite nicely making this a masterful experience from beginning to end.

3.5, hmmm round up or down? coin toss, ok up