I promise I have no Central/Eastern European agenda this year—it’s just what makes sense to review as the quiet month of January moves along. Watch My Dying is a Hungarian band with a long career, and at first, I wasn’t sold on the idea of listening to some strange industrial experiment. But Egyenes Kerőlő caught my attention when I read in the promo that they had collaborated with Thy Catafalque. You know we love anything that project puts out. Still, I wasn’t expecting a bootleg of that band—I wanted something more!
Egyenes Kerőlő fools you. At first, it seems like it’s going to be an atmospheric journey, but then it throws you into a maze of aggressive, mean machines. Despite the mechanical feel, the writing never loses its human touch. It’s quirky and wild without being overly complicated. The band sticks to its industrial roots, but the Thy Catafalque influence is clear in the way the songs are written. Despite incorporating diverse influences, Watch My Dying stays true to each track’s main theme, which makes the experience cohesive and fun.
The album is surprisingly easy to digest! The experimentation doesn’t overwhelm, nor does it bore. There’s plenty of fast-paced entertainment here, but also meditative tracks—like the closing one, where the album transitions from intense, grinding energy to more ethereal dimensions. Is this the Hungarian school of avant-garde? I’m not sure, but I’m intrigued. Albums like this popping up randomly feel as refreshing as the flood of black metal albums that often land in my inbox.
That said, industrial pummeling isn’t always my thing, and Egyenes Kerőlő pushed me out of my comfort zone. One could critique that, despite the short and direct nature of most tracks, a bit more time could allow the band to explore their themes and ideas more ambitiously, even at the risk of sounding closer to their influences. A slightly more cohesive structure would have been welcome, but I can’t deny I enjoyed the creativity here. After a week of reviewing relentless, brain-bashing albums, this felt like a breath of fresh air after being stuck in a hot bus on a summer day.
Maybe my expectations were low, or maybe I was simply desperate for something different, but Watch My Dying offers an interesting proposal here. It might deter the most hardcore lunatics while attracting metalheads looking for something unique. If you’re tired of the typical industrial route many bands take, Egyenes Kerőlő offers a creative twist you should definitely check out. After all, it’s not like you haven’t tried weird things before, right?
Label: Self-released
Release date: January 24, 2025
Website: https://www.facebook.com/metalputredalmortii
Country: Hungary
Score: A straight to the point blast, or 3.0/5.0!
Metal Eclipse Reviews 