Doomed Confessionary: Grzegorz Luzar (Wingless)
Wingless from Poland have created five full-length releases over the past decade, including three independent albums – »Hatred Is Purity« (2014), »The Blaze Within« (2016), and »Triada« (2018) – before releasing their 2021 album »Nonconform« on Selfmadegod Records, who also delivered »Ascension« on April 26th, 2024.
While at an early stage of development, the band’s music oscillated more around the cutting edge of modern metal, with the passage of time, their compositional style has gradually shifted towards classic death and doom metal, which is boldly apparent within the first moments of their new album, »Ascension«. Wingless is an ensemble perfectly aware of what and how they want to play, by consistently following their idea of creating death/doom metal, without even avoiding inspirations from metal artists of the 1980s and ’90s. »Ascension« delivers a conglomerate of heaviness, darkness, and a unique atmosphere particularly clearly reflected in the lyrics.
Wingless are Michał “Xaay” Loranc (vocals), Grzegorz Luzar (guitars, bass) and Piotr Wójcik (drums).
Can you say a few words about your band?
I founded Wingless in 2012 in Krakow, Poland. Since then we have recorded and released 5 studio albums. The last two albums have been released worldwide through Selfmadegod Rec. We play death doom metal inspired by the best of the 90’s, mainly the Florida and UK scene. We are currently promoting our latest album »Ascension« which was released on April 26th.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Over the years, one of the biggest challenges has been keeping the band still alive and funkctioning despite some key changes in the line up.
For the past few years, our new vocalist is Xaay a man well known in the metal scene as a cover artist for Nile and many more artists.
Changing vocalists is quite a challenge for many bands and not everyone wins, but we can say – we definitely won.
A similar challenge was finding a new drummer when our ex-drummer Paweł decided to move to Warsaw. In this case we also succeeded. We found Peter Wójcik, who plays with us until now.
What can you be most proud of so far?
As I mentioned I’m certainly proud that Wingless has been playing all these years and we are making better and better records.
What was your biggest regret?
I try not to despair when something has gone wrong. I learn from minor and major failures so as not to repeat my mistakes.
The only thing I can think of now is that I decided too late to kick out the first vocalist. As fate has shown, what goes around comes around.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We have played many great concerts over the years, but certainly one of the best and very well remembered was our performance.
at the North-Easter seven open air festival in Krnov (CZ). We played as headliner for the first time in our career and it was definitely a memorable event.
In July we have the anniversary of this performance, which took place on July 21st 2018.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
I never thought about it. To be honest I don’t think about such things.
There are so many things about the band that I try to take care of that it’s more important to me than surprises from the music scene.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
No surprise here… I still listen to the legendary records from the 80’s and 90’s.
It’s no secret that I try to follow new releases as much as I can.
I won’t tell you the names of the bands and the titles, because I don’t think anyone is that interested 😉
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
“…Practice as much as you can and make your music…” – I have memorized these words and I stick to them.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Oh no dude, you will not get that out of me in public these are my and only my guilty pleasures. They will remain my sweet secret.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Krakow / Poland?
I think the Polish metal scene and a lot of bands are well known all over the world. It is safe to say that death and black metal from Poland has long made its name in the world. There are a lot of bands active in our hometown. New ones are constantly forming, creating music, recording and playing gigs.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
A very good question. Recently we have been struggling with the lack of a bass player who is capable of playing gigs and playing our music properly.
It seems that finally the right man has been found and with him we will play our first concert on September 14. It will be at the Infernal Night festival in Łowicz. Further dates will be announced via our social media soon.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
To play as many gigs as possible. Continue to promote our latest album »Ascension«. I will also be slowly preparing new material.
How can people best support your band?
Listen to our music, buy CDs and our merch. Come to our shows if you see us playing in your town.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
We salute all those who have been with us over the years.
Thank you for your support – respect. Without the underground metal maniacs we wouldn’t be here. Keep the metal faith alive…and remember Only Death is Real!!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well