Parh - Journey Through Wasteland

PARH - Journey Through Wasteland (Self released demo CD 2016)

No idea if any of you remembers my review of “Nihil”, debut demo of Polish band called Parh. Well, it’s been a while since I reviewed it and sadly I didn’t notice much noise around Parh, but personally I liked this release a lot, so I am happy to see them coming back with their second demo, “Journey Through Wasteland”, which is just as good as the first one! And I hope that more people will start to recognize them, because this is just good shit. Maybe it’s not shit for everyone, but for fuck sake, I bet that there are many followers of the Autopsy / Abscess cult, right? And these two bands are a sure comparison for me, when describing Parh music. It’s maybe not quite pure obscure doomy death metal – although it surely has (Swedish) death metal influences as well – and it’s just more sludgy and crusty, filthy stuff, but the influence and similarity (like for example the horrible (haha!) vomits of Szkielo, reminding Chris Reifert) are noticeable from the first second.

And well, there are just four songs on this demo, but I like them a lot. I don’t know why “Journey Through Wasteland” is so easily listenable and catchy, while being so nasty and disgusting haha?!!! Anyway, Parh is great. When “Hebephrenic Psychosis” starts, I always have a strong feeling like it’s something from very old Entombed or Dismember demos, because this song is soaked with Swedish death metal. Then “Jerusalem Syndrome” is more like the two A’s bands I mentioned above, with killer sludgy main riff and great terrifying atmosphere. And following two songs are also in this vein. I have to say that the whole performance and composition on “Journey Through Wasteland” is very good. Obviously you shouldn’t expect it to be very technical and ultra polished, as it’s just not that sort of stuff. But damn, each time I play Parh, it’s just great fun and kick in the ass for me. Sure, it’s nothing revolutionary or outstanding, but just damn good, in my opinion.

Standout tracks: “Hebephrenic Psychosis”, “Kvlt of Fear”

Final rate: 80/100