Art Of Propaganda Records are hitting the ground running this January with some highly anticipated offerings from Karg, Harakiri For The Sky and Ellende. All 3 are well regarded in post black metal circles so we can expect plenty in the way of cold and atmospheric beauty to get us through the freezing and viral lockdown of January. Ellende is the work of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist L.G. who has some help here from drummer P.F. of the aforementioned Harakiri FTS and has put together an EP here of three extensive tracks that reinterpret old and new material that mean a lot to him and breathing a new form of life into them. Fairly new to their output I enjoyed last album Lebensnehmer finding its somewhat beautiful take on the harsh realities of warfare a dichotomy but one with plenty of grace and feeling about it which was more naturistic in essence than the grim subject matter would have had one anticipating.
The first couple of tracks here seem to derive from the Weltennacht EP of 2014. The title number is the second part of Triebe which appeared on it and both these songs weigh in at just over the 10-minute mark and have plenty of substance about them. A sonata or an elegy perhaps at first Triebe II starts with an acoustic caress expanding with lush and heartfelt melody that moves into a deep-rooted neo-classical refrain due to keyboards. Then a gurgling rasp is unleashed the drums blast in and the violence counterpoises things turning everything very violently on its head. This is now forceful and burgeoning blackness and it surges forward into a cold and hostile domain but not one without an underlying flavour of hope as it flirts with the more fragile and fragrant parts of its earlier origins. It is focussed and at times mesmerises the listener interjecting and rousing with bursts of brutality and giving the best of both worlds in the process. The rasping vocals don’t suffocate but certainly make their process felt adding an angered rage which when combined with the fast parts are nothing short of deadly. After suddenly dropping tools and suddenly stopping a guitar jangle summons second number ‘Weltenacht’ which progresses with a mid-paced groove and leaden stomp about it, vocals raised with hoary indignity. I’m offered no real insight into further meanings of the narrative here and although intrigued happy to go with the musical flow than seek them out. Bass gets a sudden thickness about it here and the music takes on a subtle ponderous nature as it continues to unfold and draw into thick melodic gracefulness. Its obviously passionately composed and is both epic and mature work, some strings undercoating things and some plucked guitar work expanding upon its versatile flow. Some spoken sampled parts add completely to the moods and atmospheres before it ploughs into a fiery culmination in the last buoyant movement.
Last number ‘Zwischen Sommer und Herbst’ highlights the naturistic narrative and cannot go without translation as it takes the listener ‘between summer and autumn’ a place rich in mystique as it takes off on a calm orchestral, unhurried and timeless instrumental journey gradually rising in force as the vocals join and cling to it. This is a beautiful piece of music and wherever it came from it seems fitting to be re-explored and should delight listeners both old and new. This is far from an immediate release due to the depth of it but one that unfolds over several listens and really grows in stature as it is perhaps gradually understood. The calm dare I say navel gazing parts are sublime and delicious and the sudden boosts of force uplifting and full of wonder. I would imagine that L.G. has captured exactly what he was looking to do here and has done it with aplomb. There’s stacks of substance within this half an hour of music that will keep the listener coming back time and again.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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