Description

2019 press on black vinyl with lyric insert

Bolzer began their discography with the “Roman Acupuncture” demo in 2012 and, just one year later they released Aura, an EP that received positive feedback and gathered the attention of both critics and fans. Their second EP Soma was released in late summer of 2014. In Soma, the band continues with their black/death metal style without changing their strategy. The two new tracks run for about 18 minutes and consist of a handful of riffs, composed by the band’s guitarist and vocalist, KzR. Steppes is the opening track of Soma. The riffs here are more groovy and slow than anything the band has done in the past but as the song progresses the music becomes heavier and faster. Steppes ends with a glimpse of the intro, giving way to the second song of the Soma EP. Labyrinthian Graves fades in with an evil sounding riff. The music is much more morbid than in Steppes, HzR does an amazing job on the drums, the guitars don’t stay on the same riff for too long and KzR’s vocals are just as they should be; not too shrieked but not growling either. The song ends with an ambient part that is repeated quite a few times before closing the EP in a great way. The production is one of Soma’s strongest points. It is almost impossible to believe that two people can sound like that. They don’t even need a bass, since the (down tuned) guitar sounds heavy and crushing and combined with HzR’s drumming, the two instruments create something extraordinary. The vocals are not only comprised of screaming and shouting. There is also some spoken word in here which adds to the EP’s already dark atmosphere. Soma is a total win for Bolzer. They changed their sound as much as they needed to, in order to sound even more crushing than before. The execution is excellent and you will not feel disappointed from the result. The cover art by Alexander Brown is amazing as well and it successfully depicts the themes of the EP. Bolzer will release their debut full-length album next year. If they manage to surpass this, then we will be talking about one of the best modern black/death metal bands. Until then, we have one demo and two amazing EPs to satisfy our hunger for new material.

Track listing:
1. Steppes
2. Labyrinthian Graves