Album Review: Ellende - Zerfall
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
Ellende play black metal. But not just any black metal. They play pretty black metal. You know the type – the kind that you put on when you want to listen to Darkthrone but also want to impress that saucy anarchist philosophy graduate that you’ve been lying to about liking slam poetry. There’s this wistful, bucolic sense about it; something pastoral and natural. Sometimes too natural – there’s a cow mooing in “Wahrheit Teil 1”. Despite the fact that black and white cows come naturally equipped with corpsepaint, there is little you could ever do to convince me that they deserve a spot as backing vocalist on a black metal release. Even so, having circumvented the contributions of livestock, there’s power here; a stirring, deeply moving emotional resonance in the eddys of its composition. Extensive furrows of it are quite sedate, quieting and reflective. Expansive and sobering; “Reise” cannot be described otherwise than “bewitching”. It’s a gorgeous, sensuous arrangement of agonised strings drawn out into soundscapes like cold, star-speckled waters, almost paralysing in how beautiful it is.
But none of its traipses through idyllic fields of gently swaying flora should imply that Ellende can’t shred when the mood strikes, because nothing will shake you out of that misapprehension like the euphoric apex (the last minute or so) of “Zeitenwende Teil 2”. Seraphic leads burst on you like sunlight, weightless and dancing through the sky in peregrine-swoop bends and sweeps like scented meadow winds through verdant oceans of grassland. It’s not too proud to bring the blastbeat hammer down either; at 2.44 is about the point where “Zerfall” remembers that it’s a black metal song and bull-rushes you. But the core strength of the band lives in their ability to flip between lilting grace and cowabunga nunchuck rampages. That beauty-and-the-beast dichotomy that sees both approaches complimenting and magnifying each other by contrast, their differences artfully knitted together in a subtle yet exhilarating atmospheric black dance.
They also cover a track from the Elder Scrolls series (“Secunda” from “Skyrim”) – a diaphanous, drifting piece that actually nestles quite well with the original works accompanying it. I’m not sure placing it immediately prior to an equally understated outro was the best idea though - it basically feels as though the album has a false ending as a result, though I can’t argue more generally with the quality of the rendition. And that is sort of the theme overall for most of the songwriting – generally strong but sporadically there are a few missteps (nothing wholly derailing but…noticeable nonetheless) that do pop out to jumpscare you. Occasional diverting choices through the song that never linger but seem more incongruous for their brevity. The cow has already been mentioned. But the sudden wah effect on “Zerfall” bicycle kicked me out of the placid trance the intro had otherwise put me in. It’s also a bit on the overlong side. “Ode Ans Licht” is nice in it’s own way, but the twanging jingle of its strummed chords are a bit too sad-boy dreampop to fit in with the rest of the material, which – cross bred with the tremolo melody line – feels too close for comfort to a diet version of Deafheaven. The Jeremy Soule cover is beautiful too, but nestled sardine-like next to an equally meditative closer it’s overkill and ultimately I’ll always prioritise the presence of original material. For that reason, it’s another cut that i’d suggest should’ve been snipped in the edit.
But the crux of it is that Ellende are releasing an effort here that, while occasionally patchy, is nonetheless thick with beauty and depth of feeling. Listening to it, I felt that same sense of spellbound awe that held me rapt when first I heard the tearjerking strains of “Ecailles de Lune – pt 2” by Alcest. Being Austrian, they no doubt pull from differing landscapes than the ones I myself am familiar with, but even so, the misty restrained dunes of England’s own Fens seemed to pour from it. The quiet splendour of the Pennines. Our snaking coast, dignified in the silent garb of a cold falling dusk. I couldn’t ask for a better companion in the solitude of these vistas. Perhaps there is a desirable artistic soul that you struggle to woo; in which case, consider two things:
1. It does no good to pretend to be something you’re not in a vain attempt to impress people.
2. I too want to listen to Darkthrone all the time; but do not mistake Ellende’s work as lesser for the difference in their focus. Consume their work on its own terms, and allow yourself to be spirited away by the morose beauty of Ellende’s work.
