Limited to 300 copies. Gatefold + A4 Poster.
Lo-Fi Black Metal From Germany
The opening number on ‘Satan No Mono’, entitled ‘Yuki, kalter als der Tod’, bears a riff so uncannily similar to ‘Natassja in Eternal Sleep’ that one could be forgiven for thinking that we’re in for another lacklustre Darkthrone rip off. But as Tot aus dem Wald pick up the pace on their latest album it becomes quickly apparent that there is more going on here than mere black metal box ticking. Eerie interludes consisting of minimal percussion, harsh wind instruments, and disjointed chants fill out the spaces between each track, boasting an oddly cloying, warm atmosphere reminiscent of early Xibalba for their understated creep.
The black metal itself fits broadly under the raw-as-fuck umbrella, but maintains a strained aggression that never leaves the music, articulated by harsh, tinny guitars and uncomfortably high pitches even for black metal, punky, barked vocals similar to Ildjarn, and relentlessly primitive drum work to anchor the waves of rage. Bass is non-existent, leaving the album with a hollow core that is oddly compelling, as if the music itself has been cut in two but persists all the same.
This leaves the guitar lines almost completely naked. With nothing but the background static of the pounding drums and histrionic vocals, they are left out in the cold to drag these pieces through their refrains. No keyboards are deployed to sweeten the pill or blanket the music in ancillary textures. Tot aus dem Wald offer a dense melodic package regardless, as the riffs eek out mournful soaring refrains of ascending note clusters that nevertheless articulate a degree of single minded persistence, dancing round the same pitch and theme with hypnotic determination.
The immediacy of the black metal scenery is juxtaposed against the cold distance of the background interludes that haunt the music with their emptiness. We are cloaked in the violent chaos foregrounded on these tracks, but this is ultimately a mere cover, shielding us from the realities of the barren wilderness that awaits once the chaos has again burnt itself out to an unsettling resolution. A work of rage fuelled black metal that succeeds owing to scant subtleties that play out across the entire narrative arc of the album in spite of its explicit monomaniacalism.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=RRTohDqsqlA
