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Band: Agrypnie
Album title: Grenzgænger
Release date: 12 October 2018
Label: Supreme Chaos Records
Tracklist:
01. Auferstehung
02. In die Tiefe
03. Aus Zeit erhebt sich Ewigkeit
04. Nychthemeron
05. Grenzgænger
06. Die Waisen des Daidalos
07. Die längste Nacht
08. Zu Grabe
One of Germany’s finest post-black metal acts, Agrypnie, will be releasing their new album, Grenzgænger, on October 12. At the same time, they will be releasing Pavor Nocturnus, which is a compilation containing three re-recorded tracks from the split with Fated ("Veritas Mutabilis", "Pavor Nocturnus" and "Agrypnie"), one new song and five orchestral versions (of the songs "Sinnflut", "Augenblick", "16[485] – Brücke aus Glas", "Fenster zum Hof" and "Cogito Ergo Sum"). This review focuses on Grenzgænger only.
As is standard for their releases (with the exception of their first album, F51.4), they deliver more than an hour of music, consisting of long songs, overflowing with anguish and melancholy. The vocals are once again done in their typical style that is quite hard to miss, with hints of the depressive black metal style, and some whispers and speech here and there for added effect.
While the beginning of the album (i.e. the first minute) is quite slow, it soon becomes apparent that the album will be anything but slow and boring. I cannot say much about the lyrics since my knowledge of German is quite poor and they are not available to read yet, but even the title of the first song, "Auferstehung" (Resurrection) gives a good hint about what’s to come. After the slow intro, the song comes in guns blazing, hitting you with rage-filled screams, fast drumming and melodic riffs. Agrypnie rise from the ashes of their previous album, Aetas Cineris, producing something just as good, if not better.
The other songs follow in a similar manner, hitting the listener with either pure anger and hatred or the imminent feeling of hopelessness and despair, the drums range from blasting speed to almost fading in the background, the riffs occasionally get a bit lengthy and repetitive and it’s really nothing ground-breaking or non-typical of this band, but the album as a whole still possesses the strength needed to keep you interested for the entire 70 minutes of playtime.
None of the songs particularly stand out, but if I had to choose a favourite, I would go for either the first song, "Auferstehung", for reasons listed above, or for the last one, "Zu Grabe", because I feel that it really wraps up the album as a whole, delivering a sort of closure, and, as the titles suggest, sending the resurrected back to the grave.
Despite any downsides this album might have, it is the perfect soundtrack for a cold, rainy day, possibly blasting at full volume on your headphones while you’re strolling along some dark forest path.
Review written by: Tamy
Rating: 8/10
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