Eiger marks the start of a new chapter for Aara.
Following their excellent triad last year, Berg (guitar/bass/keyboards), Fluss (vocals) and J. (drums, Forgotten Tomb, Grusig, Malphas, Thron, ex-Chotzä…) are back at it again, unveiling their sixth album at the end of 2024, still backed by Debemur Morti Productions.
The album is based on the mountain of the same name in the Bernese Alps, illustrated once again by Michael Handt, and produced/mixed/mastered by Markus Stock (The Vision Bleak, Empyrium…).
Die das wilde Wetter fängt gets off to a very gentle start, but the guitar can be heard in the background and it’s not long before it sets things alight, recreating that dark veil tinged with folk sounds. The vocals are as gripping as ever, adding that distinctive icy touch to the furious roots that feed the ambient chaos, which only calms down with the clean break, but picks up again before being shaken again by Senkrechte Welten, where the storm begins anew. The heady harmonics mingle with the devastating basis to keep us on our toes in their frantic race, but we find ourselves once again in this little straitjacket of temporary gentleness before speeding off to Felsensang, where a certain melancholy greets us, suddenly transforming into uncontrollable rage. While the track is certainly one of the most virulent, it also leaves space for soaring melodies to recreate that unique touch, as on Todesbiwak, where dissonance meets cold, majestic guitar spikes. The lull where we catch our breath seems shorter, and the resumption even more intense than usual, especially when it’s followed by Der Wahnsinn dort im Abgrund, the shortest composition that explodes without warning, and whose atmosphere is much more anguishing whatever the moment. Zurück zur roten Fluh follows with a haunting dimension tinged with bursts of raw energy led mainly by the drums, but the anguished apathy always comes back to haunt us at some point before fading away when Grausig ist der Blick becomes more brutal. The introduction is already telling enough, but the entry of the other instruments that savagely trample us is definitely incredible, and the finale will undoubtedly be a salvation before facing Alptraum, the last part of the adventure, which will once again give pride of place to violence, but also to those scathing leads that announce the end of the journey, after a final breeze.
Aara is one of those bands whose work is so intense and qualitative that it never leaves you indifferent. Like its predecessors, Eiger is a veritable Black Metal treasure, with a strong identity and a truly exotic ambience. It would be madness to refuse to give in to such a gift.
95/100
