Band:	Imperium Dekadenz
Album:	...Und Die Welt Ward Kalt Und Leer
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	2006

01. Einklang
02. Glanz Der Klinge
03. Halls Of Lust
04. Of All Ends
05. For Those Who Sleep Eternally
06. Fields Of Silence
07. Meine Reise Durch Die Zeit
08. Schwarze Wälder
09. Gefrorene Wunden
10. ...Und Die Welt Ward Kalt Und Leer

How can an album be both the beginning and the end?

Back in 2006, this German two-piece black metal band dropped their debut album without much fan fair, though it did generate enough hype for a follow-up release, eventually leading to their major signing with Season of Mist. There's quite a bit to explore here despite its straightforward, derivative style, if only for its uniqueness in a discography of formulaic and rigidly structured material.

...Und Die Welt Ward Kalt Und Leer follows in the same path as thousands of other debut black metal albums in just about every way, with its passion and ambition more obvious than its quality or technicality. The youthful shrieks of Horaz are unrefined, piercing, and snarling, but they carry with them substantially less strength and range compared his matured form on later releases. It leaves a bit of an amateurish feel to the album, especially since the vocals are mixed so much higher than the instruments -- particularly when they all intersect, leaving the drums behind as if an afterthought. That said, it will definitely appeal to fans of the early second wave, before things shifted into experimental, gazing, or amalgamated territory. How it compares to the classics of that era, however, isn't exactly a positive talking point.

The melodies on this album are distinctly different from future releases, which wouldn't typically be such a strange thing to say for an album, but when the band in question is Imperium Dekadenz -- renowned, lauded, and maligned for their repetitive recipe -- it piques one's interest. It's almost like this album was released by some other band. Aside from the primitive hints of that signature atmospheric warmth and sharp emotional guitar tone (and even that isn't a unique trait) there isn't much to suggest this is an Imperium Dekadenz release. There are crawling, meandering moments and buildups to outbursts towards the end of each song, but there's also a never-seen-again sort of directness to the songwriting you'd have to hear to believe if this album is unfamiliar territory for you as a follower or onlooker of the band.

The darker, more serious -- at times even sinister -- vibe of ...Und Die Welt Ward Kalt Und Leer sticks out like a sore thumb when put in the same display case as the rest of the Imperium Dekadenz catalog. It doesn't really invite you in or have this desire to lure you or get to know you with the exception of those characteristic acoustic and piano interludes. Instead, it grates slightly and bites back against any untoward advances of friendship or intimacy, just not nearly on the same level as those aforementioned heavyweight classics of a time long past.