Cisza – Untrodden Paths of Satan
Release Date: 23rd October 2026
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Black Metal.
FFO: Dawn, Sacramentum & Ultar.
Review By: Ross Bowie
Polish post-black metal band Cisza are back with their sophomore album Untrodden Paths Of Satan; the band has now shifted to a 2-piece after the departures of both Szymon Żbikowski and Artur Puźniak. However, this has not stopped the two remaining members from writing and continuing to mash their love of black metal, heavy metal and progressive rock together.
Cisza are drawing from across the metal spectrum all across the 8 tracks on this album, all to varying degrees of success. The album opener, You Are Just A Ghost, has a lot of fun, almost punk energy to its opening and a straight-for-the-throat hardcore breakdown less than halfway through the track, but the band’s black metal element never really comes despite the lead guitar work being what catches your ear, and the song strays into more melodic territories. This is then flipped on the second song, Journey To The Stars, as the band dial in the black metal sound they’ve shown on previous material, as the leadwork is once again excellent, adding some brightness to much darker surroundings. This also helps Piotr Ładyżyński’s vocal approach and sits in a register that is more complimentary to his voice.
This back and forth between different songs continues for the rest of the album, where the vocals will go harsher, and it really works, and then it just doesn’t happen again, or the title track will incorporate some other instrumentation like organs and frantic riffing but never really approach it again. This makes the album feel like 8 songs of different ideas rather than one whole connected piece of work, all pulling together and singing from the same hymn sheet. That isn’t to say that the songs are bad or don’t have interesting moments in them. Beyond The Crimson Veil has a great change of pace throughout its run time, and Lullaby For A Witch has that classic metal stomp that so many bands try and replicate but often get wrong, but it often feels like Cisza don’t know what areas of their sound should be expanded. The song titles are so necro and evil sounding, but that sound isn’t utilised across the album enough, which is a shame, because when they go into that zone, like on Beyond The Crimson Veil, they’re good at it, and it plays to the musicians’ strengths, but on the other side of the zloty are things like the manipulated voice at the start of the title track, which doesn’t work, or the albums closing song Outro. As a standalone piece of music, it’s good, a lovely melody and a beautiful female vocal performance, but it feels almost random and tacked on to Untrodden Paths of Satan, it doesn’t sound like anything that came before it, and the introduction of melody is left too late to see again, leaving you with a record that can’t quite decide how black metal it wants to be, and it’s most interesting when it leans toward the answer.
Untrodden Paths of Satan has shown that the band are capable of good moments and have more than enough excellent lead guitar work to see them through, but it still sounds like a band trying to find their feet rather than the finished article. Losing two members can’t have helped with the creative process, but this is the sound of a band who could have more to offer if their potential can be met further down the line. If you’re looking for some fun guitar work and black metal vocals, then you will find enjoyment in the album’s runtime, and if you’re looking for something more expansive and thought out, then this might pass you by, but it wouldn’t be a shock for this band to create something more concise and fulfilling on a future release.
(3 / 5)
