Written by: Nameless-n00b_86
As the temperatures at home slowly drop, I find peace in dark but beautiful post-black metal. World Fire is a relatively new Austrian post-black band that wants to make a name for itself in the critics’ scene with its second album. Transcendence Shadow Romance. This is fitting, as I too am trying to make a name for myself on the other side of the review process – both literally and figuratively. I eagerly ripped open my very first promo album, which featured several guest appearances from bands such as Harakiri for heaven And Ellende (among others). Although I didn’t expect much for World Firethey were slightly raised due to the association with such heavyweights of the genre. Can World Fire achieve the same level of quality and – perhaps more importantly – stand out from the competition?
A somewhat paradoxical duality immediately becomes apparent when one hears Transcendence Shadow RomanceHalf of the album consists of melodic black metal, mostly with medium-fast tremolo riffs and a painful atmosphere similar to NONEThe other half expands the sound of the debut album Creation with soulful instrumental sections in the style of Not requiredOn paper, none of these components are particularly new or remarkable. However, what Transcendence Shadow Romance The ease with which it switches between the black metal and the quiet instrumental passages is impressive. “Prana,” for example, begins with a simple choral melody that leads into a post-black verse and then eases the transition to the string arrangement in the middle. Like a pair of tightly intertwined ropes, both parts are stronger together than they would be individually.
If I had to choose a single word to describe Transcendence Shadow Romanceit would be “diverse.” Founder, songwriter, and vocalist Bernhard Zieher has a knack for using many different tools in a way that feels natural. Many of the songs utilize an array of pianos, strings, choral backing vocals, synths, and acoustic guitars to add emotion to the music. There’s also a range of tempos within and between songs. While none have a truly funereal tempo, some are slower and tend to feature more of the aforementioned alternate instrumentation (“Melancholia Urgewalt,” “Resilienz,” and “Broken Crosses”). Others are faster and more guitar-heavy, reminding the listener that this is still black metal at heart (“Apotropaion” and “Tiefste Rast”). Then, of course, there are the two interludes. In my experience, instrumental interludes in an album usually serve one of two roles: pleasant palate cleanser or pointless distraction. Fortunately, both “Ornament” and “Serenade” fall into the first category and contribute in a small way to the overall atmosphere and flow of the album.
As refreshing as the instrumentation is, the element that could benefit from more variety is the vocals. No less than four guest singers are featured in Transcendence Shadow Romance: PG by Groza to “Apotropaion”, JJ by Harakiri for heaven/Barren on “Prana” Silvano from Regnum Noricum on “Broken Crosses” and LG by Ellende on “Tiefste Rast”. That’s a lot of guests considering that the total running time is only 39 minutes and spreads over 9 tracks (7 full-length songs). While they certainly don’t detract from the record, they all sing with harsh vocals that don’t add much more than Zieher’s growling and screaming. That there are relatively few tracks with only the main singer undermines the identity of this young band to some extent. Moreover, this kind of highly melodic and emotional black metal can be enhanced by clean vocals –Front‘s beautiful album Aamunkoi Last year’s album is a great example – so the lack of a guest singer to complement Zieher seems like a missed opportunity.
Despite these minor concerns, almost everything that World Fire Attempts are well received, which is surprising for such a young band. They have managed to write a noteworthy album and play alongside the more established groups who lent their voices Transcendence Shadow Romance while carving out their own style in the genre. It is a strong performance, only marred by some slight reservations (and the fact that Steel removed the 4th key from all n00b keyboards after Holdeneye I’ve worked through the program). I can highly recommend this album to anyone who is interested in the softer side of black metal or who wants to get a taste of the autumn mood in the northern hemisphere.
Reviews: 3.5/5.0
DR: WAV | Verified format: WAVY
label: Self-publishing
Sites: weltenbrandt.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/weltenbrandt
Worldwide publications: 25 August 2024
