Fifteen years ago the German black metal band Nebelkrähe self-released their debut album entfremdet. Regarding the production of that album, the band have told us, “we were motivated as hell – but we were also completely inexperienced in almost every aspect of producing an album.” And so, although that album definitely found its fans, it left regrets among the band and a yearning to make it better, feelings that persisted even after Nebelkrähe went on to release two more albums in 2013 (Lebensweisen) and 2023 (ephemer).
And so, in a process that lasted 15 months, Nebelkrähe re-worked and professionally re-recorded entfremdet, making the songs true to what the band imagined they should have been. As they explain:
It may seem backward-looking and not very pragmatic to re-record the same old songs instead of new music after a decade and a half – because this much is clear: nobody was waiting for this new recording. But it was a project close to the hearts of the band members involved at the time, and when it comes to music, you should always follow your heart.
We have more info to share about this new version of entfremdet, which will be released on November 29th by the Crawling Chaos label, but our primary mission today is to share with you a video (made by Kevin Opitz) for the re-imagined and re-worked version of the second single from the new album, “Als meine Augen ich aufschlug…“
photos by Afra Gethoffer Grutz
Nebelkrähe guitarist/lyricist Morg has given us these thoughts about the song we’re presenting today, and the two other versions of it that will be digitally released as a single:
“Als meine Augen ich aufschlug…” (“When I opened my eyes …”) is the most musically versatile on the album, so it was an obvious choice for the second single – not least because it was super appealing to hear different versions of it. In addition to the album version, the digital single therefore contains two additional non-album-versions of the song – a piano edit created by our singer umbrA and a famously wicked remix by ARL3CC1NO.
In the context of the album, “Als meine Augen ich aufschlug…” is the first song in our “Arcadia” trilogy. Here, the protagonist searches for his place of longing in nature, full of hope for fulfillment – but ends up bitterly disappointed. Musically, the euphoria of departure is reflected in an almost sweet song beginning, which soon gives way to confusing riffing and a dark crescendo towards the end. This is where part 2 of the trilogy, “Gewissheit:” (“Certainty:”) ties in… before the grand finale in part three. By the way, the three song titles form a sentence: “When I opened my eyes … Certainty: Et in Arcadia ego.”
As Morg‘s preview describes, the track’s folk-song opening, an amalgam of picked and strummed notes and a male-and-female vocal harmony, is bright and hopeful in its mood, but with a crackling snarl the music begins to take a darker turn. Heavy tones throb, and the guitars (presenting their own harmony) begin to menacingly slither and swirl, and to become more demented in their idiosyncratic maneuvers.
Savage snarls and crazed screams enter the fray as the drums vividly rumble and tumble and the riffing swarms and then dismally wails. But the nimbly picked bass and the strange exuberance of the guitars re-emerge, as do the clean vocal harmonies and the sprightly and seductive guitar tones from the song’s opening — an interlude before a final expression of wrenching vocal torment, feverishly scything and swirling fretwork, and manic percussion.
And so the song is an unconventional expression of black metal. It has its fair share of hostile and harrowing vocals, cutting guitars, and skull-rattling drumwork, but it’s also multi-faceted in both sound and mood, often clear in its tones and exotic in its heady permutations.
And now we want to share with you the complete thoughts of Nebelkrähe about the new version of entfremdet:
When we started recording entfremdet in 2008, a good year after the band was founded, we were motivated as hell – but we were also completely inexperienced in almost every aspect of producing an album: Recording all the stringed instruments in a country house on a September weekend, for example, turned out to be far less romantic than it sounds. The sound quality of the drum tracks (subsequently!) recorded in the rehearsal room was also not exactly ideal, as would later become apparent. So while the creative phase produced eight songs that have stayed with us to this day, the result of our efforts to capture them for eternity was unfortunately far removed from what we had in our “inner ear”.
15 years have passed since then, during which we have written, recorded and released two more albums, Lebensweisen and ephemer. In retrospect, the fact that these productions also went anything but smoothly also has its good side: with the experience we (inevitably) gained in the process, but also in the knowledge of the skills of the people who helped us with these productions, we were sure that we could finally do justice to the songs.
It may seem backward-looking and not very pragmatic to re-record the same old songs instead of new music after a decade and a half – because this much is clear: nobody was waiting for this new recording. But it was a project close to the hearts of the band members involved at the time, and when it comes to music, you should always follow your heart.
So we worked on the album from scratch – as a trio for once, consisting of the remaining members of the current line-up: All eight songs were first carefully reworked compositionally and then professionally re-recorded and produced. Together with Christoph Brandes (drums recording) and Victor Bullok (mix/master), the present anniversary version was created in around 15 months, on which the songs finally sound to our ears 15 years after their first release as they were originally intended.
— Morg, umbrA, Latrodectus
The re-make is rounded off by a new version of the cover artwork (above), which is closer to the original painting than the original version and, as the band say, “expresses the emotions in the image and music even more strongly”.
NEBELKRÄHE are and were:
umbrA – vocals
Morg – guitar, lyrics
Nys (since 2022) – bass
Latrodectus – drums
RECORDING LINEUP ON THIS RECORD:
umbrA – vocals
Morg – guitar, bass
Latrodectus – drumming
Guest vocals: Isi Retzow
We’re also including, below the links, the band’s lyric video for the first single from the new album, “Über den Fluss hinweg“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://nebelkraehe.bandcamp.com/album/entfremdet-2024
https://thecrawlingchaos-records.de/NEBELKRAeHE-entfremdet-2024-Digi-CD
NEBELKRÄHE:
https://nebelkraehe.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nebelkraehe_official
https://www.facebook.com/nebelkraeheofficial