Lipsia

Even though the ideas displayed here aren’t bad at all, the lack of orchestration hurts the album terribly. Faustus consists on a drummer and a vocalist/guitarist but they didn’t record a bass track for studio purposes either. Forget about leads or second guitar arrangements too: the guitar track was probably recorded in several layers to get a thicker tone but in terms of composition it’s completely unidimensional and plain, just one voice. The simplicity of the riffs would have served as a mattress for the rest of layers to harmonize but none of that happens in this record, sadly. The riffs themselves are cold and dismal, you can recognize the permafrost black metal sway but also it sounds weak and hollow.

Inquisition nailed that band configuration but just take a look at Dagon’s riffing, man. Complex in rhythmic figures, combining arpeggios (harmonization) with strong melodic themes, speed and precision. Here we have nothing like that, the riffing is very norwegian style, just strumming through the chord progression. 0 tempo changes, no rhythmic textures, every coming bar is so predictable… and still the heavy hearted atmosphere is there because the intervals between the chords are indeed tense and saddening but that’s the only valuable thing this proposal has as a black metal act.

The production is raw, just as a the band’s sound. The drumming was properly recorded, the double bass sounds solid and they included some interesting cymbal fills that are probably the only variations that make this sound not programmed. There are no blast beats, the faster parts are decorated with accelerated tupa tupa thrash beats and the rest of the time they just keep the melancholic and nostalgic mid tempo beat. The guitar tone is so overly distorted that barely represents the note changes but you can get the idea cleary because there aren't any other sounds that can take your attention away from it. The vocals are awesome: a deep shriek, high pitched but potent, not guttural but with a fair share of low end. It's a shame half the album is instrumental.

Faustus is a jewel of the underground, I must say. It represents almost an optimal state of raw black metal, a genre with a strong focus on the atmosphere and the melodies instead of a high level of technical performance.

The intro contains several archived wind sounds, which are covered by noise as it approaches its end. Admittedly, intros are not necessarily a good addition to most albums, but the sheer cold atmosphere immediately threw me into the scene, and I just can't listen to this EP again without hearing it. The first real track on the album is "Die Natur ist Sünde, Geist ist Teufel", German for "Die Natur ist Sünde, der Geist ist der Teufel" and a quotation from Goethe, which matches the Faust reference on the artwork and the band name. It's very exciting to watch how the atmosphere slowly builds up and develops in a sad and very cold direction, which is simply the main feature of this EP. The harsh vocals of Resurgemus simply cut through the sound of the guitars and despite its incomprehensibility, it is very pleasant as it melts with the music.

Resurgemus, the vocalist and guitarist on this album, has done an incredible job. The sound of his riffs is typical for the raw and atmospheric nature of early German black metal and can be compared to many bands from the transition of millennia. The riffs are technically not too complex, but more than justify themselves by the skillful use of the fuzzy sound. The production quality is comparable to a recording made with a Nokia 3310 in a basement, but that's where part of the charm lies. Good production quality is not necessary with metal as long as the available resources are used intelligently, which is the case here.

Asbath was responsible for the drums and did a pretty decent job. His style is not too much based on blasting parts, which are quite pleasant and can be found on this album at certain times. The overall sound was not too loud, which is a very wise decision for this kind of music, as the focus should remain on the melodic and dark tones of the guitars. I was not openly impressed, but I am certainly far from being disappointed by the drums.

The general concept behind the album is not too original, the usual anti-Christian and occult themes dominate the visual language of the band. However, there is one aspect that surprised me a little bit; the whole concept around Faust, Goethe's most prominent figure, fits too well with the idea of black metal. I really enjoyed the music with its hypnotic and cold riffs, which put me into a little trance for a few moments.

I hope that this EP marks the revival of Faustus and that there will be more releases of this kind in the future, and until then, listen to this track, you won't be disappointed.

To me, raw black metal seems like the real deal. Raw sound, raw emotion, raw… rawness. Of course, there are bands that laze around all day just screeching over fuzz, but for every two-bit raw metal outfit, I’d wager there’s a genuinely interesting band like Faustus. A duo from the black pit of Leipzig, Germany, they bring us their EP entitled Lipsia via Careless Records. Not a game changer by any means, but at a sizable 29 minutes (technically 37), it’s certainly a bite size bit of black metal brooding.

What this album gets right is what I think most black metal lacks in general: good songwriting. I’d say half of the songs on this EP have at least one memorable riff, which are laced deliciously with a subtle hint of melody. They feel and sound almost epic in a way, contrasting with the melancholic and almost depressive style of music. The best example is a riff that’s in the untitled 6th track, which appears in the middle of the rack, then reappears at the end to close the EP out. It swells and dips beautifully between notes, making it the perfect one to end on. This kind of songwriting goes a long way, as it’s the most memorable and enjoyable aspect of the EP, one that has me coming back to the songs over and over. The only downside to these riffs is that there aren’t enough of them. Each of the songs really like coming back to the same riffs over, and over again, which they aren’t afraid to hide. Each song, barring the first one, is four to seven minutes long, so it’s a lifesaver that each riff ranges from good to amazing. The EP might get repetitive at times, but in this flurry of darkness, it’s a warm and welcome repetition.

Another aspect nailed on this EP is the atmosphere. The fuzzy storm of the guitars, ceaseless drums, shrill screams, occasional keyboard swells and the all-around rough mix scream freezing cold and restless winter. This EP sounds like it was recorded in the middle of the nastiest blizzard in the deep reaches of the unforgiving north. Funnily enough, though this can be considered “raw black metal”, it honestly sounds pretty “decent” by regular black metal standards. Remarkable, considering this was recorded in 2004, where just by the virtue of inferior technology, it was likely to sound worse. Also, in keep with this cold atmosphere, there’s an added level of creepiness thanks to the use of samples. Think like negative-ASMR, that makes you feel uncomfortable, like on the third track El Satan conduit le bal. I would say most of the samples aren’t too overbearing, but then there’s the 12 minute beast of a track Leipzige Mitternacht, which is a normal track for the first four minutes, but then devolves into a minimalist repetition of what sounds like a newton’s cradle for 8 minutes. You can easily skip it, but it’s still annoying regardless.

As for the instrumentation there are elements I enjoy and elements that are just ok. I’ve already sung the praise of the riffs, so I won’t say much for the guitars other than that they nailed their respective parts. The bass is par for the course when it comes to black metal, and much like a person in a blizzard, are buried under the flurry of the guitars, occasionally peaking its head out to make an appearance. The keyboards are solely for enhancing the chilling mood, never rise above the guitars, and are scarce throughout the whole EP. Moving on to drums, they have their fair share of typical blast beats but offer some variation to break up the monotony. As for the vocals, they get the job done in keep with the atmosphere and style of the EP. The shrieks, growls and howls of Resurgemus are cold, frigid and fuzzy. They aren’t too special or unique compared to other vocalists out there but for the EP, they absolutely get the job done, and do a good job enhancing the bleak emotion of the EP.

All in all, Lipsia is black metal done right in my books. While not all the tracks bring a tremendous impact, the ones that do are as memorable as they are petrifying, with flexes of melody as well as epic elements. Faustus wrote back in 2004 what a lot of bands can’t write right now: memorable riffs. So much black metal is just uninspired and tedious tremolo riffing, and while Lipsia is guilty of having repetition as well, at least it’s repetition worth listening to. All I can wish for now is that it doesn’t take another 15 years for Faustus to make a full-length.

Originally written for Antichrist Magazine

Classic black metal, right, but I would not call it "raw". Rather, "pure" or even "true". The "raw" characteristic, in my opinion, should be related more to the quality of the recording, but it is not so bad here. Aggressive riffs, with a hint of melody are quite original, although, of course, the influence of the Norwegian scene cannot be overlooked: together with the vocals music is like "Under a Funeral Moon" sometimes, many high-speed riffs bear the impress of the"Panzerfaust" album, while melodic atmospheric riffs make me remember "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism". But the sound on this release is more likely inspired by "Panzerfaust".

High-speed fragments alternate with middle tempo fragments constantly, but of course there is no talk about some complex structure of the compositions, in far as is concerned true black metal. The riffs in their pattern and magic are such that they can be lengthened tremendously – without detriment to compositions. Oh, in this way, this work could reach the duration of a full length album... But Faustus don't abuse it, they know what to do. The keyboards arise from time to time, they unobtrusively emphasize the magical atmosphere of songs, well, as if there was no "Symphonic" component on "In the Nightside Eclipse". This is most in evidence in the third song "Et Satan counduit le bal". The drums part is also not so stupendous, although breaks are successful sometimes, I'll note, for example, combat breaks in the slow opening part of the fourth song "Der Drudenfuß auf eurer Schwelle".

This mini-album is inspired by Goethe's tragedy "Faust", more precisely, by its "Part One", the setting of which is medieval Leipzig ("Lipsia" is the Latin name for Leipzig). Due to the lack of lyrics, it is unclear whether the lyrics are connected by a plot thread, but the gradual disclosure of narration is noticeable in the music – a cloud of some unshunnable doom hangs over the whole story (i. e. album). In the finale beyond all doubt: there are no vocals here, so all the listener's attention goes to the emotional perception of music. The fifth track "Leipzige Mitternacht" is dominated by the riff, filled with an intense despair – as if it brings us closer to the tragic end. This slow instrumental I liked the most on release. After a long and tedious ticking of the clock, the sixth unlisted song begins. This is also an instrumental with the penetrant riffs that mark a certain tragedy – some hopelessness and at the same time stubborn determination are heard in them.

So the result is a plausible psychological portrait of Faust. I believe that the inspiration by Goethe's work and the spirit of Leipzig (the material was recorded in that city) are exactly what allowed Faustus to create a completely original work, taking on board just typical black metal practice.

Faustus appears to be a Darkestrah side-project of sorts, as the only two members in the band play there. Asbath has proved himself a pretty capable drummer in his main band multiple times over, his blastbeat steadiness in particular is extremely impressive. Knowing that he plays on this, you know there’s a good baseline for quality, which immediately makes it more professional than a good chunk of raw black metal you’ll stumble across. The timeline for this is also fairly interesting. The project has apparently been around since 2000, but aside from a 2004 demo that I can’t find much info on anywhere online, Faustus hasn’t put anything else out, so we’re looking at a 15-year gap between releases here. Perhaps this is just some cutting room floor stuff from back then that didn’t really fit in the main band? If this was written in the early 2000s, that'd be especially dope, because early Darkestrah albums are hidden gems in 21st-century black metal (also you can say you listen to a band from Kyrgyzstan!).

Faustus seems a lot less melodic and a lot more...iunno, dark? Occult? Darkestrah’s a bit more subtle with their use of melody for a band with the “pagan folk/black” tag to begin with, but where you could also sometimes give them an “epic” tag, you can’t give that to Faustus. Lipsia is a very stark, singular release, hearkening back to the days where black metal albums were torrential blizzards of cold, tough tremolo riffs. Ideas are few among the songs - the shorter ones especially tend to repeat one main riff, and the drums just provide different rhythmic variations to give the song a bit of a rise and fall. Even the final track, which seems like it’s gonna be a longer journey, is actually just another 5-6 minute number with an additional 6 minutes of ticking over complete silence, like they all left the studio and kept the metronome running or something. The riffs are catchy in a really subtle way, not so much because they get stuck in your head but because they get repeated so much and the drums make different parts of the riff stand out with each new beat. It’s a good thing that there’s no terrible ideas on Lipsia, because there’s so few. Paysage d’Hiver is a good comparison to make with the minimalism, cold atmosphere, and steady, driving blasts, although Faustus has much clearer production and this is a bit further above demo-level in terms of overall presentation. (Paysage intentionally makes their stuff seems like raw demos, but still).

You can definitely hear the nods to Embrace of Memory on some of these songs (“Der Drudenfuß Auf Eurer Schwelle”) in particular, which makes sense if this was actually recorded in 2004 (as the notes on this website say). By the mid 2010s, Darkestrah veered off into more of a folk direction, so perhaps the other members weren’t vibing with a harsh, tragic black metal aesthetic at this point in their lives and Asbath and Resurgemus still wanted the songs to get out there to the public. This won’t captivate anyone who isn’t a black metal fan already, but it’s got some above-average drumming and offers a bit of an darker theme on the epic folk vibe of Darkestrah, in case you were looking for that sort of thing. Darkestrah’s early stuff has a fantastically unique sense of melody and some incredible, longwinded pacing that never gets boring, and the cello and other folk elements they add are always tastefully done, adding something substantial without succumbing to gimmicks. (In case it wasn’t apparent, you should probably check out Embrace of Memory alongside this if you’re not familiar.) Lipsia doesn't quite reach the emotional heights of pre-2005 Darkestrah (perhaps that's why it was left off the full-lengths in the first place) and doesn't offer a whole lot that you wouldn't be able to find elsewhere, but it's quality stuff nonetheless. If they expand on some of the ideas in a full-length followup, they could be on to something really cool here.

I’ll always take more music from artists that can make stuff that’s simple, fresh and engaging, even if it’s a moderately one-dimensional EP like Lipsia. At least that one dimension is pleasant enough to listen to for the 20 or so minutes that this is on.