Ellende - Ellenbogengesellschaft (2022)

Completely blowing us away, today we have Ellende’s latest opus “Ellenbogengesellschaft”. As one of the most anticipated releases of 2022 for us, this album delivers nearly 50 minutes of highly melancholic atmospheric Post-Black Metal unlike anything you’ve heard before. L.G manages to improve the band’s sound by introducing additional elements while keeping its raw core untouched.

The elegant intro “Ich bin” nicely sets a solemn mood that is quickly elevated with “Unsterblich”. In this relentless track we get our first dose of the band’s signature blistering aggression nicely adorned with subtle atmospherics and dramatic tempo changes into lush melodic passages. The mood of the track completely changes when it transitions to weeping guitar leads and dreamy choral arrangements.

With the band’s music being highly cathartic and emotional, the new choir additions to their sound make it even more dramatic and engaging. Pieces like “Ruhelos” (featuring J.J. form Harakiri for the Sky” and “Someday” are just magical thanks to the extra atmosphere. However, it is not all gimmicks as the band’s signature rawness and temperamen are always present, as tracks like “Freier Fall” and “Abschied” demonstrate.

Closing with the melodic “Verletzlich”, we are left quite impressed on how a few tweaks to a band’s sound can take them to completely new heights. Ellende was already a high quality band with great songwriting skills and a knack for the highly melancholic, but with “Ellenbogengesellschaft” they managed to raise the stakes to a whole new level. Be sure to grab a copy of this brilliant release if you are a fan of Atmospheric Black/Post-Black Metal.

Label: AOP Records

Release: September 30th, 2022

Genre: Atmospheric Post-Black Metal

Country: Austria