Graupel – Auf Alten Wegen…
Five years is a long time in music. This album has been unchained for that length already! Germany is quickly becoming renowned for its Black Metal and this band are right up there in the spearhead. Having only recently discovered Graupel I’m eager to share my discovery of a truly brilliant piece of underground Black Metal.
A nice tuneful little ditty introduces the opening track by name of ‘Heimkehr’ and after a mere few seconds a thunderous riff crashes forward. When the raw echoey vocals join the avalanche the listener will realise that they have stumbled upon one of those hidden gems of the scene. During it’s life of four minutes the song heralds the talent and technique of the band, who play furiously, intelligently and organise the song into consumable sections thanks to a couple of breaks like the opening ditty.
The sound is uncompromising, the production rough around the edges and devoid of finesse: the attributes of classic underground Black Metal. The overall effect is gripping because of the fluency with which they play. For example as a perfect follow up to the first song, track two ‘Saat Zieht Zeit’, opens with a short bass ditty then bulldozes forth at blistering speed in the same fashion.
It never feels samey or boring as they throw a more mid paced marching section into the middle. Even though the production is what you would expect from the underground it possesses a certain richness in depth and atmosphere that very few manage to obtain. ‘Die Notglocke’ harks back to the early years of the scene with old school Norwegian sounding guitars buzzing away malevolently and thunderous pummeling drumming but not at full speed. Again the grim chasmic singing bellows up from the depths of a pitch black abyss.
The title track is next and features a really main dirty riff with plentiful key changes that points a finger in homage to Darkthrone’s early works. It expands on that though and opens out into a more vast arrangement but then drops adeptly back into dirtiness to highlight what a superb album this really is.
To mix proceedings up a bit ‘Requies Filii’ is a ten minute festival of negativity and depressive sentiment and will be enjoyed by advocates of tradition alongside those who prefer a more emotional style. There are some well crafted acoustics in there too. Once that has finished ‘Soll und Sein’ hammers you back into the stifling hot realms of hell with cataclysmic pace and anger and the remaining track offer more of the same top quality darkness.
I was going to berate myself again for not having heard this when it was released five years ago! However I am coming to terms with the fact that I cannot keep on top of the underground in the way I would like and to discover these treasures a few years down the line is something that will always amaze me and keep my passion for underground Black Metal alive.
If you were previously unaware of Graupel I cannot urge you enough to purchase a copy of this album for your collection and if you were aware of them I’m certain you’ll agree with everything I have described above. They also have a new full length due out imminently so you had better prepare yourself.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
absolute murder, great band \m/
“I’m eager to share my discovery of a truly brilliant piece of underground Black Metal.”
This is truly brilliant \m/
Agreed. Great album. Regular rotation along with “Am Pranger”. Van records has my full attention these days…