Welmoed - Ask & Embla (2023)

Crafting a truly unique and powerful mixture between heaviness and dreaminines, today we have Dutch project Welmoed and their debut release “Ask & Embla”. Featuring five tracks and over 33 minutes of Atmospheric Post-Black/Shoegaze Metal/Rock music, this release creates a very engaging and fragile atmosphere thanks to ethereal keyboards and dramatic vocal arrangements.

The album sets a very hypnotic pace with the shoegaze-y opener “Naga'' and its dramatic tempo changes alongside crafty instrumentation. While the opener is pretty good, one starts thinking that this will be just another one of those Post-Black Metal releases as the intense tremolo picking sets in. This impression continues as “Ask & Embla” continues the release, until a magical change happens as angelic female vocals are introduced and the whole vibe instantly changes.

With the melancholic vocals of Veerle Kiliaan, tracks like “De Zee en Haar Heimlijk Rijk” are just sublime. Transmitting a certain sense of elation that is quite hard to describe, but amazing to experience. “Legioen” takes things even further with lush instrumentation, and a very solemn progression with plenty of captivating moments once the guitars, keyboards, and vocals come front and center. These last two tracks are some of the most awesome songs we have heard in quite a while.

The duality of the aggressive and melancholic sides of the band is clearly present in the dramatic closer “Verlossend Vuur”. We have been listening to this release non-stop as it is quite intoxicating due to its piercing atmospherics and well timed tempo changes. Overall, “Ask & Embla” is one hell of a release that contributes new ideas and a different spin on a couple of genres that are getting overplayed these days. Be sure to keep an eye and ear out for these guys in the future.

Label: Via Nocturna

Release: July 28th, 2023

Genre: Atmospheric Post-Black/Shoegaze Metal/Rock

Country: Netherlands