Geist – Der Ungeist
review by Alan Oliver
Geist is a one man Black Metal band from Israel and this is the debut full length from Ratimus the blackened soul behind the music. Just taking a glance at the Germanic track titles you know this is going to be Northern European in feel, with more than an air of Satanic atmosphere, and it doesn‘t disappoint!
After a short intro, the first track ‘Mord’ hits you with a cold wall of hissing guitars making you instantly aware that this is not an overproduced affair. The sound is more like something from the underground or back in the early 90’s, due to the album being recorded in a live environment. The vocals kick in and have that distant, echoey atmosphere that are just the right side of being lost in the mix, unlike the drums that are barely discernable, but luckily that is rectified on later tracks. This first track sets the stall for the rest of the album with it’s changes in pace from spinning buzz saw to heavy chugging, almost, doomy, riffage. The lead off track is finished nicely with an organ finale which is both melancholic and mournful. ‘Von Blut’ is another pace changing track but even faster, awash with riffage with a use of effects like a backdrop of howling wind and also switching from mono to stereo for that retro speaker to speaker feel. This can also be experienced on ‘Taub’ with use of the wind backdrop to strange glass/metallic tinkling noises that foreruns a heavy mid paced riff start, that again, changes pace with a fast and slow combination to its construction but strangely ending with what sounds like footsteps and lift doors opening in a hospital. This pretty much sums up the album in style, well used tempo changes, vocals that go from tortured screams to at times mournful howls, a down tuned buzzing bass and the drums, that when they are higher in the mix, range from machine gun pummelling to chilling rhythm. Add in the swift but morose short instrumental ‘Tot’ and this completes a well rounded release.
This is nothing new I won’t kid you otherwise, why try fixing an unbroken method, but it is what I crave in Black Metal these days, something that doesn’t sound like an over produced Broadway soundtrack. There is a hint of Judas Iscariot about this release, maybe not in epic atmosphere, if it had then I would have given a higher score, but nonetheless it is there. It is basic and cold to the ear, the sort of style that drew me into the music 20 odd years ago now. ‘Der Geist’ is raw, cold, unholy Metal from the Holy Land and spitting this bile from within has to put this on the higher plateau of blasphemy. 7/10
Geist – Der Ungesit is available from Total Rust Music.
Leave A Comment