Rootwater
Rootwater was formed in Warsaw in 2002 by Sebastian Zusin, Tomasz “Yony” Jońca and Paweł Jurkowski, with vocalist Maciej Taff joining soon afterward. Personnel changes started early, because Jońca left before the first release, Michał Truong stepped in on guitar, and Artur Rowiński replaced Jurkowski on drums. The band’s confirmed recording debut came in 2004 with “Under,” released by Fonografika. Shortly after that album, bassist Przemysław Bieliński left and was replaced by Filip “Heinrich” Hałucha, later also widely associated with Vesania. Rootwater’s strongest identity came from refusing to stay inside a single metal subgenre. Their sound combined heavy and nu metal with thrash, hardcore, punk, folk and...
Artist Trivia
- Two explanations for the band’s name circulate publicly, a literal combination of “root” and “water,” and the claim that it came from the Magic: The Gathering card “Rootwater Commando”; the musicians themselves were said to favor the card reference.
- Rootwater stood out for its multilingual approach, using not only English but also Hebrew in “Hava Nagila,” traditional Romani in “Caje Sukarije,” as well as Polish and French.
- The band’s lyrics went beyond generic metal themes and addressed subjects such as war, religious persecution and antisemitism, and human greed.
- Their 2006 EP “The Legends of Hava Nagila” was released in a limited run of one thousand copies, giving it a more collectible than mass-market status.
Discography
3 releases
Visionism
Album2009
Limbic System
Album2007
Under
Album2004