By Monk
Now and again, an album comes at you totally from out of the left field and leaves you wondering, after the first hearing, “what the fuck have I just listened to, ‘cos that was not what I was expecting”? This latest album from Thanateros fits just that scenario. Let me explain…
You see, despite ÜR’s extensive coverage of, and supposed knowledge, of most things rock and metal, we had not come comes across this particular Germanic combo until this, their sixth album in their 20-year long career. Now, the PR blurb described them as “folk rock”, a descriptive which, of course, could be assumed to bring a certain level of expectation…
So, imagine my surprise when, following the false luring into a sense of security of the atmosphere-building intro of ‘Kybalion (Time To Fly)’, ‘Burn’ exploded from the speakers with the sub-industrial might of countrymen Rammstein: OK, there’s a fiddle parping away in the background, but this incendiary Gothicism of the highest level. It’s uncompromising, melding Krautrock and melodeath into an infection more potent than the latest variant of the beer bug. But this is one infection for which I don’t want an antidote ‘cos it may be intoxicating but its far more enjoyable than that glorified head cold that made me miss ten shifts last month.
As the album moves through its gears, into the likes of single ‘Coven Of The Drowned’, the band’s folk roots shine through more and more, with traditional musical miens starting to resurface; but, this is still very much an album forged in the fires of the Ruhr, with its strong gothic-industrial vibe defying the apparent gentility of its title. There is nothing fragile about this strong and defiant opus. There is no delicacy in its delivery, and nothing angelic or feathery about its impact. It hits with fury, explosive and defiant, uncompromising in its dank profundity. At the same time, it flies with a dark majesty that swoops and soars with eloquent fatality.
It’s actually hard to find a generic classification for this impressive album, lying as it does between Nephilim-style Gothicism, Rammstein-style mock industrialism, Bauhaus-style minimalism and Byron-esque poeticism. But, then, maybe that’s why it works on so many different levels.
- ‘On Fragile Wings’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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