Ellende - Lebensnehmer (2019)

As one of the most anticipated Atmospheric Black Metal releases of 2019, today we have Austria’s Ellende with “Lebensnehmer”. Slowly gaining underground notoriety with their first two releases, this one-man band is ready for the spotlight with their lush atmospheric sound that perfectly combined melody with sheer aggression. For over 50 minutes and eight tracks, this release continues to polish the band’s sound and delivers ravaging soundscapes that should not be missed by anyone.

After a moody intro, “Augenblick” delivers waves of punishing riffs, blasting drums and melodic passages, perfectly combined in one hell of an emotional rollercoaster of a song. Handling all instruments (except drums) and all songwriting duties, Lukas Gosch is an expert in creating raw melancholic tracks, like “Die Wege”, which are full of charisma and a massive wall of sound. Never getting dull or repetitive, Ellende’s strength lies on timing and flawless execution, introducing plenty of tempo changes that completely change the shape of songs.

Everybody loves a good build-up and “Ein Stück Verzweiflung” is the perfect track for this, going from the acoustic opening to weeping guitar leads to heavier distorted melodic passages. Tracks like this last-one showcase the band’s originality and knack for melody over aggression. A personal favorite is the melancholic “Der Blick wird leer”, a song that fully immerses the listener into the band’s twisted dreamy world. Changing the mood, the atmospheric instrumental “Liebkosung des Eiswinds” creates a very eerie and dreamy vibe that transports the listener.

Our favorite song has to be the crushing “Du wärst eine schöne Leiche”, definitely the most intense and powerful track with a brutal opening, and relentless guitar work. This track features the band’s rawness and pummeling power of their earlier work, but with a more refined and lush atmospheric component. The solemn opening to “Atemzug” nicely mask the true nature this punishing track, one of the best closing songs we have heard in 2019.

As a whole, “Lebensnehmer” is another triumphant release from Ellende. The band has slowly refined their Doomy Atmospheric Black Metal and in this release they take it one step further with more lush atmospherics and solmen passages to apeace the listener’s ailments. If you liked their earlier releases, you will be blow away by this one, if you are not aware of this band, you can not afford to miss out on them.

Label: AOP Records

Release: March 29th, 2019

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: Austria