Polish-Czech history is heavier than the tabloid version. A seven-day war over Cieszyn Silesia in 1919, then a Polish annexation of Zaolzie in October 1938 walked in on Hitler’s coattails as he took the Sudetenland, the move that got Molotov calling the Poles “Hitler’s jackals” and Churchill comparing the two countries to vultures landing on a dying carcass. The formal border dispute didn’t close until 1958.
The underground hardcore scene tells a different story. Friendships, splits, shared bills, vocalists crossing borders to join other people’s bands. Nicota’s new EP “Kapitola IV” is the latest entry in that ledger.
The Prague screamo and post–hardcore band have been operating under the current name for around a decade. Their last record, “Kapitola III“, was tracked in 2020 and released the year after. What was meant as the next chapter turned into a much longer one.
Personal changes and technical hold-ups stretched the recording across several years, and what eventually came out as “Kapitola IV” is the band more or less rebuilt around two new members: drummer Martin Vopalecký, whose playing pushed the writing in a new direction, and Polish vocalist Adam Adamiuk.
The five-song EP came out February 8, 2026, digital-only this time, and is up on Bandcamp. Anders tracked and mixed it at Dödsmord Studio between 2023 and 2026. Šaman handled the master earlier this year. The cover painting is by Martin Matoušek, who also did the artwork for “Kapitola III”. His other work is at matousekmartin.com.
The line-up reads: Pavel Tvrz and Michal Šandara on guitars, Martin Kalista on bass, Vopalecký on drums, Adamiuk on vocals. Pavel and Martin, two of the band’s founders, are responsible for the screamo and post-hardcore foundation Nicota built its name on.
Michal fills in the depth on top of that. With Vopalecký and Adamiuk in, Nicota gets darker, more emotional and more organic, with the post-metal pull surfacing especially on “Weight” and “Hunger“.
Adamiuk knew he wasn’t going to step into his predecessor’s role on his predecessor’s terms. “I wouldn’t be able to capture the signature poetic style that the previous vocalist, Martin Šindelář, brought to Nicota. Instead, I suggested something new. Since I’m Polish and the rest of the band is Czech, we settled on mostly English lyrics.”
Mostly. The exception is “Odpływ (Low Tide)”, sitting in the middle of the tracklist as the only Polish song on the record. It came out of his own displacement.
“It’s funny, but living abroad inspired me to try writing in Polish for the first time. I guess you can say that I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. That’s how Odpływ was created. Currently it’s the only Polish song on the record, but we already have another one ready!”
“Odpływ” is central to the EP, and central to its through-line. Loss is the connective theme across all five songs, and Adam wrote each one as a different angle on it. “In the case of Odpływ, it is a look at loss and the passage of time. Disarray is a more personal take, and Weight discusses loss more broadly, in relation to our world views and expectations. I truly believe that it’s essential for each of us to understand loss and its impact on our lives.”
The other thread he keeps coming back to is injustice, “which, in the light of current world events, feels unavoidable. Hunger is the clearest example.”
Outside the studio the band insists the EP is only one half of what they do. The other half is the live circuit, and the list of bands they’ve shared stages with recently runs across Europe: Only, Soastasphrenas, Øjne, Atameo, Mt. Dagger, Cages and Ksy, plus Czech acts Stezk, Scalp, Vadum, Rožava, Dno and Postea. Adam singles out Café Na půl cesty in Prague as one of the venues actively keeping alternative culture alive in the city.
For 2026 they have Brno, Ostrava, Liberec and Prague booked, with the door open for Poland and Germany if anyone over there wants to put them on. New songs are already in motion, possibly as a split.
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