Verdunkeln
Einblick in den Qualenfall

Born in 1998 as a side project of Graupel, a Raw Black Metal band from Aachen, Verdunkeln produced a second release after 2005, becoming a true band, in their own words. The idea was to present a face enormously darker but more refined than Graupel (Verdunkeln means to darken in German). The two play everything indiscriminately, as there is no relegation in the use of instruments. Lyrics in German, meticulously curated but never in the foreground, in fact, there is no main element in their music, forcing the listener to endure huge monoliths with difficult listening and decidedly long duration. The almost synaptic complexity of this work covers the environment in which one finds oneself with a patina very similar to frosted glass, which can only leave the conviction of having overlooked more than one detail even on the hundredth listen. The performance is maximal in my opinion because there are really many dark points, and thus the sensation of being blind in the dark will always persist, due to the very nature of the music they manage to compose. I confine this discourse to the album I am reviewing, as the previous one was quite different and less curated, given the decidedly secondary intentions.
"In die irre" speaks for itself, it twists in guitar sounds that fade slowly but constantly, alternating black, doom, and dark riffs. I wouldn't bet on it, but the first sensation is the strong influence of Dolorian in the very structure of every track, but we are at 35-40% of the total. The drums drag slowly but never make one think of doom rhythms, although the riffs often are (the two explicitly admit to being inspired by doom). The guitar overdubs highlight very heavy moments, tremolos, and even solos. The voice is sometimes in scream, but never extreme, always subdued and unclear, to never expose itself compared to any other instrument.
"Im Zwiespalt" drags slowly without easily repeating itself over its almost 16 minutes, becoming creeping and enveloping like the coils of a snake, through moments of decisive rides and silent minimal arpeggiated guitars.
"Der quell" awaits nothing but to begin, this time more invasive than the previous ones, and here the chaos, induced by the same care of every sound detail, imposes the maximum concentration to be able to head towards the light of understanding, which never comes, always being opposite to the direction chosen. The density is too high and will make the album renewed with each new listen it receives. The interplay of contrasts between dirty and clean reigns in the dominion of every instrument, from guitars to vocals to drum and bass parts, so homogeneously that confusion will seem a normal feeling at the end of the album.
"Die saat der klinge", black as a night without sky, will indeed continue to devour the brain by feeding on answers, leaving only questions that lose priority as their number increases. The delicate and enveloping keyboard parts never lose the thickness compared to the other instruments.
"Der herrscher" is dedicated to mixed sounds between ambient and dark, never departing from black, though. Another journey into the spatiality of darkness, even if only illusory. Another 17 minutes of alternated, overdubbed, and mixed riffs so much as to make them new as one chooses to proceed in the hard listening of the fifth track.
"Aut freiem felde" concludes this work with an anthem to darkness that does not detach at all from the concept that the German duo has had so far. The feeling of reaching the end comes regardless of the knowledge of the minutes remaining in the album, making the closure of the circle that began an hour ago, but which has always remained the same, even more perfect.

No need for experimentation, exaggerated technicality beyond necessary, appearances, public gimmicks, or broad ambitions for money and success. Everyone can understand that this CD was made in a not very clever way: 6 tracks with 600 possible different riffs. It's more than a CD, they are many synthesized in a musical-atmospheric concept that couldn't have been rendered thus, with enormous mathematical waste but with exponential artistic gain. Gnarl and Ratatyske speak of their music as something that evolves slowly, but if in a few years they have managed to produce such high quality, they are either one of the most imaginative bands in a scene dominated by clones, or they have produced one of the most personal CDs in black metal and this already earns them a decidedly wider and more grateful listen.