Medico Peste - Aesthetic of Hunger (2025)^{Release ID: 59906}

Poland continues their knack of producing quality black metal albums then. I mean Mgla, Furia, Blaze of Perdition and Kriegsmaschine all have managed to make a niche for themselves, and now Kraków residents Medico Peste (which means Doctor Plague/Doctor Pestilence) offer up more than just blastbeats and tremolos on their third record. Landing somewhere between the production values of their fellow countrymen, Mgla and the skittish musings of Deathspell Omega, there is most certainly lots to explore on Aesthetic of Hunger. Full of twists and turns to keep the listener on their toes, it possesses a level of musicianship that few other acts can boast. The combination of the dissonance in the riffs performed within progressive structures give some of the tracks a real sense of expansion. Meanwhile the vocals carry a cruelty that seems to infect the very lyrics as they are spat into the air around them.

One must take note also of drummer Adrian Stempak’s performance. It is his assured and skilful playing that holds the fabric of the album sound together. Just as at home with blastbeats as he is with slower-paced or progressive patterns, he really manages to stand out for all the right reasons here. His good work starts immediately on the album opener, ‘St. Anthony’s Fire’ a track that shows the real gamut of his abilities. As well as having a strong line up to begin with, Medico Peste invited a range of guests onto the recording of the album. Instrumental number ‘Antrakt’ has a different drummer (Janusz Gałyga – who also covers electronics over the record), and a Bartłomiej Bardon adds some guitar work on ‘Ecclessiogenic Psychosis’. Most obvious in terms of their contribution though is female vocalist Hekte Zaren who contributes some dark alchemy to three tracks on the record.

Mostly, I find admiration for the bravery in the song writing on Aesthetic of Hunger. Tracks such as ‘The Black Lotus’ use melody in an almost non-linear way, maintaining an ominous presence as it guides the track along. These thrusts of melodic dissonance carve ever-growing arteries and veins into the harsher elements of the record. They feed the Medico Peste monster with a seemingly unending supply of pestilential blood for its rotten appetite. Balancing, the urgency of the tremolo alongside these more expansive elements is a task that is handled well. ‘Ecclessiogenic Psychosis’ clearly shows how well they manage this, being able to have the progressive structures teetering on the brink of destruction from the swarming guitars. Descending into an almost jazzy section around halfway through the track, the progressive elements really take over with the bass getting a lot of space in the mix. Hekte’s dark operatic vocals add yet further opulence to this lusciously nefarious little number. This is probably my album highlight in all honesty as the track ends up very much in a different place to where it starts.

The palate cleansing instrumental is unfortunately where things come a little unstuck for me. Although it is well placed in terms of still carrying some of the experimental structure from the previous track, ‘Antrakt’ is a slowing down of pace that I doubt the need for in all honesty. As interesting as it is, it just feels like it is obstructive when considering the album track listing. The more experimental elements do bring Furia to mind and ‘Folie de Dieu’ has a great riff structure to it that continues this theme. With some of the most scathing use of tremolos on the album to this point, this is a real welcome return to form after the instrumental let down. Yet, the album does still feel like it has lost some of the earlier form in terms of structure, over the second half at least. There is not any filler present on the album, but ‘Viaticum’ seems to meander a tad, dragging its heels a bit with a slower pace that if nothing else, does further emphasises the menace the album carries. As the very Mgla-esque closer ‘Act of Faith’ plays out the album, it is hard to ignore the earlier quality that covered the first four tracks in such glory. Whilst the album does go off the boil from the midway point onwards, Medico Peste are clearly still swinging punches the whole way through even if not all of them land correctly.