During my wanderings, I discovered Wehmut.
A solo project by musician Johannes Riess (Boötes Void, Psychic Torture) created in 2021, the band releases one album per year, and their latest is called III: Frühling, their fourth studio album, released via Naturmacht Productions.
We begin with the ethereal sound of the long Geburt, a first composition that allows us to slowly progress into its dreamy atmosphere before introducing drums to offer a more energetic touch, and finally the very essence of this tortured Atmospheric Black Metal made of scratchy riffs and screams. Although I am convinced there are lyrics, I cannot make out any words, just these striking cries that are almost animal-like, bringing to life the hazy rhythm that struggles to calm down but allows us a moment of respite before resuming its painful lament. The screams are almost unbearable, but they eventually come to an end and give way to Der erste Sturm, where we are first greeted by a gentle phase, which is then marred by the return of the screaming ghost in the background, while the music effortlessly carries us along in its tumultuous flow until a pause with soothing folk roots. The project draws on its Blackgaze influences to link the two extremes with haunting effects until the water welcomes us to Strahlenbüschel, the album’s saving instrumental break, offering gentle melodies that combine melancholy and female choirs for a moment of tranquility. As you might expect, this moment doesn’t last, and the sound darkens as soon as Kurz gesagt, mir geht’s nicht gut follows suit, offering a very different approach reminiscent of those walks in the forest where nothing makes sense anymore and we let ourselves be amazed by nature while our gloomiest thoughts parade before us. Not speaking German, I nevertheless looked up the meaning of the title (“In short, I don’t feel well”), and I understood what the musician manages to convey so perfectly in his deep, tenacious, and above all heart-wrenching sounds: his distress is real, and expressing it is as cathartic as it is natural. Despite a few brief bright spots, darkness haunts the project, and it returns tirelessly to haunt him, as on Ohnmacht-Angst-Wut, where we note a much more aggressive approach from the outset, but also roars that no longer hesitate to appear almost on their own, showing themselves to be even more vulnerable, interspersed with waves of light that join Alles wird enden, auch der Schmerz. The first moments seemed more optimistic, but the saturation confirms that no, darkness is still very much present in the band’s universe, and that it rules us with an iron fist, whipping our minds at will under tortured screams until the very last moment.
Although I am very fond of the German Atmospheric Black Metal scene, I did not expect to discover a project as intense as Wehmut! More than just an album (the penultimate in a quadrilogy?), III: Frühling is a manifesto of pain that is as true and striking as it is raw and intoxicating.
95/100