Grauen

There is so many stuff put out by one man/woman bands these days that it is not easy to dig out the quality stuff. One act that has impressed me not only with the music but the overall presentation is the Thuringia based outfit “Unheil”. This area is widely known for producing great black metal and Unheil is another prime example of this. The project started a few years ago and after two EPs we have now got the first full length effort titled “Grauen”. While labelled as DSBM Unheil offers some really well thought out black metal tunes with a ton of atmosphere and some fascinating details.

Like mentioned this album is mainly about building up a dense atmosphere, hypnotizing the listener and pulling him into foggy realms of despair and mourning. Much of these empty feelings are portrayed by the astonishing guitar work. The employing of tremolo pickings among other simple but effective techniques has been toned down, and Chris (the mastermind behind Unheil) really set the tone of the music with his impeccable songwriting and masterful balance of melody and subtle aggression. The guitar riffs found here aren't overly innovative or catchy as such, but they still manage to keep a fascinating and immersive tone and add to the captivating melodies running through the whole album like a red thread, accompanied by the steady percussions and the desperate vocals.

The music provided by Unheil is full of doom and gloom, and always touching the darkest parts of our minds. Ear-piercing and rough cries can be found among the vocals, together with raw, looped and droning guitar riffs that create an absolutely miserable and depressive mood, that on the other hand also comes with a certain feeling of melancholic beauty. This album takes you on a trip to the dark corners of our being and while I personally do not get so much of a destructive or life-hating feeling out of the music listening to this stuff really makes your thoughts wander dark alleys.

Bleak, dark melodies are everywhere you look, slicing through the airwaves like knives. Malignant groove appears here and there, swamping the listener in blackness. While each of the five songs (plus one intro) has interesting details to offer the album peaks within the final track “Zeit”, clocking in at over eight minutes. This song showcases everything what Unheil is about. Starting off with a warm and relaxed instrumental piece it turns into a whirlwind of sinister and captivating harmonies and groovy rhythms. There are various tempo changes, with all the single parts merged together into one glorious whole. On top of that you got the snarling vocals, perfectly suited to spit out the German lyrics.

The production is impressive for a self-done piece of music. The guitars are clear and dynamic and the drums got a nice punch, no matter if programmed or not. The mix is well-balanced an nothing got buried. “Grauen” is a really great album, not only for fans of DSBM, but melodic and atmospheric black metal in general. The cover artwork also reflects the music in a fitting way, so try to get hold of a physical copy if you can.