The plague year 2020 was the year that gave birth to the Swiss black metal band Ernte, but the pair who gave it life were not newcomers. V. Noir, who became the main songwriter and guitar player (and was also responsible for recording and programming), had spent almost 20 years creating dark ambient music, photography, painting, and graphic art. The other member, Witch N. (vocals, bass, violin), had played bass and violin in the doom band shEver (2003 – 2012, Svart Records / TotalRust Music) before she started as front-woman in the Swiss black/doom band Ashtar (since 2013, Eisenwald, Throne Records).
Through Ernte they set about to invade the darker side of their listeners’ souls, drawing inspiration from the contemplation of ancient spirits as well as cold and barren landscapes, and the results have been captured in a debut album named Geist und Hexerei, which will be released by Vendetta Records on December 3rd.
What we have for you today is a video for an album track named “the ending void” that’s equal parts enthralling and intensely unsettling. As the band themselves tell us, “‘The ending void’ is maybe the darkest song on this album – it finally leads to the absolute nothingness, narrated by the last human being on earth”.
The video melds together dark and dramatic landscape vistas and dimly-lit nighttime walks with a shadowed and hooded corpse-painted figure shrieking the lyrics with spine-tingling intensity. Steady but bone-shaking rhythms prime the pulse and move the neck, while the abrading whine and ring of the guitar translates moods of abandonment and despair, joined by a feverish instrumental companion to more deeply pierce the mind with its dark, forsaken tones.
More than halfway through, a seething bridge announces a change, and when it comes it’s like the strike of a typhoon — drums blasting, the bass thundering, the guitar and violin boiling deliriously and deleteriously, the vocals becoming even more shattering in their screaming intensity. These scarring gales of sound create a dire and dread-filled immersion that’s electrifying, but powerfully disturbing.
Geist und Hexerei was recorded and mixed by V. Noir between October 2020 and February 2021 and was mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios in the UK. The album will coming out on LP, CD and tape (check the links below).
We also have for you the previously released video for the album track “Killing Phantasmagoria“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://ernteblackmetal.bandcamp.com/
https://vendettarecords.bigcartel.com/