Aus Der Transzendenz are Austrian, but the bandmembers’ identities remain shrouded in mystery; we are told only that they are known individuals operating within the black metal underground. The accompanying promo text is all very over the top, espousing an aim to remain true to European BM’s roots whilst engaging in a heroic transcendance of the artistic barriers of the genre at the same time.

The whole thing is drenched in dissonance, with droning, washed-out guitars and monotonously thudding drums. There is the suggesion of rawness here, but it’s deeply buried under the soft, blissed-out production, so that the music has an ambient feel about it, even when clattering along at a fair lick. It has a cavernous and submerged quality, and combines a feeling of hypothermic insularity with the winding, ethereal drive of mid-90s Blut Aus Nord; the howling vocals echo-heavy and low in the mix; the riffs half-lost in reverb and bursting forth in pulses;  the drums a sporadic onslaught of mechanical blasting and elaborate fills.

The constant changes in tempo work quite well, the songs pelting along at a mad gallop and full of sudden stops and starts, building the momentum whilst striving to create a sense of rising euphoria, occasionally interspersed with slow and reflective lulls  that have a floaty, post-rocky vibe to them. It ultimately all sounds very post-BM, with the dissonant BM barrages cushioned by a gentle, indy-rock sensibility. Nowhere is this more apparent than on final track ‘The Secret Revealed’,  which is both the longest and dullest track, its moments of urgent blasting weaved around passages of lackadaisical and dreamy shoegaze that drift along in whimsical fashion.

Whether this is a good thing or not is a matter of personal taste, but my own impression is of two very different forces pulling in opposite directions, greatly lessening the overall impact as a result. There are some interesting rhythmic undercurrents at work, but it’s lacking any real bite, whilst something about the production gives it a diluted and contradictory feel,as if it’s not quite sure whether it wants to be raw or delicate.

Remaining rooted in the soil of traditional BM whilst also striving to embrace more mainstream indulgences was always going to be problematic, and by the label’s own admission, Aus Der Transzendenz have one eye on the ancient past yet are “poisoned by the modern age”. I would have to agree with this, as whilst ‘Breed of a Dying Sun’ has faint flickers of glory, its blade is blunted by its own lofty ideals.

(6/10, Erich Zann)

http://www.i-voidhanger.com/aus_der_transzendenz_breed_of_a_dying_sun.htm