Roman Kostrzewski

Roman Kostrzewski was one of the defining figures of Polish heavy and thrash metal, best known as the long-time singer and lyricist of Kat, and later as the leader of Kat & Roman Kostrzewski. His importance came not only from his distinctive voice and stage charisma, but also from the fact that he helped shape the language of Polish metal at a time when the scene was still forming its own identity. He joined Kat in 1981 after meeting the band at the first Silesian Rock festival in Bytom, and within a few years the group had become one of the most important and controversial metal acts in Poland. By the mid-1980s, especially around the band’s Jarocin breakthrough, Kostrzewski had become a symbol of the darker...