As you’ve probably worked out by the title this latest offering by Dutch black metal band Wesenwille is a live album plus their first album presented as a very nice double CD digipak package. I was utterly impressed by the bands second album ‘II: A Material God’ which I reviewed for the site and you can read here, an album soaked in vicious obsidian finesse. The band’s first album, named as a sort of chapter I and self-titled has not been reviewed by our site so I’m going to do that here as it is worth doing due to its quality. Said debut was a violent affair, but like the sophomore it is tinged by the band’s penchant for avantgarde elements, which whilst subtly positioned add to the album’s dramatic flair. There is a hostile clinical nature too evident the moment opener ‘The Churning Masses’ starts. Piercing guitar work and eerie bridges adding to the theatrics as do the cleaner vocals which I found really enjoyable.
‘Pseudopopoeia’ has bristling intensity, hammering into the listener with its periodic blasts and wrathful inhuman assault. As I’ve said Wesenwille aren’t without nuances and ‘Golden Rays Of The Sun’ ably demonstrates this, with eeriness and a dissonance that for some reason had me thinking about Dillinger Escape Plan, I have no idea why their name popped into my head, and you may disagree but it’s what I thought on listening to it. Slightly calmer is ‘Rising Tides’ though not for long as those nuances rear up again, this time with some fine punk like riffing and detonating speed increases producing an extremely catchy vibe. There are what sounds like samples added, especially narration pieces adding to the charisma by instilling a cinematic aura as the album ends with ‘From One, We Are Many’.
The closer offers similar riffing to what preceded it, an isolated guitar riff is nestled in mid-tempo velocity with that catchiness very evident. There is a very gradual escalation in power, not speed, just the way the song seems to gather slowly before it plunges back to atmospheric hooks that lead up to the inevitable and destructive blasted finale within the last couple of minutes. With the incessant speed it did make me wonder how they could replicate the nuances live in a live setting, but suffice to say the debut by Wesenwille is well worth hearing alongside the second chapter, as I’ve deemed it.
So, onto the live album, and I’ve stated a few times before that I am not a lover of live albums generally, few ever replicate what you actually hear live and I won’t list the ones I really do like because I’ve done that before too. This was recorded in March 2021 at Roadburn within the exceptional 013, Tilburg, probably one of the best venues I’ve ever been to. This 45 minute takes three songs from the debut and two from the sophomore that displays the utter proficiency the Wesenwille band members have on every song and whilst background noise is minimal you cannot deny the mesmerising power Wesenwille have here.
The set kicks off with ‘The Churning Masses’ from the debut, complete with its effects and ensuring this replicates how Wesenwille are on album. The sound is crisp, not clinical, it has density and opacity on the drum work, which also has good definition especially on the blast beats which can often be lost in a live recording. The band is always intense and here that speed had me thinking about Wiegedood due to the sheer rabidity that is often heard as the band go into ‘Descent’ taken from the sophomore. I really like this song, its ambient intro setting the scene for the bedlam to come which dutifully arrives as the hostility of the vocals is transferred perfectly into the live arena. The samples are also included, the nuances have indeed been thought about and really are needed within the band’s music, something bands tend to remove when playing live, which is understandable of course.
‘Opulent Black Smog’ is fantastic, as it is on album, the calm post-rock opening lures you in hypnotically before it smoothly transitions to outrageous speed with its eerie hooks infesting throughout. Again, the vocals are inhuman at times, venomous and utterly virulent they cut through the mix producing focus and wrath. ‘Likewise with ‘Golden Rays Of The Sun’ and finishing piece ‘Rising Tides’, both tunes being hugely epic and running through a gauntlet of animosity but tinged with subtleties as the former tingles with their avantgarde like touches and the latter offering some atmospherics at its start before the sequential escalation in power especially with the cracking riff break smack in the middle of it.
This is extremely well worth investing in, particularly if you don’t own the debut album as it is being sold more or less as the price of a single CD when I checked. There’s also double vinyl version if that’s your thing too, making this a decent investment too.
(8.5/10 Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply