ninehertz

Into the Endless Chaos have achieved that label status level where you listen to everything they put out, regardless of what style the latest record purports to be because they have proven themselves consistently for a prolonged period. So even though they're more black metal than where my tastes centre around, I'll always play their new releases because, for one, they vary styles, two they obviously have an ear on the (typically but not exclusively German-Austrian) ground for the best new artists and three - even when it is black metal, its of the most interesting and divergent around. Which brings us neatly to Ara, which proves all of this perfectly.

Mutterseelenallein und aus eigener Kraft is a mystical album of black metal, doom, folk and dungeon synth. There's a magical air surrounding it from the off, black metal but through restrained guitars, shuffling drums and drawled vocals. All the pointers are to the aesthetic of that genre, but its consistent, considered pace is equally of raw doom, and the repeating beat brings forth mesmerising tricks. The self described introspective soundscapes and emotional force is clear and present.

It lacks venom to be truly black metal, its simplicity being a key focus - the drawn back instrumentation is attractive, a sense of vulnerability in its musical narrative. Take Leben and its guitars that practically chime like a calling bell ring, and vocals that at first could be described as Lanegan-esque, at the end of a night on the whiskey perhaps, later deteriorating into spewed out from the swamp blackened voices. The track doesn't move far but there's an intoxicating air emanating from its unusualness. Later in the album it moves more towards the fantastical realms of dungeon-synth, while Vollgesogen mit Blut has a gothic air, faint and ethereal; it could almost be a lost hidden gem of the 80s post-punk scene.

Ara have created a rich potion of black metal, dungeon synth and traditional folk, not an untrodden path by any means but I've not heard many feel so authentic as here. It is a truly captivating listen.