Black Metal History Month - Karg : "Maroduer"

This is the band's 9th album so I am surprised they have not graced this site before, but there are so many bands out there it's hard to cover them all, even with the almost 700 reviews published here every year. Black metal seems to be at the core of their DNA, as it's the attitude propelling the aggressive tendencies, and even in how the atmosphere is approached. The vocals are not screamed but shouted in a forceful yet pained manner. More melodic and angular than what I expect from any metal coming out of Germany. The second song finds has a more in-your-face black metal approach even if this does not include black metal, but the pained yell of the vocals. 

The guitars shift in a more shoegazing groove, but the vocal screams in similar patterns. I am fine with harsher vocals here, there is a wider range of places you can take said harsher vocals in this regard. I like what the guitar is doing but the drone on the one theme for the bulk of the song. I like the groove they get into with the chug of "Verbrannte Brucken". It adds layers of sounds rather than dramatically diverting the course. "Annapurna" is blasted ahead on double bass and keyboards bolstering the mood. This accelerates into blast beasts but they are softened by all the other ambiance clouding around it. 

Things go in a more ethereal direction for "Reminiszenzen" which locks into an almost 90s nu-metal groove when it builds up, not what I was expecting, which is what I want out of music. "Kimm" is pretty much a modern take on the black gaze with the blackened aspects more in the foreground. This does not break as much new ground as the previous song but works well for what it is. This last song starts off with more of a bass-driven groove as it's stripped down to its more rock backbone.  It shows just how capable they are as songwriters and I really like how this builds up. The feels feel more like something on a hardcore album as they are shouted like a blunt force. These guys break new ground with black metal as the launching off point. I will give this a 9.5, to see how it grows on me, but I like where they go with this album, it drops on April 18th on AOP Records. 

pst81