INTRO

How important the advertising from record labels is... because, you might ask? Well, there are bands that have been known only to their families and thus couldn't show the world some of their innovations (like the KObong), while others have managed to showcase their new way of playing partly thanks to their origins and record label...

This is the second and last album by the Polish Kobong. As can be noted from the album title, the language used by our friends is their mother tongue (the title means "the cloud has gone away" or something like that), as are most of the lyrics, which, however, also feature parts in English. The line-up remained unchanged from the previous album. Even this second album was released only in Poland (Metal Mind practically based its operations solely on the Polish market), so outside of Poland they are known to about ten people; at least, in these years, I've yet to meet a non-Polish person who has even heard them mentioned.

Both this album and the previous one received excellent reviews at home, but this was not enough to keep the band going. Amid internal disagreements and complications with the label, Kobong disbanded at the end of 1997, a few months after the release of this CD. Some of them later joined Nyia and Neuma. The CD contains 16 tracks, 3 of which are instrumental. The style is really difficult to describe. It can be classified as crossover, in the broadest sense. We are faced with extreme music that incorporates a host of other influences, with squared rhythms, suffocating and at times robotic atmospheres. Here and there are references to Sepultura's "Chaos A.D.," and to something by Prong or Faith No More. But, curiously, the album that most resembles "Chmury Nie Był o" is "Nothing" by Meshuggah. It's curious, because the Meshuggah album came out years later, and surely the Swedes weren't aware of Kobong. Yet various solutions in "Nothing" are veeery similar to things present in this album. The difference, believe it or not, is that "Chmury Nie Był o" eats "Nothing" for breakfast.

Reading this statement, you might call me an idiot. It's the same thing Melix and Technospalla Rob said to me, but then I played this album for them and they couldn't help but agree with me. Anyone who listens to this album ends up greatly diminishing "Nothing," and setting it aside to gather dust. Let's get more specific. As you may have understood, Kobong uses a lot of polyrhythms. There are various riffs that are now called "Meshuggah-style," but which Kobong developed earlier, that is, mechanical riffs, heavy as a rock and claustrophobic. The drums, even though recorded without triggers and with natural sounds, most of the time seem to be played by a robot, so precise and squared they are. But it's a creative robot, if we exclude the "melodic" openings, the fills constantly vary; listening to the drums is a real spectacle, between offbeats, absurd touches, and an enviable stylistic eclecticism.

The guitars do everything, transitioning from acoustic parts to truly extreme and heavy ones. In between, you can notice many influences, from tribal music to Arabic music, from Spanish music to funky, even reaching dance rhythms with slapping bass and a guitar trying to emulate DJ scratches. Despite almost always maintaining exaggerated sounds, the compositions are very varied and anything but static. The voice is dark and screamed, perfectly fitting the album's atmospheres. Going into more detail would be a Herculean task, and honestly, I don't feel like doing it. I'll just say that this is one of the few albums that can be defined as truly superior quality. The production is excellent. The sounds are powerful and perfectly suited to the genre. Even the packaging is very nice. On the cover, there's a drawing depicting a rainbow with three red suns behind it, and above the suns, there are three schematized hands. A visionary post-atomic style drawing, which fits perfectly with the music. The booklet contains all the lyrics, it's a pity not to understand the ones in Polish, but I don't penalize them for this at all. I have the utmost respect for those who sing in their mother tongue.

In short, the only thing I can say is this: do you like Meshuggah? Well, get this album, and then you will find other idols. Metal Mind's edition is now hard to find even in Poland. However, Offmusic, a label owned by one of Neuma's members, which reissued this CD last year, can come to your aid. From what I've seen, the cover is slightly different, but the music should be the same. This reissue, just for a change, is available only on the Polish market. But it's worth placing an order in Poland to buy this album; it's one of the rare cases where you can't give it less than a 10, given the quality, personality, innovation capacity, and total lack of flaws.

Actually, it does have a flaw: if you are not used to this kind of music, you will get a terrible headache listening to it!

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