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Poland’s death metal credentials have never been in doubt, and Banisher can only add to the country’s formidable reputation for technical skill and song-writing chops.
Their third album, Oniric Delusions occasionally conforms to type, with echoes of Vader and Decapitated and a hint of Behemoth-style pomp, but this is a subtly distinctive lesson in brutality that never quite does what those blueprints suggest.
There is plenty of atmosphere in the full-pelt likes of Notion Materialized and Confront The Mass, but the clipped and precise production ensures that nothing gets lost in a fog of faux authenticity. Boldness is the key here: these songs have big hooks and the muscle to make them count, but there’s no compromise in their venomous delivery. When Banisher conjure warped, post-Meshuggah grooves on Human Factor or blossom into epic, melodic splendour during The Iconoclast, it never sounds like a band trying too hard to harness the zeitgeist. Instead, these are subversive touches on an album that aims high and shatters the target.
