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Rating:
9.1 |
Schattenbrandung - I - Apophänie
21 October 2012
01. II - Reich der Wächter
02. III - Eine neue Ordnung
03. IV - Die Sonne auf Erden
04. V - Steppen des Geistes
05. I - Flammen der Reinigung
06. VII - Das Ende aller Träume
The official song titles are just roman numbers - while the rest reflect the working title of the songs!
Logo by C. Szpajdel, Artworks by T. Kvetnaya (tk-artwork.com), Photos by T. Gottuck (thomasgottuck.de). If not stated otherwise, everything else is done by the band members.
The album is a digipac, limited to 444 handnumbered copies and can be ordered via sales@schattenbrandung.org.
This is it.
This is what it's about. All the time searching, looking and digging for those albums, all the time wasted listening to heaping piles some people call music; all that effort pays off now.
Schattenbrandung hail from the cold and isolated village of Stuttgart, Germany; they play black metal, the way black metal is supposed to be played. Intense, visceral riffs plunge deep into the darkness which has already been occupied by the dark and vicious vocals. The hateful drums come in to sink you deeper in the dark hole that is I - Apophänie.
The depressing musical approach has a tendency to lift you up with haunting melodies, only to have your spirit slammed back into the earth with an explosion of sound. The black metal played is definitely not that of its Norwegian forefathers, but a mix of doom and atmospheric black, and even occasionally some gothic clean vocals and guitar melodies. The thing that caught my ears the most with this release, however, is the fact that this is not a single play album. The creative song-structure and altogether oddness of this album compels the listener to stop and fully take in the music; once you focus completely on the music, strange and amusing things will start to appear.
The vocals are extraordinarily versatile on this record. They range from gothic and downright sad clean singing, to depressing, black metal wails and even the odd funeral moan in the vein of Ahab. I then noticed the incredibly strong guitar work displayed here. Another mix up of styles, from acoustic ballads and jazz pieces, to relentless black metal tremolo, and even soaring heavy metal solos. The mix up of styles would usually indicate a very inconsistent album, however, that is not the case. Every song here seems to flow and mingle together like a perfectly choreographed figure skating routine.
This, folks, is my choice for black metal album of the year. Listen now at their Bandcamp page. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
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Performance:
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9 |
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Songwriting:
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9 |
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Originality:
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8 |
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Production:
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9 |
written by BoxCar Willy | 21.11.2012 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments
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16
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Users visited:
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367 |
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Seems to be right up my alley! Thanks for the heads up Box. How would you say this compares with their fellow Germans, Negator? (If you haven't heard them, check out the song "Old Stigma".)
I must say that your reviews are getting better and better; really creative writing. Top-notch review! |
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Decent interludes and acoustic passages, however only in context. In any other genre barring than doom they would be deemed unsatisfactory. Also, the production with respect to the vocals is terrible; the screeching pitch almost painful....
You sure you know what visceral means?  |
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| Hmm, you got me interested. |
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| It's good, but definitely not BM album of the year from me. Probably somewhere around a high 7 to a low 8 |
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 Fredd - 21.11.2012 at 17:26
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Quote:
the cold and isolated village of Stuttgart, Germany
Good one, this  |
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| What the fuck is "hateful drums" supposed to mean? |
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Tox - 21.11.2012 at 22:59
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| Sounds more like a 7 7 7 7 than a 9 9 8 9... |
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Written by Fredd on 21.11.2012 at 17:26
Quote:
the cold and isolated village of Stuttgart, Germany
Good one, this
pfft. village and city are interchangeable |
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Aw, Jeez guys! lol. Why's everybody picking on Boxcar? This is a good review. Certainly got me interested...
Post-edit: I checked this out. Very worth the time. Thanks Willy! |
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| Interested (which is the point of the review, get one to actually listen to the music), shall listen later |
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| I rarely read reviews, don't know why I did it now, but I certainly don't regret it! man, this is some really nice piece of music! especially track IV, that 13+ min thing full of Anathema's The Silent Enigma atmosphere...thanx Willy for the heads up! |
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Written by Ag Fox on 22.11.2012 at 04:49
Interested (which is the point of the review, get one to actually listen to the music), shall listen later
and ^^^ exactly THIS is the point! Well said, Sir  |
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Lit. - 23.11.2012 at 02:57
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444 copies. 
...wait, that is original! |
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It was a good review and I checked it out, but it was pretty much what I'd expect from a modern day doom band.
But, on MS, reviews > music. So, Boxcar wins. |
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