Most metalheads in this side of the pond are familiar with Poland's Metal Mind Records via their extensive reissue catalogue but few know that this is one of the leading metal labels in Europe as well as the leading concert organizer in Poland. Since its start in 1987, Metal Mind has been supporting Polish metal. Below, I attempt to give fair assessment to some of their releases. Results vary. Greatly. Read on and spread the word...

Cover: Two space aliens / cookie monsters tonguing each other. Music: The question is, what's the Polish diet like? Lots of Ritalin and creatinine? For reals. What do I need to do to get to this astounding level of musicianship? Who do I have to kill?  Decapitated have nothing on Deivos. Hell, no one who can flawlessly play 1000 notes a second has nothing on Deivos. Emanation From Below is their first full-length (they recently released their sophomore effort titled Gospel of Maggots through Unique Leader) and it displays not only incredible technique but also plenty of songwriting skills. Technical death metal bands tend to overdo everything. Not Deivos, most of their songs are short (the record is sweet too at 31 minutes) and are written in fractured but consistently melodic ways. I am surprised by the lack of solos and the brevity of those that float in a few of the songs. The grooves are mechanical, but bounce around like they are inflated with helium ("War March"). Impressive on all fronts. MySpace

Cover: Total photoshop. Two skulls joined by hinges and plenty of long nails all over. Music: Super mechanical thrash metal. Retribution are natives from Krakow and must be huge fans of Dino and his Fear Factory. At least the perfect way in which the drums and the guitar lock in is inspired by that soulless machine. Despite having pretty killer riffage in a few of the songs there are plenty of faults here. The main riff in "Made in Hell" is busy but fun, technical and groovy (not in a totally stupidly cheesy way) but the vocals suck. One second they are shouted like those of Burton C Bell, the next some type of effect comes in which makes it sound industrial. The next song sounds like a poor man's The Haunted. That is until vocalist Tymek Jędrzejczyk uses his natural pitch. Then, shit turns horrible.  Retribution have to make up their minds.  Like all Polish metal bands, these boys can play, the question is, can they develop their own identity and sound and go from there? MySpace

Cover: Apparently, Polish bands love Terminator, the future and Photoshop. A skull and a human face, both are mechanized. Music: Production values are obviously lower than in the Deivos album. End of the Weakness is the first full length by Warsaw's Archeon and suffers from some of the most hideous sounding organs I have ever heard.  Sounds like Casio playing dude is trying to emulate gothic church music. He is coming way short. Waaaayyy short. Almost funny. As I listen to opening track "Arising"  I kinda feel like dancing like a fool. You know that Russian dance where you cross your arms, lower your butt and raise your legs? Right. Some of the guitar melodies are pretty sweet. They approximate the triumphant stupidity of Hammerfall which makes me want to vomit a little bit, but what the hell. This has huge potential. I think that keyboardist Janek Lesniak is no longer part of the band. Good move boys. Now all you have to do is start writing better songs. MySpace

Cover: A Roman theme. Fire, a harp and a sculpture's head. Music: This albums is old and this band is quite prolific. The Journey Into the Heart of Darkness (2005) is Chainsaw's second full-length. Since, they've been putting out music at a rate of one album per year. After two duds I thought it couldn't get any worse but it did. Maybe if I liked Iced Earth, Control Denied and Hammerfall I'd be digging this but I don't and Chainsaw obviously does. If vocalist Maciej "Maxx" Koczorowski ever finds himself without a job he could always replace the Filipino dude in Journey.  Quite frankly this isn't that far off. Chainsaw likes its heavy metal traditional and epic, melodic and triumphant. It compliments the artwork, I guess. I think they also like In Flames as in the pic one of the members has an In Flames t-shirt and they even have a song called "In Flames". I better get off this record before I start liking it. MySpace

Cover: really red, as in pentagram and communist red. Soldier wielding a weapon could be wielding a plunger just as well. Music:  With a name like Anal Stench how can you suck? You can't, that's right. Even if you do, you don't. After all, our expectation have been lowered to ground levels. Anal Stench play death metal and they make me think that there is an actual connection between nu metal and death metal. Members wear matching jumpsuits and surgical masks to protect them from fetid odors. Also, the tonality of the guitars and some of the arrangements is eerily similar to that of Slipknot. But, this is far more rooted in brutality and the vocals remain monstruous without ever attempting to go for a radio-friendly angle. Actually, there is an incredibly stupid sounding voice in the chorus of "Go Gagarin Go" but it is actually funny. In the band pic in the insert, one of the members is doing the nazi salute. I wouldn't take this Polish band seriously if they were pointing at my forehead with an AK-47.  This album is called Red Revolution, is their second and it was originally released by Empire Records in 2004. Compared to the last three bands, Anal Stench rules, but not really. MySpace

Cover: Leafless trees and the faint shadow of a man. Music: Cemetery of Scream is one of the worst band names I have ever heard and these songs are just as bad. Imagine the vocalist from Rammstein (minus the attitude, plus long ass blond dreadlocks) minus the powerful vocals and the muscles singing on top of totally generic Napalm Records-worthy gothic hard rock. It is hideous. Frozen Images is ham-packed with generic songs that go from soft and piano-led to sweet and melancholic half cock rock ballads. There are a couple of heavier moments, like during "Cat's Grin" where the band sounds like Moonspell with a retard for a guitarist, but for the most part this is just for all those cheeseheads that wished they lived in a Transylvania castle instead of their mom's basements. Closing Cemetery of Scream's fifth-album is a cover of The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin", need I say that it sucks? MySpace

Cover: I think artists have to start experimenting with a free hand approach along with aquarels and pencils, etc . Anything that will distance them from the quick and easy world of Photoshop. Anyway, this band is called Spinal Cord and the cover of their sophomore effort Stigmata for Life shows a dude and his spinal cord. Pretty self-explanatory. Music: At least we are back to brutal camp. I am very sure that it is not the fact that I just spent three hours listening to horrible music but Spinal Cord sound very good. Stylistically speaking they are closer to the Decapitated and Deivos' of the world. Spinal Cord is a technical death metal band but their music is also pretty straight forward. Their music is fluent and fairly high tech, but is not intricate nor convoluted in the way that a band like Necrophagist or Psyopus is. Official Site