Comprising of a duo under the monikers of P. and MK this German black metal act has released a couple of EPs and splits that have paved the way for this debut full length that has some of the most morose and forlorn music you’ll hear in 2020. Indeed the way the duo has constructed the three tracks on offer submerges the listener in an austere bleakness that one would be forgiven for not feeling too happy after enduring it. That being said it is a wholly immersive sonic experience divided into the three parts called the Path, the Flame and the Awakening though each song has its own title still.
Opener ‘Auf Der Schwelle’ is probably my favourite black metal track of the year so far as it begins with eerie backing noise and spoken female words briefly. The shrill guitar fade in is expected but no less pernicious in its aura as the riff harnesses a morosity that I found utterly enthralling. As the song gathers the embittered riffing into a fine macabre atmosphere the track dissolves to leave an isolated guitar and ghoulish vocal duet. The riffing is immense completely encapsulating with its piercing and oppressive lugubriousness as the fabulous shift in tempo is actually ultra-catchy. The twisting distressing vocalisations add their own level of tormented anguish as the song plunges into a despairing funereal ambience linked to eerily spoken vocals that manifest from nowhere but imbibe the song with another level of terror. The anguish intensifies as the song heads to its finale where the tortured vocals languish in the background screeching in horror whilst the music slows to a slithering crawl.
‘Unter Sieben Sternen’ has a spacey beginning, again drowning in desolation, the spoken vocals have a slight echo for a more creepy effect as the guitar riff permeates the track with an abrasive grating edge that links to the slow drum work with huge cymbal emphasis. The massive effects that enshroud the song are magnificent enabling the song to be that more intense, that more powerful and that more effective as a pervading sense of horror threads through the song. The rawness of the guitar work really pinpoints the glacial desolation that this album has, as the song prefers to keep the pace slow for half of its duration until the superb shift in speed, which isn’t blasted I might add, that is extremely hypnotic because it carries the song into the next grim phase. The huge amounts of distortion through the guitar create a cavernous aura especially with the desperately slow pace as the song amplifies the backing effects towards its conclusion linking them with the female spoken vocals that again just add so much texture to the songs terror stricken atmosphere.
The final part of this release is the colossal ‘Im Labyrinth Der Dunkelheit’ a fifteen minute nightmare experience that again initialises with grief riddled guitar riffing amidst the slow drum beat and gruesome vocals. The slight change in beat is brief but highlights the way this duo makes each song so easy to listen to and again it has an inherent catchiness too that I found so appealing. This alternation of brief pace change and slowness is maintained as a choral like vocal is situated in the mix producing a haunting ghoulish atmosphere. There is a slight repetitive structure that I also found engaging as that alternation drills into your psyche with nightmarish dread right until the song produces a momentary blast, which albeit brief effectively cleaves the song allowing it to fluidly move with unerring melancholy. The pace gradually reduces to leave an isolated guitar riff that meanders around whilst the spoken vocals are added. The reassertion of the riffing is gargantuan engulfing the listener with a suffocating horror that borders noise to some extent manifesting a despairing inhumanity as the song grates its way to its conclusion with a high end piercing riff that is utterly torturous before finally ending with an atmospheric soundscape.
Listening to this album will leave you shuddering in terror, the way it threads its way into the fabric of your being is horrifying, a virulence and wretchedness that one will find difficult to dissolve but you will thoroughly enjoy despite its implacable and unyielding sonic suffering.
(9.5/10 Martin Harris)
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