Review Summary: Super fun punk/black metal crossover.
What does
Strix mean, anyway? Well, the term refers to an entity from ancient mythology, typically a bloodthirsty winged creature, an owl or a bat. A true omen of ill fortune, and it’s likely that this mythological being is one of the foundational components of the vampire archetype that developed centuries later. After this brief bestiary lesson, I think it’s clear why this title is fitting for Owls Woods Graves’ third full-length album.
Owls Woods Graves is a Polish punk/black metal outfit, and unsurprisingly, some of its members have already proven themselves in bands like Mgła and Hauntologist - so quality is guaranteed. Active since 2015, the band released their album
Citizenship of the Abyss in 2019, brilliantly blending clean punk with grim black metal. In my opinion, their 2022 album fell a bit short, as the genre fusion lacked some of its usual energy - but fortunately,
Strix manages to set things right.
Music built on such primitive foundations is both easy and difficult to write about - and I suspect the same applies to creating it: the result can either be painfully one-dimensional or plastic, or everything can click, guaranteeing a wild (party) ride. I don’t consider myself a "party" writer, but this album definitely earns that label. As you’d expect from a punk record,
Strix isn’t a long release, 34 minutes packed with 10 genuinely hard-hitting tracks. The guitars are ominously raw, with a "gritty" distortion that brings just the right amount of rawness without overdoing it (avoiding raw black metal territories), perfectly encapsulating the marriage of punk and black metal. (And the wedding guests can be heard in the gang vocals.) Of course, the album’s core is built on jumpy, galloping, and subtly tremolo-picked riffs, while the primitively pummeling drums (sure to earn praise from Fenriz) provide the backbone. There’s plenty of classic D-beat, some solid fills (equally minimalist, of course), and even a few well-placed blast beats, all wrapped in a beautifully organic sound. Joakim Karlsson (Craft) handled the mastering, and I tip my hat to his work here!
Now, to highlight the album’s best moments, I’d add "Nightshifts" and "Black Flame in Our Hearts" to everyone’s playlist - purely for the sake of good taste. The former is a supermassive hardcore-infused banger, the absolute heaviest track on the album. (I nearly broke my neck in my living room when the breakdown hit in the final third.) And I absolutely can’t leave out "Black Flame in Our Hearts" as this was my first-ever pop-punk/black metal experience. Yes, that sounds bizarre to say, but that’s genuinely what’s happening here. The result? A ridiculously catchy tune, a true guilty pleasure.
Strix has been one of this year’s pleasant surprises for me, subtly nesting its way into my daily playlists. It’s a perfect 50-50% blend of punk and black metal, guaranteed to deliver energy. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need: something simple, but brilliant!
