Welterwerk

Odd technical extreme metal band Drottnar have actually been around a hell of a long time for a band with only one full-length to their name. Apparently they began as some sort of folk/melodic black metal and gradually turned into what they are now; technical blackened-death style metal. There are quite a few moments of both black metal and death metal on this CD, but the main oddity present here is the fact that black metal itself is not defined by any means by its technicality. If you go back in the history of the genre, you'll notice that, in fact, technicality (that is, complicated musicality and a penchant for going "all over the place" in terms of scales and time signatures) is completely absent from 99.9% of black metal; instead, black metal usually focuses on drawn-out, repetitive riff phrases with standard drumming (fast, slow or in between).

That having been said, this is essentially modern technical death metal; steady phrases interconnect but without easy transitions; often, jagged spikes of guitar and angular drumming will emerge and play a part in the chaos of it all. The beauty in the inherent chaos of tech. death is what draws a lot of people to the genre itself (curiously, it's really more of a modern development in the metal scene). The same draw is utilized here; harmonic and atonal riffs leap around all over the place offering very little respite to the listener. Stops and starts are frequent and demanding of the listener's attention span. The black metal ideas enter the playing field here during dissonant, typically tremolo-picked riffs interspersed throughout the album, which is really a very good idea considering this hasn't been done (well) by very many bands, if any, at all.

I also greatly appreciate this band's off-kilter image and interesting concepts; from their band picture to their logo to some of the song titles ("Niemand Geht Vorbei" which, translated from German, means "None Shall Pass", "Victor Comrade" and "Destruction's Czar"). They all point to a very secular worldview, despite the band apparently being Christian (trust me, it's not apparent here at all). I guarantee the aim is to play/mock the ideas of Nazism, Communism, etc., which I find pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself. This album is full of surprises ranging from interesting melody to throat-scraping harsh vocals and shouldn't be missed by tech-death fans who don't mind a bit of the black with their chaos.