XANTOTOL - Thus Spake Zaratustra

While their output was limited to just two demos and a single album, Xantotol have maintained a cult status in the quarter century since the band’s dissolution. Formed in 1991 by drummer Jacek “Venom” Szczepański and female guitarist and vocalist Mała, while they were still in high school, Xantotol were among the vanguard of Poland’s Satanic elite in the early days of the Polish black metal movement. Inspired by the likes of Venom, Bathory, Samael, Necromantia, and a host of other obscure metal the teenagers encountered through avid tape-trading, Xantotol developed a style of black metal that was at once primitive, brooding, and atmospheric. At first, Szczepański attempted to provide vocals, but it quickly became apparent to them both that Mała had the better voice. At the time, there were few, if any, black metal bands that featured female vocalists. The extreme economic conditions Poland experienced at that time due to the slow decay of the communist regime profoundly impacted the ba