I feel I truly owe the Polish sextet ALHENA big apologies. We received their EPK at the beginning of November but our mailbox was so full, it took us nearly a month to be finally able to review it. Better late than never, as the saying goes. “Changes”, their newest single, was definitely worth waiting for. It is a big step up from their previous releases we reviewed on Indieterria: 2023’s “Nemesis” and “Scarlet” that came out in February of this year. ALHENA are constantly changing, experimenting, bettering their sound and delivery. Maybe “Changes” will be their breakthrough track into a wider audience – in 4 weeks the video to the song on YouTube gathered over 7000 views and an avalanche of positive comments. I keep my fingers crossed that this is the case.
“Changes” single cover
Official bio: Formed in 2010 in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, ALHENA was born out of passion and the need to create. The band’s music is an explosive mixture of rock, alternative and heavy metal with elements of prog rock, atmospheric art rock and symphonic metal. ALHENA’s songs are multi-threaded and richly arranged, filled with melodic guitar solos set against the background of intriguing keyboard parts. Their main driving forces are the powerful rhythm section and strong female vocals of their lead singer (and violinist) Dominika Kapuśniak. The rest of the band consists of Tomasz Bogulski (guitar), Bartosz Kazimierski (guitar), Piotr Pryka (keyboards), Piotr Grugel (drums) and Maciej Tonder (bass). Their newest single “Changes” was released on the 18th of November 2024.
About 20 years ago, Tomasz Beksiński, translator and music journalist, wrote that Poland was probably the only country in Europe, outside of Scandinavia, that is predominantly known to the international community of music fans as the biggest “producer” of metal bands. Beksiński might have been joking but it’s hard to disagree with him. From the 80’s legends of KAT, Turbo, Closterkeller and TSA to the 90’s Vader, Christ Agony, Lux Occulta and Behemot to more recent Nocny Kochanek or Mgła, the Polish metal scene can satisfy every taste. It doesn’t matter if you are into death metal, some experimental subgenre of black metal or pop metal, Poland will have an internationally acclaimed band ready for you in a blink of an eye.
ALHENA photographed by Jarek Chłąd
ALHENA are one of those bands that are hard to classify. Their music, as they admit themselves, is not containable within one single genre. They are a metal outfit at their core, however their interests and influences have roots in dark wave, alternative rock, gothic rock, ambient and prog heavy metal. This makes ALHENA stand out even on the Polish very diversified metal market. Some orthodox metal heads may grind their teeth and wrinkle their noses at delicate, sometimes ornate symphonic elements in “Changes” but I think the softer side of ALHENA is worth exploring in depth.
The band says: “Our new single combines anger with tenderness, dynamics and lyricism, creating a sonic experience that will be hard for the listeners to forget. It is a tribute to emotions that stay with us forever, even if everything else that surrounds us withers and passes”.
“Changes” stands at a whopping 6 and a half minutes. It is a delightful composition with extended progressive passages and slow tempo. Vocals are crystal clear and very emotive – exactly as promised in the PR note. I understand why they are referring to this track as a combination of tenderness and anger. The “anger” is represented by heavy drumming, deafening guitars and a bass line that hammers everything down to the floor. The song also has a soft, delicate side – it is a ballad after all. I really like the merging of styles and genres that ALHENA attempted here: pathos and slowness of doom metal meeting jazz infused progressive art rock, with nearly operatic vocals taken straight from symphonic metal. This is probably the most ambitious track ALHENA did, and it’s a hit with me. I really look forward to hearing their new material and which way they will go. The prog metal route is where they should be going, but they might surprise us again.
You can follow the band on socials:
https://alhenaband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AlhenaPL
https://www.instagram.com/alhenaband/
https://twitter.com/AlhenaBand
https://www.tiktok.com/@alhenaband
https://www.youtube.com/AlhenaBand
https://soundcloud.com/AlhenaPL
https://alhena.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1uLBjSqGy11ryV1R5aAZ63
Our previous coverage:
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2024/02/22/alhena-scarlet-single-review/
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2023/09/25/alhena-nemesis-single-review/
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 