Fäulnis - Gehirn zwischen wahn und sinn

Artist: Fäulnis

Album: Gehirn zwischen wahn und sinn

Release: May 29, 2009

Genre: (Experimental) Black Metal

Rating: A solid 90%. A definite worthwhile album.

Fuck, where do I begin here. I find myself so lost in the schizophrenic abstrusity that is "Gehirn zwischen wahn und sinn". This album ignores all of that which I have garnered black metal to be. Utter hopelessness wrapped in an almost inexplicably esoteric beauty. Unorthodox? Yes. Obscure? Certainly. Good? Fuck yeah.

The album opens with MorgenGrauen, and more specifically an abyssal wail that surely, if you are anything like myself, can only lead to good things. From there, the bass drops explosively, and we are thrown into an audio assault of the mind. We constantly flash between black metal and sludge; DSBM and doom. From the expected to the irrational. A band with more potentially assumed influences than Ween. If I were to attempt a comparison, Agrypnie would be what first comes to mind. And that is purely for the spontaneity of them both. On a solely musical basis, Fäulnis has clearly constructed for themselves a niche dissimilar to anything I have heard. The vocals are what truly solidified my adulation for this album. The "schizophrenia" inducing quality to the echoed voices leaves everything to the imagination. An imagination entirely contrasted by the weighted heaviness the music brings to the table. Kopfrieg is my personal highlight for the album, and at nearly 12 minutes in length, definitely a song worth giving a few solid listens to. A continuous (yet far from monotonous) "doomy" presence undertoning an inspiring blend of distressed indignation and daunting fervour. This backdropped by a pulsating and enigmatic atmosphere, painting a portrait both serene and terrifying. The entire album is broken by short and strange "interludes" of sorts. This is none too outlandish as far as black metal goes, but fittingly serves to further the feelings of comfortable destitute that make this album.

I realize I have given nothing but vague adjectives, and absolutely no music specificity, but to be honest, that is essentially what I would chalk the experience up to be. A journey through the depths of aural emotion. An escape into an almost surreal landscape of contrasting thought and feeling. A landscape laden with despair and a sense of longing. Music, veiled. A definite recommendation.