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**Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi: A Swan Song from Poland's Darkest Folk Poets**

When Stara Rzeka quietly dissolved in 2019, it felt like watching an ancient oak finally succumb to time – inevitable, yet profoundly melancholic. The Polish duo of Kuba Ziołek and Macio Moretti had spent over a decade crafting some of the most haunting folk music to emerge from Eastern Europe, and their 2018 album "Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi" (The Eyes of the Earth Have Closed) now stands as both their creative pinnacle and their fitting epitaph.

The album's title proves prophetic in hindsight – a meditation on endings that would indeed mark the band's own conclusion. Yet rather than feeling like a forced farewell, these eight tracks pulse with the kind of urgent creativity that often emerges when artists sense they're running out of time. Ziołek's otherworldly vocals float over Moretti's intricate guitar work like fog rolling across a moonlit cemetery, creating an atmosphere so thick with dread and beauty that you can practically taste the Polish soil.

"Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi" represents the apotheosis of what critics have dubbed "dark folk" or "apocalyptic folk" – genres that Stara Rzeka helped define throughout their career. This isn't the kind of folk music you'd hear around a campfire unless that campfire was built on cursed ground. Instead, it's deeply ritualistic music that draws from Slavic mysticism, environmental anxiety, and a profound sense of cultural displacement. The production, handled by the band themselves, maintains an intimate rawness that makes every whispered lyric feel like a secret being shared in your ear.

The album's standout track, "Matnia" (The Net), unfolds like a fever dream across its seven-minute runtime. Ziołek's voice shifts between fragile whispers and primal howls while layers of acoustic guitar create a web of melody that's simultaneously beautiful and suffocating. It's folk music for the end times, and it's absolutely mesmerizing. Meanwhile, "Czarne Słońce" (Black Sun) strips things down to their essence – just voice and guitar creating a space so intimate it feels voyeuristic. When Ziołek sings of darkness consuming light, you believe him completely.

The centerpiece "Ostatni" (The Last One) might be the most devastating song in the band's entire catalog. Built around a hypnotic guitar pattern that recalls both medieval lute music and modern drone, it's a 12-minute journey into the heart of ecological and spiritual despair. Yet there's something oddly comforting about surrendering to its darkness – like finally accepting that the world might indeed be ending and finding peace in that acceptance.

Stara Rzeka's journey to this masterpiece began in the mid-2000s when Ziołek and Moretti first started experimenting with traditional Polish folk forms, filtering them through a lens of contemporary anxiety. Their early albums established them as key figures in Poland's underground music scene, but it was their 2014 breakthrough "Zamknij Oczy" that brought international attention. The duo's reputation grew through word-of-mouth and passionate advocacy from influential music bloggers who recognized something genuinely special in their approach to folk music.

By the time they entered the studio for "Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi," Stara Rzeka had developed a cult following across Europe. Their live performances had become legendary affairs – intimate rituals where audiences would stand transfixed as Ziołek and Moretti conjured ancient spirits through modern amplification. The album captures that live intensity while adding layers of studio sophistication that make it endlessly replayable.

Today, "Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi" stands as a monument to a band that burned brightly and briefly. Its influence can be heard in the growing international dark folk scene, from American acts like Lingua Ignota to fellow Polish musicians carrying on the tradition. The album's eight songs feel like transmissions from a parallel universe where beauty and terror exist in perfect balance – a universe that feels increasingly relevant as our own world grows stranger and more uncertain.

In the end, Stara Rzeka gave us exactly what we needed: a soundtrack for the apocalypse that's so beautiful it makes you almost look forward to the ending. "Zamknęły Się Oczy Ziemi