Lwstndrds are a two-piece powerviolence/grindcore/noise/sludge metal band from Zabrze, Poland. While usually their repertoire includes harsh, brutal, heavy and concise sludgy powerviolence riffs, then with their 2017 Single 'The Man of Sorrow/The Man Who Sorrows' they explore somewhat different paths of noise, power electronics and even industrial.
The album starts off with the track 'The Man Of Sorrow', and packs some foreboding and ominous dark vibes from start to finish with its repetitive almost krautrock influenced industrial noise that at points are accompanied by some more powerviolence or grindcore-like growling vocals, as well as some spoken word. The track even feels psychedelic in its electronic repetition along with its more melodic repetitive background. Psychedelic in a dark and grim way that is. Thus one can say that Lwstndrds got this track pretty much spot on for my liking. The second track 'The Man Who Sorrows' also goes on the path of some distorted noisy and droney guitars accompanied by elements of noise and industrial, while also packing some English spoken word which sound a bit more distinguishable for me, even though I do not know where these samples originate from. Probably somewhere grim, like the deepest darkest parts of Silesian mines, the ones closest to hell. As the track progresses the spoken word is exchanged in favour of some growling vocals that also sound like spoken word to some degree. Either way the track is a pretty good one as well and compliments the first track well.
With this two track Single Lwstndrds show that its not only fast heavy and sludgy powerviolence/grindcore riffs that they can master, but also more experimental noise and somewhat psychedelic guitar play. The second track in parts even sounds a bit like Li Jianhong to me. Either way the single is a pretty good one and definitely worth checking out for anyone who is into noise or power-electronics either in a psychedelic repetitive format or in the format of darkened noisy and somewhat drone infused guitar play. On the other hand anyone who is into some heavy as fuck powerviolence riffage should check out their other releases.
Check the album out: https://lwstndrds.bandcamp.com/album/the-man-of-sorrow-the-man-who-sorrows
