Her von welken Nächten

I stumbled upon Dornenreich a few years ago, after I saw an advertisement regarding their acoustic show at a Romanian metal festival, which turned out to be very successful; after listening to their 1999 release "Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen", I began to grow quite a strong affinity for their style: experimental, indeed, black metal and melodic & symphonic at the same time, believe me or not. Their vocalist, lyricist and guitarist, Eviga, must be a musical genius; his high-pitched screams, his lower-diving growls and desperate mid-screams are one of the band's greatest advantages; yes, he will seem to you a little rabid at first, but you'll get used to his paranoid voice in no time. Been there, done that.

"Her von welken Nächten", in German, something like "Her Withering Nights" as this damned Google translate says, can be considered a continuation of "Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen", as it has the same songwriting technique and lyrical (maybe overall) theme. The album is basically, at foundation, an album about ghosts, or just a certain ghost as the title contains the word "her".

The album opens up with "Eigenwach", German for "My own wax" or simply "Own Wax" (I suppose I shall be corrected and ammended for my translation mistakes by the Germans). The pounding riffs begin, and the crushing, tormented vocals shatter the listener's years; with "Eigenwach" you are going to be accustomed to the whole album, because it is like a herald of what the band sounds like; Undoubtedly, you will observe that Dornenreich have a very powerful theatricality, which streams from the way in which the songs are written, namely: the lyrics are written, most likely, before the music is created, thus the music is created to fit the theme of the lyrics precisely; this songwriting process has been employed also on "Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen".

The lyrics of the album can be seen as theatrical plays, as Eviga sings on different voices and there are brackets in the lyrics that specify this multi-ego environment. This fact can be easily and especially be seen in "Wer hat Angst vor Einsamkeit? " (Eng.: "Who's afraid of Loneliness?");

From a strictly musical point of view, "Her von welken Nächten" is just monumental: there are some magnificent keyboard passages, a very distinct and original voice, drums that stand out through their complexity, as the guitars do, too. The experimental nature of their music is unquestionably there, and it is there for all to see; their symphonic black metal approach is there too, reminding at moments of the ol' good (now decrepit and dismal) Cradle of Filth mojo, but more of the symphonies of the Italian symphonic/ gothic black metal band Graveworm (even more decrepit and dismal than Cradle of Filth now); the keys are not complex at all, being just chords sometimes, but they do perfectly their job, without interfering with the other instruments: they are used often when Eviga recites or whispers something, to maintain the atmosphere which he needs to be heard or understood.

The drums are quite complex for a symphonic black metal band, and thank God, they do not use that double-bass pedal and blast-beats all the time; They are made to fit perfectly the other instruments: where needed, there are scorching double-bass gallops and blast-beats; again: when the song begins to have a certain moody, gloomy atmosphere they take the road of less furious beats, less furious but not simple or pathetic.

"Trauerbrandung", ("Incendiary mourning clothes" ?!), is the winner of "The best song ever written in the history of symphonic black metal"; it is the most chaotic and fierce song of the whole album. From the start to the end, the song basically ripps everything in its path: the double-bass pedal thunders, the guitars cry, but they do not cry as beautiful as Eviga does. This man should work full-time at a theatre, as he can sound however the fuck he likes and wants to sound; it seems to me than his screaming of "Traueeerbranduung!" is just the most fucking metal thing I have ever heard in my metalhead carreer. He delivers an incredibly good performance in the song "Wer hat Angst vor Eisamkeit?", and especially at the end of the song where his pitch almost reaches the infamous banshee-scream, used by Dani in his golden times, and he sounds like the very first screams of a child. In flames.

From "Eigenwach" to "Mein Publikum - Der Augenblick", the album is just brilliant, and a headstone in the history of symphonic/melodic/experimental (call it as you want as long as you do not cut off the symphonic and melodic parts). If theatre, metal music, ghost stories and symphonic music are in the list of the things you like, then this album will quench your thirst for every and each of them, without a doubt. Highlights of the album: every song off the album is a masterpiece in its way, but those who really stand out from the chaos are "Trauerbrandung", "Wer hat Angst vor Eisamkeit?", "Grell und dunkel strömt das Leben " and "Ich bin aus mir".