I’ve always found Austria’s Ellende somewhat enigmatic. Mainly due to how I could never decide whether the band fitted more in the post black metal canon or the ever-expanding atmospheric black metal horde. But also because of how their output has its fair share of mystery owing to the band’s interest in existential themes and how personal melancholies are their preferred method of delivering some of the most impressive black metal of the last decade in Europe.
Therefore, it’s fair to say that album number five, Todbringerin, retains the personal, reflective hardships experienced by the band to make them stand out from a lot of their contemporaries. From the title, I was led to believe this is a sequel to 2016’s Todbringer, which translates to “death bringer”. Now we have a title that sounds more like death being brought and is here to stay in the hearts and minds of these Germanic bards.
The introduction will prepare you for the slow but effective transition into an expedition of black metal misanthropy. Anger and passive aggressive tendencies populate the tracks both in dissonant and melodic forms, which is quite pleasing for those of us who dig either light or heavy types of metal. I’ll give Ellende credit for reaching across the boundaries to reach all kinds of metal-heads and as the tracks progress, we are treated to some very impressive instrumentation which sets the band up as mainstays of their scene.
Whilst I’ve never seen Ellende live in concert, I’ve listened to all five of their studio releases and would view them as a group who’d blow you away on stage as easily as they can on record. Ellende are masters of depth and density in their combination of post black metal and the atmosphere that sets them aside from the default black metal echelons. I wouldn’t call this or any of their other work experimental, but the aplomb with which this band’s work is delivered reflects how they are a hard-working group despite there being a few depressive/angsty elements that would gain interest from the DSBM crowd.
Todbringerin might not be the most amazing album I’ve heard from the scene this year but it’s certainly up there as one of the most memorable. Ellende are the forerunners of the post-atmospheric scene in their country, and they make it known how their combination of two of the best modern black metal sounds has earnt them a seat at the head table of the contemporary black metal council.
(8/10 Demitri Levantis)
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