Entropia – Vacuum (Review)

This is the third album from Entropia, a Polish experimental/post-black metal band.

I am extremely fond of Entropia. Both Vesper and Ufonaut have had much rotation on my playlists, so when I saw they had a new album released I was quite excited.

On their third album Entropia are more ambitious than ever. Boasting six songs spread out over 59 minutes, this is Entropia at their biggest and most confident. Although there was definitely progression between Vesper and Ufonaut, Vacuum exists in its own space almost entirely.

Increasingly progressive, eccentric, experimental, and bold, the music on Vaccum is bursting with creativity and expanded expressions of the band’s vision. Entropia have already proven their considerable talents across two very compelling albums, but Vacuum sees them stretching themselves and pushing the proverbial envelope further than ever.

The black metal components of the band’s sound are still there, but have been marginalised by the increase in progressive and psychedelic elements. Not just these though, as you can hear increasing influences from all manner of different experimental genres across these new songs, including some very un-metal ones such as dance, trance, electronica, pop, and industrial. These are in a minority overall, of course, and everything that Entropia attempt on Vaccum is successfully incorporated into their musical framework, however, so nothing feels odd, forced, or like it should have been left out. This is progressive metal that’s as excitingly experimental as you would want it to be, but all the more so as it actually works too.

In some ways I envisage Vacuum as a 60s/70s progressive rock monster that’s been updated and filtered through modern music’s focusing lens, infused with a vibrant, blackened life that underpins everything, and then suffused with wider influences that add to the compositions rather than detract from them. This is a wild, unique record that’s kept from going completely off the beaten track only be the will of its creators. It has the feel of a sprawling instrumental album, despite there actually occasionally being vocals present. If an album is a journey, Vacuum is an odyssey.

On Vacuum Entropia have really ranged far and wide, casting off a lot of their past, while still retaining enough of it to be the same entity underneath everything. Vacuum is experimental and exploratory in all of the right ways; it’s a bold step forward for the band, and one which sees them developing ever further into a unique, distinct entity all of their own.

My only regret is that I never got the chance to include this in my September 2018 overview, as it’s more than worthy.

Yes, this is an impressive and enthralling piece of work that you should definitely check out.