B E R C
Artist :: Der Weg Einer Freiheit
Album :: Stellar
Year :: 2015
. Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CDDA
Label :: Season of Mist R.date :: 2015.05.26
Cat.nr. :: SOM349D Size :: 107,78 MB
Encoder :: LAME 3.98.4 -V0
Bitrate :: avg. 261kbps
Quality :: 44,1kHz/Joint Stereo
Website :: http://www.derwegeinerfreiheit.de/
tracklist
01. Repulsion 08:41
02. Requiem 08:22
03. Einkehr 06:00
04. Verbund 03:31
05. Eiswanderer 09:15
06. Letzte Sonne 12:18
07. Idyll 04:09
08. Unendlich 04:59
>> 57:15
release notes
From Dark Fortress and Secrets of The Moon, to Infestus and
Agrypnie, via Ascension and Odem Arcarum, Germany seems to
have produced an inordinately high number of my favourite
Black Metal artists. And yet, despite all dealing firmly in
the blackened arts, each band produces such a distinct
strain of metallic darkness that, in many ways, this shared
nationality seems to be the only common thread linking them
in any sort of "scene".
Well, to this amorphous grouping you can now add Bavarian
sensations Der Weg Einer Freiheit, as their new album,
Stellar, firmly and unequivocally establishes them as stars
in the ascendant, and is already one of my top contenders
for 2015's inevitable End of Year list(s).
It's not that the band's previous albums weren't up to snuff
either. Far from it. In fact I've actually gone back to
their previous album (2012's Unstille) several times since
getting hold of their latest, and finally given it the time
it so richly deserves. The issue has simply been that with
so much music out there, and so little time, Der Weg Einer
Freiheit ended up slipping through the cracks a little. I
loved what I'd heard, but never managed to find the time to
really get into the band fully.
Until now.
Because, Stellar is so good, so powerful, so damn...
stellar... that I finally made the time. And I don't regret
it. In fact, I regret not doing it sooner.
From the drifting, cosmic chords which open "Repulsion", to
the dying embers of sweeping closer "Letzte Sonne", the band
(now repurposed as a quartet following the departure of
original vocalist Tobias Jaschinsky) deliver their savage
brand of highly melodic - yet scaldingly aggressive - Black
Metal with ruthless aggression, every scything riff and
scorching blast-beat bedecked in a gleaming obsidian sheen.
And yet, although they're variously referred to as "Melodic
Black Metal", "Post-Black Metal", and "Atmospheric Black
Metal", depending on who you talk to, for me none of these
labels seems to fit quite right.
As bleakly and beautifully melodic as their songs can be,
they still remain densely, even disarmingly, aggressive, and
largely eschew the sort of nimble melodic riffing epitomised
by Dissection and Co. They also seem to largely eschew the
sort of cross-pollination that underpins much of the Post-
Black Metal movement (although they do share a number of
common facets with the aforementioned Agrypnie).
And while "Atmospheric" certainly applies to the music of
Der Weg Einer Freiheit, calling it something like
"Atmospheric Black Metal" still seems like a bit of a
misnomer.
No, in truth the band I'm most often reminded of when
listening to Stellar are the Swedish Satanizers Dark
Funeral, such is the primal focus and ferocity on display.
Whether it's the rampant savagery of "Requiem", the
venomously melodic assault of "Einkehr", or the sheer
uncompromising extremity of "Verbund", the quartet pour out
their wrath and vengeance with merciless, remorseless
precision.
That's not to say the band are a one-note affair. There are
more than enough subtle progressive flourishes - a flash of
mournful clean vocals, a splash of doom-laden chords, a
brush-stroke of sombre strings or flickering ambience -
scattered throughout the album to ensure this is never a
concern. But still... there's something undeniably pure
about the music on Stellar, something rarefied and refined,
capturing the concentrated essence of the genre in stark
relief.
This album takes the defining elements of Black Metal -
strychnine tremolo melodies, rampaging blast-beats, haunting
melancholy, and blinding, spiteful aggression - and burns
away all the dross and excess, until only the true soul and
spirit of the genre remains.
What Der Weg Einer Freiheit have captured here is a near-
perfect snapshot of the genre. Its power and its potential.
Both what it is, and what it can be.
With Thanks to E.
BERC : 2015
\\\f3! :: \\\ __ _/_________i_________\ /___/ /// :: cRO///
Sprache wählen 
Registrierte Benutzer können Text-, Hintergrund- und ANSI-Art-Farbe individuell anpassen! 
