Style: progressive death metal, death metal, thrash metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Beyond Creation, Decapitated, Kataklysm
Country: Poland
Release date: 30 January 2026

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Transformation occupies a unique place in modern popular culture. From Franz Kakfa’s morbid The Transformation (1915) to the UK’s eternally optimistic Doctor Who (1963 – present), it serves as a vehicle to facilitate character self-reflection or achieve higher goals, often inspiring the audience themselves to persevere through their own daily toils. Or to “lock in”, for want of better terminology. For Hubert Więcek (Banisher, ex-Redemptor), “locking in” has been the modus operandi in Poland’s death metal underground, nurturing his two-decades-old Banisher project amidst various pit-stops in 10 Plagues, Dieth, and Decapitated. Following a six-year gap between albums, Więcek announced Banisher’s return—Metamorphosis—which would be “rooted” in the band’s personal history, the “turbulent world” that accompanied it, and “diverse” songwriting. Thematically and sonically, these ingredients might emulsify into an enjoyable, lucid legacy record; David Bowie’s Blackstar comes to mind. On the other hand, an insufficient stir might whip up a career-defining headscratcher like Suicide Silence’s “tee-hee” moment¹ attempting to bridge lacklustre clean vocal melodies into deathcore. I remain optimistic in all aspects of my life, so giving the benefit of the doubt is well within my remit.

Before diving into the meat and potatoes, my nerdier tendencies wish to indulge you with one prevailing point: the constant highlight of this mutating apocalypse for me was the solid mix. Piotr Kołakowski’s clanking bass adds a satisfying low end, and raspy growling vocals wade just on top of the instrumental without overpowering it. Of course, it’s an underground release with a limited budget, so don’t expect Blackwater Park levels of crisp sonic serenity. At higher volume, the mix also gets muddy, so best to not dial it up and get tinnitus. Audiophiles of the Subway, come gather ‘round and enjoy the antithesis of … And Justice For All. Critics of the Subway, keep reading to find something to dislike.

My experience of Metamorphosis transformed into different shades of intrigue underpinned by the album’s ping-pong of dynamics. The opener—“Manifest of Justice”— wastes no time blasting off into skanking drums and scraping guitars. Across the first third of the album, you would be forgiven to label Banisher punk at times: the main riff of “Aftermath” alone bleeds enough surfing, skating, and two-stepping to make California blush. But like clockwork, the tracks’ centers of mass return to blistering kick drum footwork and technical machine gun guitars to remind you that we’re not evolving into Converge-eqsue metalcore beatings anytime soon. 

The light touch punk nods of rapid-fire shouty vocals (“Daymare”) and sliding chromatic power chord passages (“Aftermath”) are nothing more than modest stylistic additions lacking the spirit of the genre. I appreciate the album conceptually replicating a nearly exact chronological whistlestop tour of external musical influences, as it’s a cool idea and less jarring than going all in on one influence per track. What does hold Metamorphosis back is how the punk influences linger across several tracks without much else dynamic to offer aside from a questionable pug-growling-at-you-on-the-train low vocal in “Manifest of Justice”.² If this were all the album offered, then I’d cut the review here. Alas, the sound would further shift and introduce our next flavor.

We listeners would encounter a visitor (unexpected) calling out to divorced dads the world over: nu metal. Not the Limp Bizkit rap-adjacent variety, but an aggressive, industrial System of A Down or early Slipknot tonality on Metamorphosis’s title track and subsequent “Metamorphosis pt.2”. This duo of songs injects life into what has been a fairly static record, leveraging a slew of peculiar choices: electro-drum breaks, a groovy djent breakdown, and clean vocal cameos breaking the mid-register scream status quo. Whilst the thematic content of these tracks is fairly done and dusted by metal standards—see “A new body, a new life / a new chance to kill” on “Metamorphosis pt.2”—the musical output neatly infuses a myriad influences into tight and interesting song structures that earn their run time and beat the skip allegations.

The final third of the album continues to hopscotch metal flavors from “bleghhh” metalcore (“Demons”) to brooding progressive death metal (“Born to Die”) reminiscent of Opeth, going as far as to include a bright pentatonic organ solo. As the album concludes, you get a disgustingly soul-splitting scream signaling the end of our narrator’s human existence (“Soul Deformed”) for your troubles. As with the “Metamorphosis” duology, Banisher does not stray far from its death metal core, allowing the listener to settle into the momentum and ride out the brutality.

So like… that was interesting. The question lingering in the aftermath is simply “why did we have to wait that long”? The sudden shift after 11 minutes of consistent punk-infused overtones is not as jarring as Sleep Token inserting a downtuned chugging sequence after several minutes of synthy pop, sure; Metamorphosis leans too much into the “saving the best for last” trope which agonizes the initial listen, waiting for content more inspired than disconnected singles stacked next to each other. 

Whilst Metamorphosis fails to alter your corporeal form into an eldritch horror confronted with its own personal failings, Banisher’s venue-scorching, thrashy debauchery returned on Metamorphosis with a vengeance—and a twist—incorporating enjoyable nods to metal’s 21st century meta. With that said, upon first listen, Metamorphosis struggles with cohesiveness, especially when contrasting the standard first third with the remaining two in terms of the creative direction, and capturing interest, as the generic opening tracks lack starpower even with a punkier tone. After a couple of listens, however, the Banisher baseline sound sets in and the subtler, zany songwriting choices begin to shine through. The slowburn start might cause some listeners to bow out, but I will die on a hill believing there is a noteworthy progressive death metal EP somewhere in Metamorphosis’s runtime.

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Recommended tracks: Metamorphosis pt.2, Demons, Born to Die
You may also like: Xenobiotic, A Goat As Our Shepherd, Ancient Death, Undeath
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Banisher is:
– Hubert Więcek (guitars)
– Piotr Kołakowski (bass)
– Jorgi Vanhees (vocals)

With guests:
– Eugene Ryabchenko (drums, tracks 1, 3, 6 & 7)
– Michał Łysejko (drums, 2, 4, 5 & 8)

1. I’m astounded that the VR interactive music video wasn’t memed as much as the vocals.
2. Jokes aside that growl caught me off guard; you can hear a hellhound’s muzzle flapping in that delivery.