Waldgeflüster unveils new EP.
Following the success of his seventh album in 2021, German musician Winterherz (vocals/instruments, Uprising, Scarcross), accompanied by Arvagr (bass/vocals, Dagnir en Gwann), Thomas Birkmaier (drums, Scarcross), Markus Frey (guitar) and Dominik Frank (guitar/vocals, The Course Is Black, Meridian), announces the release of Unter bronzenen Kronen on AOP Records in 2023.
Unter bronzenen Kronen, the eponymous track, opens with a heady guitar melody, before the other instruments take over to create a haunting wave topped by those gripping howls of despair. Folk influences and majestic keyboards strengthen the rhythm’s violence and the screams’ depth, but we also have a quieter moment of clean vocals before the band fades out and lets The Pit, a Panopticon cover, develop its soaring harmonics. The track is dominated by clean vocals, which lend it a soothing atmosphere in all circumstances, reinforced by the melancholic violin of Nostarion (Dämmerfarben, Folkearth, Vyre, ex-Ulfsdalir…), which calls forth a few howling choruses that lead us to this shattering final, then to Herbst befiel das Land MMXXIII, a reinterpretation of the track released in 2009 on the album Herbstklagen. Its second youth gives it a much more airy and controlled feel than the original version, but there’s still the sharp cold Black Metal sound the band keeps, accentuating both softer and more visceral passages, before giving way to Black Flies and its heavy rhythm. The track also reveals an interesting contrast between raw violence and ethereal elements, which eventually soften the rhythm to a minimalist drum final.
Waldgeflüster is easily comparable to a fine wine, getting better with each passing year, and the band proves it not only with Unter bronzenen Kronen, a striking EP, but also with this reissue of one of their best tracks.
95/100