“Zerfall” brings a combination that will strange the more conservative Black Metal fan because the album is, in fact, a mix of Prog Rock instrumentals with some Post Black Metal with gutural vocals. Instrumentals here are very sweet, if it is possible to use this term for a Black Metal album. Ok, I am aware this kind of music is not really new, I mysellf have reviewed some albums with this sonancy, but the thing is, every time I get one of these I get stranged. It is not the music is bad. No, no, it is pretty good indeed, but it stranges me. Better yet, it gives me the hell of a scare. There is some kind of beauty that it is hard to express in words in tracks as “Ode ans Licht.“
If one listens to “Zerfall” very carefully – as I did – the impression it gets is that there are two totally different moods in it. The first would be from album warmer “Nur” until the aforementioned “Ode ans Licht” where Ellende strike their mix of Prog Rock instrumentals with some Post Black Metal with gutural vocals. “Nur,” for instance, does not have lyrics in the real sense of the word. The track is full of screams and other sounds. The last tracks “Zeitenwende Teil I,” “Zeitenwende Teil II“ and “Reise” showcase a very different band with more aggressive and fast instrumentals taking the album more near to a standard Black Metal. I guess Ellende walk on thin ice having to choose from both sonancies, but it is a great walk, if you know what I mean.
Maybe the wrod serene would work like a charm to explain the album and the emotions it deals with all the way, but I guess it would not be enough. There is much more than meets the eye. “Zerfall” and Ellende‘s musical proposal are far more complex than it seems. Well, as Metal music. Ellende, and other bands that perform this kind of music, try to include many contradictory human emotions. It is their intent to musically capture life itself, by life I mean this intense, and contradictory, gift we were given. I guess they sucessfully did their best.
Ellende “Zerfall” was released on January 02nd via AOP Records.
Track Listing
1. Nur 2:35
2. Wahrheit Teil I 7:03
3. Wahrheit Teil II 5:50
4. Zerfall 7:19
5. Übertritt 6:03
6. Ode ans Licht 4:23
7. Zeitenwende Teil I 6:36
8. Zeitenwende Teil II 5:01
9. Reise 7:14
Watch “Zerfall” official lyric video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!