Motherwood awakes again.
Formed in 2016 between Brazil and Germany by Guilherme Malosso (guitar/bass/vocals, Low Levels of Serotonin, DeathTron, live for Thy Light) and Yuri Camargo (drums/keyboards, DeathTron), the band offered a debut album in 2017, followed by a few years of silence before the announcement of Im Zeichen der Dunkelheit, their second album, through Low Noise Productions.
The album opens with Im Zeichen der Dunkelheit, the eponymous track, which immediately sets a cold mood with muffled riffs and ghostly howls, followed by a majestic, haunting sound. The heavy slowness and strange sounds populating this foggy rhythm give it a horrific feel until Old School riffs abruptly speed up while keeping the dark melodic influences before letting Nostalgia place some airy and heady keyboards, complemented by heartbreaking leads. The arrival of vocals is quite late, making them sound like some ghost prowling in this devastated landscape, slowly leading us to Der stille Frühling, a more lively and aggressive composition which spreads epic accents with Nordic influences. The haunting melodies’ sharp sound creates a hypnotic contrast with raw screams and impressive ambiences, but intriguing keyboards appear again before the final quietness, which carries us to Winternacht and its Pagan tones completed by a dark but catchy Black Metal. Vocals remain faded in this dark and suffocating mix from which only crystal clear keyboards sometimes escape, strengthening the feeling of seizing despair again, then letting Ein Wald, the shortest composition, gently lead us into a disturbing and strange painting, which I mentally associate to a forest. Der Konflikt in mir revives Black Metal’s aggressive sounds while linking them to this intense and visceral rage we find in the frantic rhythmic, or in this calmer and suffocating passage which explode again before letting Mein Weg ist frei, the last track, swallow us under a wave of fast riffs completed by oppressive melodies and airy keyboards, strengthening the most raw sounds.
Motherwood confirms their cavernous and dark Old School influences with this new album. Im Zeichen der Dunkelheit is perfectly able to bewitch or terrify you, mixing wonderful melodies with unhealthy vocal parts.
90/100