Ahnengrab

Ahnengrab

Schattenseiten

release date: October 26th, 2018

label: Einheit Produktionen

1.Aurora 04:45

2.Katharsis 06:26

3.K-37c 05:40

4.Phoenicis 06:06

5.Rad der Zeit 05:06

6.Herbstbeginn 06:45

7.Urknall 04:33

8.Des Weltenend' Melancholie 06:00

9....When Paths Separate 04:31

10.Sternenmeer 08:06

total time 57:58

I decided to dedicate time to the last half of this album. I was determined to put their feet to the fire and find out if they have the visceral fortitude to stand there with the heat only on the songs number six through ten. I asked a question: Do these five songs justify for fans to spend money on this band? Because if the good songs are put upfront in order to fool people, I'm not going to lie for your band. I don't need to hype anything and I don't need to sell anything to anyone. Forget that. If a band does not have the horses, then it does not have horses, and that’s that. End of story.

The music is European-style progressive extreme metal, thoughtful and melodic. It is not an immediate album that makes sense on the first listen, but it is meant to be very rewarding once you make the decision to commit the time to it. Repeated listens provide a clear, smooth picture of melodic songs. People like to categorize the band as pagan/black metal, but a fuller description would be that it is melodic-melancholic extreme metal with a progressive-intellectual vibe, and a nice dose of folk interspersed throughout. It's catchy, but it's not poppy; uplifting, but not sugary; progressive but it's not music-for-musicians songs. On this album you can easily tell that they have worked a lot to make the songs have detectable melodies for memorability. This characteristic alone, in and of itself, puts them in a pretty special place. It’s not about being some so-called genius, and it’s not about wowing people with what they call natural talent. No, it’s not about that. It’s about how hard you are willing to work to write a good song. How much dogged patience do you have to work on it until the song is complete? It’s about work, work and more work for the sake of your art.

I really like the band's 2012 album Omen, and I still listen to it because it is quality music. It took four years for the follow-up work to make an appearance. At this rate, you never know if this is the last album you are hearing from them. This is their third.

Earlier I said that I have put this album's second half to the test. The first half is wonderful, but what about the second half? At times, I have concentrated on the last five songs alone for long stretches. The verdict? Well, the last five songs by themselves make for a wonderful album, actually. Now put both halves together and you get a work that is excellent.

If we never hear another Ahnengrab album, it will be bad news, but what a great band they have been up until now. This album proves it very well.

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