29th January 2020

Review: “Primal” EP by Pale Path

Warsaw Poland is the home of Pale Path, a five piece act who simply say that genre doesn’t matter. The quintet of Krystian “Kryśka” Łukaszczyk (Vocals), Dawid Rydz (Guitar), Wiktor Niezgoda (Drums), Chris Maciaszek (Guitar) and Aleks Głowacki (Bass) are too busy creating a sound that they enjoy from the inspirations of their peers and having a damned good time with it – and that’s what counts. The music video for single “Enemy” won an award for the Best Polish Music Video in the Rock/Heavy Music genre at the Polish Music Video Awards so our heads have been turned…

Introduction piece “Prelude” is 44 seconds of synth that sets a haunting tone before underpinning the opening of first track proper “The Void“. A powerhouse Metalcore cut with bright lead flourishes highlighting some classic later genre era chugs, it’s an instant winner. It has a “Bliegh!” moment that is on point, as is the vocal distortion during a phrase we’ve heard from the likes of Winds Of Plague. The haunting Post-Hardcore closing is a fine palette cleansing finale. “Watching Brothers Fall” continues the riff patterning with a couple of neat little interchanges between the guitarist pairing bringing bounce to the mosh pit and who doesn’t love a breakdown? Lukaszczyk has an impressive unclean vocal range and and the underpinning of his chorus lines with a clean vocal buried in the mix is an interesting choice. It’s quiet enough that you might not recognize it as such at first listen with the unclean vocal being the dominant voice.

Changing gear and delivering a higher energy output, “Enemy” was the pre-release single and pile drives through will the familiarity of the earlier tracks in the mix while also making a few new plays. The synths are a nice touch and a comparison to some of the heavier Motionless In White material is probably a good marker point. If Pale Path appeared on a Punk Goes Pop release then you wouldn’t blink. “Corrupt” has a Tech-Metal tapping section while also boasting some more of the Post-Hardcore isms with a spoken word transfer over it before returning to the pummeling core sound. Lyrically the songs have a Nu-Metal introspection to them in places while the delivery is more of a straight up Heavy End Metalcore that touches the void to Deathcore in places. “Kept Silent” has a synth loop in it that brings In Flames to mind but is more reliant on the bludgeoning rhythmic gymnastics of the guitar work to deliver slab after mortuary slab of adrenaline fueled groove. While Pale Path might not bring that much new to the table, what they do is well crafted, constructed and razor sharp [7/10]

Track Listing