Erzfeynd – Muspilli

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With all mastery achieved in the first studio album “Behaft Bekert” mastermind Nahdrut Herlarecks (all instruments) moves from the mystical and medieval realm to a grander saga. The second full-length album “Muspilli” was released by Ván Records on September 20th, 2022. We get to hear this dark side of Erzfeynd from the opening intro “Fewerflam” is a beautiful piece of ambient soundscapes combined with the synth instrument and chiming bells.

Be awed by the sonic vastness of the composition touching the deep roots of European black metal, the album’s title track “Muspilli” offers more tranquil moments. Erzfeynd creates an ominous grandiosity with the malicious vocals and guitar melodies and the juxtaposition of the raw frostbitten tremolos. The guitars on “Perchtentanz” unleashes an impenetrable wall of sound, a swirling vortex of tremolos, and fast-paced drums are utilized in a way that recalls the classic black metal. The music creates all kinds of dark spectacles and visions with the chanting passages, and beating drums sounding like the medieval ages is something that Erzfeynd has already been known for since the first-length album. “Muspilli” truly personifies the forgotten art of 90’s black metal, the keyboards are cold as ice and the guitars are just otherworldly and saturated with eerie melody chords.

However, the riffs transition into traditional heavy metal, and the song features blazing tremolos, and majestic choral work that adds more bombast sounds to the composition, also there are some guitar melodies and dual chorales that bring many hints of symphonic black metal. We get to hear different vocal pitches from Nahdrut Herlarecks, the keyboards are frequently utilized drawing attention mainly in the mid-tempo where the drums and the blazing guitars offer a foreboding depth and quality. The explosive bombastic struck “Uuorolti firuuurt” is absolutely mesmerizing and one of my favorites songs of this album, with each instrument displayed from the strumming clean guitars and the eerie synth and the heavy driven guitars prompt a rise in the tempo. Majestic chanting and percussion hit the climax whereas the synth and raspy vocal pitches transport you into an ancient forest.

The malicious nature of the music immediately becomes apparent when the aggressive guitar lines are emphasized and build on the crescendo of an evil maelstrom. Erzfeynd on the second full-length album takes clear steps to reveal the intricate details of the songs, therefore, giving the composition a melodic and atmospheric effect. The final track “Victus” is a seven-minute piece of classic pagan black metal with the main theme of mystical synth combined to create an aggressive and bombast sound. Ponderous drums, wicked malicious vocals, and plenty of glorious tremolos are most notable in the mix, the drumming is firm ferocious, and dynamic.

One of the key facets of “Muspilli” is the savage impulses of the drums each song features strong melodies and the guitar hooks are aplenty, although this would have been near to perfection if Nahdrut Herlarecks had put more emphasis on synth. But in such a vast scale and approach Erzfeynd managed to bring many acoustic guitar passages and the chorales are pompous, the overall impact of the lofty sonic arrangements is overwhelming. “Muspilli” smoothly meanders through different styles of folk and atmospheric black metal, transporting you into the dark middle Ages.

Erzfeynd really reminds me of many solos bands like Diabolical Masquerade and Troll, although this isn’t any kind of hybrid stylized band or what so ever but if you are fully cognizant of some Norwegian black metal bands like Mactätus, Troll and Gehenna then you will find yourself immersed with the sonic realm that Nahdrut Herlarecks created on the second full-length album.

REVIEW SCORE

  • Music / Songwriting 8/10
  • Vocals / Lyrics 9/10
  • Mix / Production 9/10
  • Artwork & Packaging 8/10
  • Originality 9/10
8.6

All these themes seem to invest in a dark trollish fantasy setting unprecedented standards for the band, from its complex layered instruments and the foggy atmospheric synth passages, Erzfeynd explores dark mysticism through the medium of 90’s black metal.

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