Austria

Anomalie, Tranceformation (AOP Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The fourth album from Austrian band Anomalie spins a preternatural web of post-black metal: Tranceformation.

Aomalie is Christian “Marrok” Brauch, joined by Lukas Schlintl on drums and percussion. Operating under this name for just over a decade, Anomalie has released three previous long-players and the EP Integra (2018).

The new album is an induced trance in six movements. The opening track is absolutely mesmerizing. It is not too much to call it hypnotic. The black metal elements are clear but they are not as prominent as the comely vocals and the melodic guitar entreaties. The percussion is held at a subdued level in the mix but the playing wicked indeed. This is “Trance I: The Tree” and if it was the only song on the album I would be satisfied, but it is only the beginning.

“Relics” is next and it lays down a pulsing groove. The track is nine minutes long and by the end you are sorry to see it go because the composition somehow keeps you transfixed the entire time. The movement from melodic to coarser vocals is seamless and occurs in synch with unseen powers that, while unexplained, make perfect sense. “Alive” is quieter overall but has some of the most urgent guitar work in its midst. By this point I was completely absorbed in the music and I had only heard side one.

The back half of the trance-set continues the work of the first part. I don’t know what I expected from this album, but what I heard was fantastic. Calling the music post-black metal isn’t wrong, but it doesn’t cover it, either. Cross-over and fusion music is sometimes disappointing because it ends up with too much of one thing or not enough of the other. But Anomalie has created something that is completely different from its constituent parts where the balance is unassailable.

Set aside some time to be taken away because when this album is on your attention cannot go anywhere else. Highly recommended.

Tranceformation is out now through AOP Records. In the US, Bandcamp is the one-stop shop.

Links,

Bandcamp, https://anomalie-official.bandcamp.com/album/tranceformation

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/The.Anomalie.Experience

AOP Records, http://www.aoprecords.de/

Anomalie, Tranceformation (AOP Records 2021)

Bernth, Elevation (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

YouTube guitar virtuoso Bernth releases his first solo instrumental metal album, Elevation.

Bernth is Bernd Brodträger, a well-known guitarist who has played for many bands and done a lot of studio work. He has become extremely well known due to the popularity of his YouTube channel. His background is firmly rooted in extreme and heavy metal, and he can play absolutely anything on guitar.

I started listening to instrumental rock guitar back at the beginning of my musical interest when I heard Frank Zappa’s Shut Up ’N Play Yer Guitar. Zappa became my favorite guitarist then and he will always be my favorite. It’s a formative thing. Hearing Zappa perked my ears up to other instrumental guitar, and the next one I heard that made a big impact on me was Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien. It blew my mind. And then Steve Vai (because he had played for Zappa).

So, since way back then I am looking out for metal and rock instrumental music. The new Bernth album is right up my alley. The playing is unassailably impeccable and practically unbelievable. There is no question that Bernth rises above any standard you’d care to set.

Pick any track from the nine on the new album and listen in amazement. Both electric and acoustic (mostly electric) music, at times delivered at astonishing speed. But of course it is not all about the speed. There are infectious melodies and memorable riffs along with the ravaging lead work. Since it is all instrumental music the guitar does the singing, too, and truly I don’t miss the lyrics or voice at all. The variety of the music keeps you interested and engaged throughout. It is a lot of guitar, of course, so you have to be wanting that to listen in. If that is you then don’t let this one pass by. Recommended.

Elevation is out tomorrow, May 14th. If you hit the Bernth store link below you’ll find many bundles of music and merch.

Links.

Bernth store, https://bernth.myshopify.com/

YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Bernthguitar

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/bernthofficial

Bernth website, https://www.bernth.at/

Bernth, Elevation (2021)

Harakiri For the Sky, Mære (AOP Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Harakiri For The Sky set the post-metal canons to kill for their new epic melodic Black Metal album, Mære.

The band is Matthias Sollak, who plays all the instruments, and V. Wahntraum (JJ) who does the singing. Mære is the fifth full-length album for Harakiri For The Sky since 2012, an impressive production schedule by itself, the significance of which is magnified when you consider the other bands the musicians are part of. The music has a post-metal approach generally, and you can hear melodic Black Metal in there prominently alongside many other melded styles and takes. The themes tend toward the glum, with a heavy dose of hopelessness to season the brew.

The album is gigantic, with ten long songs averaging in the eight minute range. “I, Pallbearer” opens the set, and could function as a single because it is a look through the window at what the album is about. The first thing you hear is a plucking line, then a solid riff that is a melody line of its own. The music fills in over the leading sixty seconds and then the hammer comes down with the introduction of vocals, followed by an even bigger build in the percussion. The song is complex and carefully structured, giving it a Prog ambience to go along with the broader arc of melodic Black Metal. Expect this throughout.

There is a lot to admire in this album. My favorite tracks (along with the opener) are “And Oceans Between” us for the raw energy and emotion it exudes and “Time Is A Ghost” with its elegant, gentle beginning that is swallowed by a landslide of crushing metal only to survive, reëmerge, and then be overtaken again. Mære is an album you will return to over and again in different mental states and for different reasons. Recommended.

Friday February 19th is the official release date, and AOP Records has the goods, accessible through Bandcamp. Five of the songs are already available if you want to get a jump on it with a digital preorder.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/maere

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/HarakiriForTheSky/

AOP Records, http://www.aoprecords.de/

Harakiri For the Sky, Mære (AOP Records 2021)

Transilvania, Of Sleep And Death (Invictus Productions 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The second full-length album from Transilvania is an epic world shaker, filled with monstrous ideas and otherworldly conclusions.

From Innsbruck, Austria, the Black Metal band Transilvania has been around since 2015. The Metal Archives lists the members as P. Čachtice (bass and vocals), H. Paole Grando (drums), O. von Schwarzenberg (guitar), and D. D. Stumpp (guitar). There is not an enormous amount of free floating information out there about them, apart from their discography that shows The Night Of Nights LP from 2018, and before that an EP and a split. The musical style is fast-paced Black Metal, bearing on the speed and even the thrash side.

“Opus Morbi” leads us down the haunting path with a reassuring (although clearly sinister) opening gambit of distant tones that grow into a fierce attack by the three minute mark. Throughout the album there are plenty of riffs that hang a tight groove, as in the title track, to go along with the eerier elements. Clever syncopation and unusual tempo shifting like we hear on “Lycanthropic Chant” enriches the Black Metal environment and fills in the dark world developing around your ears.

The inventiveness and ingenuity of composition knows no bounds on this album. The music relies on rhythm and a well-paced, expertly situated harmony of the instruments to propel the concepts forward in support of the lyrical narrative. Lead breaks in the traditional sense are used sparingly, like a flashing scene of violence or depravity. More often we hear companion components from the guitars bolstering the vocals and other instruments in the overall experience. The album is powerful – a premier exemplar of the form. Highly recommended.

Of Sleep And Death is out now. Invictus has all manner of formats for this album, plus a variety of merch. Bandcamp offers a digital download at your fingertips. And you can also hear a lot of Transilvania’s music on Spotify.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://transilvania.bandcamp.com/album/of-sleep-and-death

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/transilvaniaaustria/

Invictus Productions, https://invictusproductions.net/

Transilvania, Of Sleep And Death (Invictus Productions 2021)