Gehirn zwischen Wahn und Sinn

Right off the bat I feel I need to tell you all something; this is an album you have to hear for yourselves. There is absolutely no way I could possibly explain what this sounds like. It’s just so incredibly schizophrenic and unorthodox. Fäulnis refers to their music as ‘sick black art’, and the promosheet describes it as ‘BlackDoomPunkRock’. I don’t know, I don’t think it matters how you try to label it; you’re not going to be able to come even close to make the label fit. So how could I possibly describe it to you… I don’t know, but I’ll try.

The base of the music is undoubtedly modern black metal, but not in that ultra-blasting sense that seems to be the dominant style right now. This is rather slow, but with some ingenious tempos and tempo-changes. Riffing-wise it’s extremely cold and with a depressed edge, sometimes borderline on what would be considered depressive black metal; but this is nothing of the sort. And the vocals… I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard such nuance in the vocal department, if I’ve ever heard such nuance. They’re shouting and screaming in tons of different ways and they’re whispering and speaking in manners that paint a mental image of a demonic possession. It’s as if they’ve recorded a dozen mental patients in solitude, and then just adapted it to fit the music. Mixed in with this is some form of post-rock stuff that is somewhat reminiscent of Lifelover, but this sounds nothing like said band.

In fact, this sounds nothing like any other band I can come to think of. Instead of going for that nature atmosphere that most black metal bands do, trying to recapture the former glory of ancient gods and whatnot, Fäulnis does the exact opposite. The imagery and atmosphere is that of a cold, harsh, industrial modern society, where alienation is key. Everything about the album is just so incredibly unorthodox. There’s a dose of doom metal as well, most prominent in tracks like "Angstzustand" and "Weisse wände". Whereas "MorgenGrauen" is an angst-ridden piece that still manages to get the adrenaline rushing like crazy with its upbeat tempo, and "Trümmer" is a terrifyingly aggressive and schizophrenic track that contains the most pure black metal traces. But reoccurring is also that explosion-effect (I don’t know what the hell it’s called, but I’m sure it has a name) in quick breakdowns that is most commonly found in slam death metal. They use it effectively and they use it well.

It feels like I could go on and on forever, trying to recapture the essence of Fäulnis’ music into words, but I would fail terribly at it. There is no possible way to describe it, you just have to hear it for yourself. Rarely is a record so deserving of a full score. One of the most haunting and inventive albums I’ve ever heard.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net