(written by Islander)
On January 10th of the impending new year Nine to Zero Productions will release Dauþalaikaz, the third album by the German black metal entity Urfeind. It includes re-recorded versions of the four songs present on the band’s 2021 EP Wraiþaz, preceded by five other new songs.
Through previous releases Urfeind has established its thematic connections to dark Germanic heathenism, misanthropy, and Anti-Cosmic Philosophy, interests that also seem to be reflected in the band’s very name, bearing in mind that “Ur-” is a German and Nordic prefix (or combining form) that refers to a primeval and primal stage of a phenomenon, the earliest stage, and in this case it’s combined with the German word “feind” — meaning “enemy”.
Well, to be clear, those are our own speculations about the significance of the band’s name, but they’re supported by the experience of the album track we’re premiering today. “Weaving the Abyss” is indeed primeval (and deeply chilling) in its atmosphere. It may also seem primitive in its construction — but only at first, because the music subtly but ingeniously and powerfully evolves, and it seamlessly morphs the mood as it does.
“Weaving the Abyss” establishes a central melodic theme (a disturbing one) and then elaborates upon it in gripping ways that prove to be mesmerizing as well as continually unsettling. In some ways it’s brutal, in other ways poignant (and dare I say, even elegant). In some ways it’s cold and hopeless, in other ways heartbreaking and wretched, though the vocals are also vicious and vitriolic.
Mid-paced in its momentum, it’s announced by the throb of strummed riffing whose ringing, high/low harmony immediately creates a dark, dismal, and perilous mood, backed by the propulsion of rocking and snapping drums. Vocalist/guitarist Skadwaz also creates a reverberating vocal harmony — a terrorizing one consisting of fanatical screams and tyrannical roars.
A lead guitar periodically cries out, flickering and wailing, adding to the song’s morbid and unearthly atmosphere, which dramatically intensifies as the riffing feverishly rises and double-bass rumbles arrive.
The lead guitar also vibrantly trills and slowly swirls in an extended solo, soulful but also almost desperate in the anguish it channels through the high-flying cycles of riffing, but still connected to the song’s evolving theme.
The intensity builds and builds, driven even further by a throbbing and thrumming bass and a percussive gallop, and never collapses but only fades away. And by then you may realize that the song’s central theme has buried itself in your head so deeply that it keeps going even when there’s nothing more to hear.
For CD and digital pre-orders of Dauþalaikaz, check the links below. Also lend your ears to a previously released song from the album, “Thorns of Madness.” Compared to “Weaving the Abyss,” it’s immediately assaulting, driven by blasting drums and rising and falling waves of scarring riffage, pierced by frantic, flickering leads and unhinged screams.
This song also fluidly evolves, both in its rhythmic patterns and in the resonance of the riffing. It becomes sweeping and splendorous, though melancholy, and the extended soloing here is again transfixing, and heart-aching. It confirms the impression of the song we’ve premiered that Urfeind‘s songwriting has become very impressive indeed.
(Despite Skadwaz‘s appearance in the photo above, he doesn’t beat the listener over the head with this music; it’s more like the weaving of dark spells, albeit spells backed by viscerally compelling rhythms and fronted by the madness of demons.)
PRE-ORDER:
https://ninetozero.de/
https://urfeind.bandcamp.com/album/dau-alaikaz
URFEIND:
https://www.facebook.com/urfeind
No Responses to “AN NCS PREMIERE: URFEIND — “WEAVING THE ABYSS””