Stanislaw Wolonciej is a Polish musician who has played in bands like Newbreed and Angerpath, two bands whose names I've seen floating around but neither of which I've actually heard. I seriously doubt that either one of his other bands is anywhere as fucked-up sounding as Egoist, though. With Egoist, Wolonciej strikes out on his own for a mostly-solo project that's abetted by Pestilence guitarist Patrick Mameli on two tracks. Aside from the solos that Mameli contributes, all of the instruments, drum programming and vocals are handled by Wolonciej, which is an impressive feat considering how complex this album is. On the other hand, it's doubtful that something this schizophrenic and obsessive could have been produced by any kind of democratic body. Egoist's music is extremely difficult, and often gratingly atonal, combining that distinctly Polish brand of angular death metal (see Nyia/Antigama) with over-the-top prog tendencies, ambient soundscapes, arrhythmic math metal, and, um, some rather Korn-like riffs that take a moment to get used to. Now, this is definitely not nu-metal, not a chance, it's just that that's the closest reference point I keep coming up with for the strange, ultra-downtuned guitar riffs that appear all over this album. Maybe Meshuggah is a better comparison, as the heavier riffing does sound like a chunkier, more percussive version of what their riffs are like. The songs are ridiculously complex and obtuse, deliberately going for a Zappa-like approach to composition that'll have the less prog/freakoid inclined to pull the plug on this album pretty quick. For those of you that are able to put the time and patience in, though, Egoist does take an interesting approach to his prog-metal visions, the songs lurching through those crushing, angular detuned riffs, weird funky slap-bass, mechanical drumming that moves in harsh, jagged time signatures, spacey electronic noises, and cleanly sung, mostly morose vocals. Occasionally in the middle of these

schizoid wanderings, we come across lush vocal harmonies that are reminiscent of Radiohead or Catherine Wheel, all dreamy and pretty, and sometimes the music itself makes an unexpected turn into dreamy shoegazer pop, like on "Near Warm Fireplace", and there's also alot of amazing guitar ambience that Egoist positions in various places, shifting from crushing fragmented metal into shimmery chords and shoegazey melody. It's a cool contrast that only reveals itself oncve you've made your way fairly deep into the briarpatch of Egoist's chunky, maddening heaviness. The guest solos that former Pestilence guitarist Mameli contributes are really cool as well, injecting a jazzy ambience into the songs "(Not) The End" and "These Strange Things".

What to compare this to? Maybe the newer Manes stuff mixed in with some Meshuggah and Deftones? Fredrik Thorendahl's Special Defects fused with Ephel Duath and Mr Bungle, maybe? A bizarre, idiosyncratic mashup of math metal, heavy shoegazer, funk, jazz fusion and prog? It's jarring, that's for sure, and like I said, only the more adventurous of you will probably have the stones to stick with it.