This is one of the releases you either love or hate. Grouped with bands like Lunar Aurora and The Ruins of Beverast, one is obliged to pay them a closer attention. A quick glimpse is enough to realize what makes them similar. They are from Aachen, used to play live with Alexander von Meilenwald and their song themes are very similar to those of Lunar Aurora. Nightly, creepy tales, full of monsters and mythical creatures. This sets up certain expectations, to which this album both does and does not live up.

Let's begin with repetition rate. Generally in music, the shorter the repetition phase, the more trancy and hypnotic the composition. Progressive tracks base on hardly any repetition. Music in general repeats bars of four chords. Club EDM tunes repeat short motives of three to four notes. So does Verdunkeln. Comparisons to sounds of operating washing machine reflect exactly this type of metal.

Now texture. Four elements stand out in the mix. One is murky acoustic guitar, whose sound feels like raven claws or of some other dark fairytale creature. Set in high reverberation, it alone creates a whirlwind of hypnotic blackness, which is an achievement. Two is distorted guitar. Very hissy and buried below element three: drums. If anyone thinks Burzum tracks contain simple drumming, here is a challenge. These are utterly simple and often out of phase. Mixed very loudly, they only add up to the repetitive, hypnotic atmosphere. Four is vocals. Once again, weird reverb setup makes them spill all around the track whenever a growl or a shriek happens. They are the only factor that distracts the repetition. In short, everything about this album feels off. Whatever element of sound or composition you pay attention to, it feels like nothing you've heard before.

The most memorable elements on this album happen to be second parts of "Blutrunst" and "Trümmer". Well executed and powerful motives that enlarge the repetition phase a bit and feel like unveiling of some higher order in between the constantly maintained tension.

Then of course there is "Einst war es mal..." - the essential track of this entire release. Listeners compare it to black metal gym music, as it is based on a constant loop of "Blur - Song 2" drums and a similarly rocking riff. The composition never unveils. When it ends abruptly, there is this feeling of great confusion.

Just like now.

One problem with metal these days is that no one is doing anything new. It's an old and tired sentiment that's been heard again and again (in lots of various genres, and lots of different eras) but still.. With the latest new things lasting maybe 5 years and then descending quickly into self parody, dudes are quickly running out of new genres to cross, new instruments to add, and with things now far faster and slower then they've ever been, the amount of stuff you can do with a few electrified string instruments and a drum kit is fast running out.

What does this have to do with this review? Well, I'm not sure. PROBABLY NOT A LOT!!? These guys aren't THAT revolutionary- no 12 tone technique influences or 88 tone scale trickery here- but nonetheless Verdunkeln have a unique and really refreshing sound- definitely not something you'd expect from some obscure side project!

Despite all of this talk about 'unique and refreshing sound', though, it's still metal. It still rocks hard. The album's centrepiece, the nine minute epic that is 'Einst War Es Mal' is possibly where it all comes together in an absolutely glorious mess of noise. The intense, almost industrial riffing, the trance inducing drumbeat, the deep, powerful occult atmosphere, basically just everything about this track- an totally hypnotic beast of a song that still manages to entertain you with some truly epic riffage. It's a fairly simple formula- trance inducing riffs and drumming- that's been executed really well. The clean breaks that happen throughout the songs are great as well (the amazing intro to 'Truemmer' being a prime example- totally spacey and awesome), giving the whole thing a big sense of dynamics while not interrupting the hypnotic flow of the songs. Perhaps it's the drummer's refusal to ever change tempo or the basic sort of beat- either way, it sounds freaking awesome.

Of course one thing that's going to need mentioning is the production. As a sound engineer, the whole idea of raw black metal production both fascinates and repulses me at the same time- there's now way any of this stuff should be listenable (and I guess a vast amount isn't) but yet it works so damn well. This album is the perfect example of raw, muddy production that sounds AMAZING. Whether it's the storm of double kick in 'Einst War..' that makes everything else stutter and sound even more sinister and hidden, or the raging bass storms that happen whenever these guys get fast (all double kick and mudded-out guitars, tiny bit of snare but that's about it), the whole thing just sounds so damn good. Hell, even the reverb-into-oblivion vocal shrieks sound awesome, which is a tough thing to pull off.

This album DOMINATES. There's huge riffs but also a huge atmosphere, and somehow this album manages to be both Hypnotic but also massively rockin', which can only be a very very good thing. Finding this in physical form is probably completely impossible, but it's totally worth downloading, and while you're at it you should buy their newest album. Black Metallers will absolutely love this, but anyone who doesn't mind a bit of repetition should totally check it out as well, as it's not that raw, and is a totally fantastic listen.

It's pretty hard to review the album of a band that has never been reviewed before, especially when the band is obscure, because your impression, if not subjective and partial, may mislead the readers who were thinking of trying the artist.

Verdunkeln is a side project of the members from Graupel, a well-established act in the German underground scene. The music played here is, first of all, dark. Its most obvious feature is the bad production. The instruments sound like they've been stuffed with pillows. Guitar notes often sound played at bass level and because of the aforementioned production are thicker and heavier than the colder tremolo picks for which the genre is more known for. This effect strengthens the album's melodic line as best heard in the seventh track, "Einst War Es Mal". Ratatyske pulls out a good performance on vocals, using the classic shrieks and yells that are thickened by the unpolished sound. The guy who handles the bass here (Gnarl, I suppose) might as well be playing a single-stringed one, because it only lays the basis for the music with any melodical variation succumbing to the thick wall of sound. I don't know too much about drumming, so I'll resume by saying it follows the tempo, intense when the rhythm demands or lesser so when things calm down a bit. There are sometimes large gaps between the beats giving the guitar riff a barren sound and adding a dramatic tone to the album.

Overall, it's a good release, never surpassing the status of side-project. It's a close cousin to Filosofem so fans of mid-era Burzum may want to check this out. For fans of raw black metal; it's something they direly need to hear.

Thunder roars as raindrops pour; walking onto the steps of a citadel monastery with your own hearse at hand. Accompanied by crepuscular faceless beings…they say nothing, but suggest they only have the darkest of intentions. You close your eyes for a second, and when they open you are buried alive, accompanied by the faceless beings. They will forever stare at you, and you will never turn your eyes away. That whole dark painting-like thought is what this album contains. It’s wretched, and cursed, damned by your own imagination. This is one of the darkest records I own. Not to sound cliché, but this album is the best at projecting its darkness. Its beauty is somewhat unique, and very vague.

I don’t remember where I got this album exactly, I must have ordered it at some site, and nonetheless the decision wasn’t regrettable. This album is truly unique, not because of the fact that I haven’t heard anything like it, but because it throws in psychedelic and very melodic aspects of black metal and turns them inside out, tainting them black. Infested plagued waters are what this album float upon. This is by no mean a bad thing, as I said above its unique. Its one downfall is that the album lives for the first two songs alone. In Die Irre and Im Zwiespalt are the two tracks that really could be left alone on this album and it would have my upmost respect. Again, not to sound cliché, but they are the essence of black metal; dark, evil, and a hint of beauty.

The one aspect I loved most about Einblick In Den Qualenfall is its ability to use non-typical black metal structure and turn it into a black metal album. Blast beats are few and far between, and solos take lead in many of the songs most intense moments. I’ll stick with Im Zwiespalt as the big example to use. This song alone almost seems doom-y. Marching riffs take lead in the songs last moments, and I mean they simply remain hypnotic to the mind. It’s not to say this whole album takes that direction, but for the first two songs, it gives the album so much strength. The drums sound as if they were completely drenched by some...dark liquid with more viscosity than water which are accompanied by two guitars. One guitar sounds as though the sound has been drugged and taken underwater to amplify itself, and the second guitar sounds a lot cleaner. After Im Zwiespalt, this album quickly picks up pace. This is where the psychedelic part of the record really shines. It’s now a monster that has simply on the move differentiating itself from any other. I think that is what really gives this album power; it takes advantage of this non-formulaic structure and uses it to the best of its ability.

Production-wise, this is only slightly better than the self-titled demo ‘Verdunkeln’. Verdunkeln was a demo that was a teaser trailer for this album. They really tested unmarked grounds with the demo, and I must say that the way it evolved into Einblick In Den Qualenfall is just phenomenal. They picked apart the unsavory parts of the demo and didn’t necessarily throw them away but made them better! The formula didn’t change much per se from first demo to this album, but they took advantage of their sound and created something truly of its own. I would say this album has made a huge example of itself by telling it’s listeners that it’s not all blastbeats and tremolo picking that makes a great and classic black metal album. That in itself says more than an essay long review ever could.

I acquired this album through a blind purchase and then realized that I had a promo copy sitting in my stack the whole time. In this case, it's a fortunate little mistake, as it gives me an extra copy of 'Einblick In Den Qualenfall' to share with someone else. It's an album worth sharing.

Verdunkeln plays a thoroughly modern style of murky, psychedelic black metal that borrows pretty considerably from the 'Hvis Lyset Tar Oss' book, though it's not quite a direct clone. It's different as far as atmosphere and aim goes, anyway, since most of the elements are almost identical: the repetitive, hypnotic riffing, distantly screamed vocals, tempos ranging from fairly plodding to somewhere in the realm of upper midpace, drumming centered around double bass and rock beats, etc. The major differences are a matter of aesthetic, really, but it's a major enough difference that it doesn't really sound very much like Burzum at all when you get down to it. One could call mid-era Burzum psychedelic or progressive, but you could probably imagine that both of those elements were more things that got carved out through a particular style of songwriting and structuring rather than any intentional application of the terms. Verdunkeln makes hypnotic, psychedelic black metal with the intention of being such.

In truth, without the production present, this wouldn't be nearly as great an album as it is. The drums are soaked in huge amounts of thunderous reverb like it's trying to be a Skepticism album, and there's nearly always two layers of guitars: one normal distorted electric guitar, and a semi-clean one with some sort of underwater effect applied. The sound as a whole is very thick and rich, with dark waves of distortion rolling over the texture of these simple songs with an even, steady, hypnotic flow. The contrast of the two guitar sounds is immensely effective, with the standard distortion generally playing very simple two or three-chord tremolo riffs while the clean guitar picks out more intricate but equally repetitive leads over the top of the base (though 'over the top' is probably a bad prepositional phrase to use in a sonic space as cloudy and tangled as this one is). All the instruments seem buried within one another, with only the bass drums really forming a ground floor for the rest of the album to rest on. A synth is occasionally used, but it's nearly unnoticeable, relegated to a background role, simply functioning as another harmonic voice amongst the immense guitar presence.

Songs can generally be divided into two categories: strictly Burzum-style midpaced, shimmering black metal, and a more hard rock influenced take on the style while still retaining the basic stylistic elements of the former. 'Im Zwiespalt', the centerpiece of the first style, is an utterly immense track, both in length and in narrative scope, which grows almost painfully slowly, through a quiet buildup of storm sounds and feedback before a false start takes place; like a black metal 'Phobophile', the guitar feedback leads not to a burst of dogmatic riffing, but to a sole, murky guitar, soaked in reverb and underwater effects, before a short tom fill announces the presence of the distorted guitar, and a bit later, the drums. The whole sequence of preparing the song, getting it to finally move, takes about two minutes. This is an album that takes its time in all things; not a moment is rushed, and everything is carried out as long as necessary to truly present this unified aesthetic of surreal, dark, and dreamlike beauty. The lingering held chords and wailing lead guitar that drive this track forward are a standout not only on this album, but for black metal, representing one of the closest approximations of the 'Hvis Lyset Tar Oss' style probably in black metal's history.

The other black metal tracks are solid, but of course nowhere near the majesty of 'Im Zwiespalt'; they're benighted merely by their inability to live up to the perfection of that song, although on their own they would still be better than 95% of current black metal. But on to the next portion: the more hard rocking songs. Beginning with 'Der Quell''s unusually dramatic and overstated clean vocals, subdued lead guitar, and strangely hesitant drumming, a very different side of the band is portrayed. This is music that is most certainly black metal, but also raised on the spirit of '70s psychedelic rock, and additionally with a not-insignificant influence from classic German artists such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Of this archtype, the best track is, not really surprisingly, the closest to black metal: 'Auf Freiem Felde', with its medieval vocal melody and epic, marching rhythm right out of the Bathory handbook. The other rock tracks are good, but probably the weakest point on the album.

I notice that I haven't really been singing 'Einblick In Den Qualenfall''s praises, so let me correct that: this is a fucking immense album. As far as artists that approach the spirit of mid-era Burzum, I haven't found a single one that's achieved such a close sound, and even moreso, without sacrificing an ounce of independent identity. Verdunkeln is a band that is still somehow unknown by the majority of the metal scene, which truly amazes me, as I'd think that music of this sort of grandeur and brilliance just couldn't be hidden for long. 'Einblick In Den Qualenfall' is one of very few albums I own that I regularly play simply due to how wonderful it is on every level. In short: you owe it to yourself to acquire this album. It's a masterpiece of modern black metal, and is a direct continuation of 'Hvis Lyset Tar Oss'' subtle beauty. Excellent music to listen to in complete darkness.

Verdunkeln are one of the most interesting black metal acts currently operating out of Germany. After the sweeping success of their self-titled demo in 2005 and their monstrous 2007 full-length debut, the band had positioned themselves to compete with top-tier contemporaries such as The Ruins of Beverast and Lunar Aurora in a major way. However, the band went silent for almost exactly five years, releasing this, their sophomore effort, only last year.

The band picks up right where they left off. For long-time fans, rest assured that some of the band's most defining elements: those chorus-heavy clean guitar lines, the hypnotic repetition and the dark, post-punk inflected grooves are all alive and strong on Weder Licht noch Schatten. As with their previous album, frontman Gnarl and drummer Ratatyske choose to open with a relatively short track before jumping into the meaty, 10 minute + epics that make up the majority of the album. “Das Antlitz des Himmels” is a fairly energetic tune, but it's close-in production and only brief use of those chorus heavy clean guitars gives this a song both a more immediate feel and a sense of claustrophobia that's not usually a major element of the band's approach. My guess is that the choice was made to smack you across the face and get your attention ready for the headier songs that follow.

“Am Ende des Abgrunds” exemplifies Verdunkeln's unique approach to black metal. Thunderous mid-paced beats, sometimes busier and full of double bass and toms and sometimes more sparse, yet always heavy, serve as the rhythmic anchor. Two or three guitars play at any given time: a pair in more traditional roles, playing either crunchy powerchord riffs or tremolo melodies, another continuing with that distinctive clean chorus pedal sound, echoing off with arpeggios, giving a watery, subterranean feel to the proceedings. I keep mentioning this guitar, but it's really probably the most distinctive thing about Verdunkeln. I encourage you to look it up on YouTube or, for those familiar, give Nirvana's “Come As You Are” a listen as that's probably the most well-known example of the effect in modern pop music. Anyway, it adds an unusual presence to the band's music, not quite occupying the same role as a traditional, distorted guitar would but not really acting like keyboards would, either.

The song also uses exclusively clean vocals, a technique continued throughout much of the album, double-tracked and also given a healthy dose of reverb. This makes Verdunkeln somewhat comparable to bands like Urfaust (their labelmates, probably not coincidentally), though the vocals here are more abrupt and deeper, more foreboding than theatrical. Harsh vocals are used on subsequent tracks, and sometimes even occupy some middle-ground, using mid-range singing tones made somewhat harsher in Gnarl's throat. I really enjoy this technique, as it blends together the clean vocal lines and harsh rasps into what's clearly the performance of a single vocalist. It lends the whole thing a lot more weight, as the harsh vocal sections are much more easily read as more intense than those that favor clean vocals.

For the most part, the material here is just as spellbinding as anything on their past two releases. However, there are a couple of guitar melodies used here and there that are a little less than stellar – see the repeating figure about 2/3 through “Unsre Richter” for an example. In fact, that particular flavor of vaguely circus-y, highly repetitive figure pops up several times on Weder Licht noch Schatten. They're fairly aggravating, as they're so unlike the rest of the band's guitar work (not to mention so fundamentally annoying) that they yank you out of the moment, something that's entirely unacceptable when listening to music that's so reliant on building an atmosphere and keeping you there through the use of the band's usually hypnotic riffing. The songs also seem to get lost sometimes, something that never happened on the last album even though it had two tracks longer than anything on this release. Whether it's a symptom of the band being out of practice or out of ideas is up for debate.

The more severe problem that prevents this album from being on the same plane as their previous works is the production. Though the guitars sound like they're using the same lower-than-standard tuning as before, the mixing is entirely different – here the rhythm guitar gets a crunchier, mid-heavy tone and is mixed out quite dry and in pretty wide stereo. Before the guitars had a wetter, bassier tone and were mixed quite distant. Somehow, though they took up less of the real estate in previous mixes, the guitars actually sounded like they were being played louder. The drums suffer, too, with far less reverb this time around than before, especially on the snare. That echoing snare was apparently more of an essential element of the band's sound than I thought. Lastly, the vocals are also much drier this time, again with less echo. Combined with a little less ferocity in the harsh vocals, it makes for a more direct, human approach – not exactly the most fitting style for such an otherwordly band. Verdunkeln has never been a band about ultra-catchy riffs or triumphant melodies; they're a band that drags you into their vast caverns and convinces you that you never want to leave. In contrast to The Ruins of Beverast, who suffocate you with their oppressive weight, Verdunkeln's lethality is in the space between their instruments, letting the mind fill those voids with dark things conjured up by the band's endless atmosphere. This time around things are a little too close, a little too comforting. A simple remix might be all it takes to bring this album back to the glories of Verdunkeln past, but for now we'll just have to take what we can get. Maybe the next one will come around quicker than this one did.