Quintessenz

„Quintessenz“ is the name of a split release, delivered by four of the strongest bands the German black metal scene has to offer right now. There are two ways to approach this kind of releases: Either to view it as a bit of a waste of time, as you do not get a full length’s worth of tracks from one of your favorite acts. Or you can take it as a change to dive into more than one band’s stuff and get a taste of their style. Based on the quality available here I can only urge any fan of traditional and well-crafted black metal to check this split out, as you might end up with some new favorites. So let’s jump straight into what is on offer here and go quickly through the four songs.

First we got Dauþuz from NRW, consisting of two guys who gathered quite a bit of attention the past few years. What sets them apart from other similar acts are their lyrics, covering themes like mining and historical events. That leads to the effect that you always get the feeling of listening to a fascinating story while their music is spinning, and the song here is no different. The music is pretty much what you come to expect from modern German black metal bands, offering a nice mixture of glimmering lead harmonies and straight forward tremolo runs. Clocking in at nearly nine minutes Dauþuz take their time to build up tension and implement some nicely fitting atmospheric moments.

Next we got one of my personal favorites when it comes to German black metal these days. Rimruna consist of Wintergrimm and Hiverfroid, who both are also behind the act Drengskapur. And what can I say? Everything these two produce is gold standard. Their song “Winterreigen” is 14 minutes of highly atmospheric and captivating black metal, walking the fine line between honoring the roots of the genre and delivering a fresh take on the classic sounds. There are a lot of wailing and mournful melodies, perfectly strung together to keep the listener thrilled until the song has ended. If you are not familiar with these fellas’ work you owe it to yourself to check them out, so this split might be a great starting point. The sound is on point once again, that is the way black metal should sound nowadays.

Schattenvald are a pretty long running combo as they have been formed in 1998. The main man behind this project is Nachtsturm, and while I am not familiar with everything he has done the things I have checked out from the discography have all been good to great. Their contribution here is very epic, with some soundscapes and effects like choirs etc. woven into the mix to add another layer to the music. The lead guitars are more subtle and kept in the background, although there are some soloing break-outs. Where the first two acts have gone for a more direct approach this offering is surely a bit different and unique in some ways, but in the context of the split this surely is a positive thing.

Nemesis Sopor is a name I have seen before, but I have never listened to anything by them so I was curious how they fare among their colleagues. And what can I say, their track “Demiurg” is a fitting conclusion to this split. Starting off as kind of a mid-tempo song it turns into another classic piece of melodic black metal. Of course stuff like this has been done a lot of times before, but bands like Nemesis Sopor are mainly interested in delivering great music for fans of the genre and in my opinion they absolutely managed to do that. Some lofty guitar lines in the middle of the song make up for some nice variation, perfectly rounding off a great split. The production is also flawless, making this a band whose next steps I need to follow closely.

So in the end “Quintessenz” is surely one of the finest splits I have come across the past few years. All bands delivered their take on black metal in convincing manner, and while I am generally speaking more a fan of listening to a full album by one band this compilation is just great entertainment. I am not going to rank the entries here as this is always down to personal taste. All I can say is you need to check out all four songs and decide for yourself. Great stuff!