Ernte – Weltenzerstörer 9.5/10
The Swiss duo of Ernte return with their third release in as many years. Weltenzerstörer is a release that signifies their immense and rapid growth. It is an album that defines their search for a higher meaning and their chosen isolation, bought forth with an urgency only black metal can provide.
The vocals of Askahex embody the themes within, the vitriol and anger is palpable delivered with a sense of urgency and authenticity that is unmatched.’’ The Witch (Was Born in Flames) is a true highlight that burns brightly seething in anger and those who are ignorant. ‘’ Ruler of Chaos, Bringer of Storm’’ continues an unrelenting assault that is raw, powerful, yet is memorable, the sound is stripped back to its barest essentials, the emotional and aggression on full display. Ernte’s use of dynamics and slower tempos allows the screams and to invoke a ritual that is inescapable and vital, when the speed envelopes you it is crushing. ‘’ Trip to a Solitary Moon’’ is an inevitable march filled with raw melody and a great solo whilst the inexorable build of ‘’Vessels of Sacrifice’’ drips in the atmosphere that makes Ernte unique, it is a slower offering that is fully immersive, inexorable, their melody as integral as their anger. Their subtleties are profound, and the respites are brief, not a moment is wasted ‘We Wander the Winter Forest’’ is another highlight on an album riddled with them.
Pure and unrelenting Weltenzerstörer is a maelstrom of darkness and energy with a flame that burns eternal. Gripping, grandiose and assured Ernte are synonymous with energy and uncompromising belief that is pure black metal. Essential.
Cult of Erinyes – Metempsychosis 9/10
It has been five years since Æstivation, the last release from Cult of Erinyes (the three goddesses of vengeance and retribution) and the Belgium five-piece have finally delivered their fifth masterwork Metempsychosis. An album that is as innovative as it is epic and diabolical in its delivery, extreme art in its purest form.
Although broken into two tracks making up its forty-plus minutes running time, Metempsychosisis best viewed as a complete piece. The lengthy compositions are sprawling immediate nightmares that coalesce into a unique extreme vision that is immediate and powerful. The aggression is pure and vitriolic in its instantaneous delivery, it is a fast record that is anxious, angry, and brutal. ‘’ Death and the Voyage’’ and ‘’ Eternity in a Second’’ traverse the realms of modern black metal with ease and fury. At times it is a part dissonant nightmare that is agonizing, at others it plunges the listener into the despair of blackened doom, inexorable and inescapable. The majesty lies in their ability to craft fully formed compositions that revel in its darkness, embracing it and delivering it in all its myriad forms, the atmosphere is deeply unsettling, cloying and claustrophobic. The intensity is palpably combined with stellar musicianship that that crosses genres effortlessly that stay true to the band’s ideal at all times. Its concept of the inevitable and mortality is scathing, honest, and at times introspective yet never indulgent. Raw emotion is captured in its most volatile state.
Haunting, captivating and rewarding, Metempsychosis is a fully immersive body of work that is visceral, attention-grabbing and thought-provoking, It is pure extreme modern art pushed to its zenith where all possibilities are limitless.
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