Nothing can stop Waldgeflüster.
Created in 2005 in Germany by Winterherz (vocals/instruments, Uprising, Scarcross), the musician recruits in 2014 Arvagr (bass/vocals, Dagnir en Gwann), Thomas Birkmaier (drums, Scarcross), Markus Frey (guitar) and Dominik Frank (guitar/vocals, The Course Is Black, Meridian) after years of asking live musicians. In 2021, the band offers Dahoam, its seventh album, at AOP Records.
Musicians called Markus “Schwadorf” Stock (Empyrium, The Vision Bleak…) for the mix and mastering of their Black Metal with sometimes Post, sometimes Folk, but always intense hints. A Taglachinger Morgen offers a soft introduction to this rich but dark universe with clean guitars that welcome some quiet vocals, then Im Ebersberger Forst offers the first saturated notes while welcoming Benjamin König (Bald Anders, ex-Lunar Aurora, ex-Trist) on keyboards. Howlings collide an ice cold instrumental full of frightening choirs and a sharp melancholy, but a break will calm the storm down before it progressively comes back, sometimes unveiling DSBM accents. The song is seizing, and offers a penetrating blackness, then the sound becomes quiet again with Am Stoa, an airy and mystical interlude, before some whispers darken the sound, giving birth to Am Tatzlwurm. On this track, intensity quickly increases until the arrival of J.J. (Karg, Harakiri For The Sky) and his raw vocals that perfectly stick to this song’s as majestic as tortured ambience. The track unveils impressive orchestrations, but viscerality still lives before leaving for In da Fuizn, a short but cold introduction. Howlings of sorrow pierce us, then vocals resurrect the intensity accompanied by the cello of Nostarion (Dämmerfarben, Folkearth…) before Mim Blick aufn Kaiser, a song that uses some catchy strikes before the flood of darkness. Once again, howlings meet clean vocals, and riffs agree on this melting of violence and soaring tones, just like choirs that strengthen main vocals, accompanied by Austin Lunn (Panopticon, Dämmerfarben…), then Am Wendelstoa closes the album with more joyful and luminous tones. Vocals awaken some intensity before the sound fades away.
If I had to resume Waldgeflüster’s sound to a single word, it would be intensity. Dahoam is a raw and melancholic album that allows as much place to blackness, rage and strength as sorrow, soaring tones and Folk influences. Whatever raises your curiosity up, you must listen to it.
90/100