Many, many bands with a black metal influence claim to be `dark, grim and bleak’ but only a few of them can deliver the goods in the way that they promise, often mistaking `terribly produced’ for `atmospheric’. Schattenbrandung are no such band however, and on this, their self-released debut album, they deliver vast swathes of gloomy nastiness without any hype or pompous slogans whatsoever. The single A4 sheet that came with their beautifully packaged album merely describes the music as `Black Doom Metal’, before explaining in detail why they decided to avoid labels, and also make the album available for free online. However, `Black Doom Metal’ only begins to describe the music that this mysterious 5 piece from Stuttgart play.

The music is indeed mostly slow and ponderous, but with an incredibly expansive feel, and a constant underlying melancholy which stretches right through the album. Haunting, echo-tinged clean sections reminiscent of Swallow The Sun intersperse the dark proceedings, allowing each song to breathe, and adding extra dynamism to each monolithic slab of grimness. A mixture of black and doom metal could so easily be quite boring and one-dimensional, yet it never is on this debut, as the band have a seemingly diverse list of influences, and quite an imagination when it comes to creating huge, bleak soundscapes. I can hear hints of various different bands and styles in Schattenbrandung’s music; on occasion I hear hints of mid-period Paradise Lost, with haunting melodies drifting over heavy riffing , as well as a nod or two in the direction of the Greek black metal scene. At other times I hear pure dissonant misery, reminiscent of some of the more avant-garde black metal and doom bands.

There are also passages of pounding, visceral black/thrash, and moments of pure, raw black metal which blend in perfectly with the grim proceedings. To be honest there are a lot of subtly different influences spread across this album, so sometimes it is difficult to pin the band down without referring to a list of other bands. One thing they do consistently however is create a dark, grim and epic atmosphere from the first track to the last, and they are certainly not short of ideas or creative energy.

This album is the first of a promised trilogy; the second album being `II – Apostasie’ and the third `III – Apotheose’. It will be very interesting to see how this band develops its style over the course of the next two albums, to see if they can meld those disparate influences into something new and unique. However, those who enjoy bleak, doom-tinged, sombre and epic black metal (in particular bands like Forgotten Tomb), should definitely give this creative debut album a listen. The lyrics are in German, but are worth translating for those who don’t speak it.

(7.5/10 Jon Butlin)

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