Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
Release Date: 19th November 2021
Label: Season of Mist
Pre-Order
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Extreme Metal.
FFO: Agrypnie, Wolves in the Throne Room, Imperium Dekadenz, Wiegedood.
Review By: Jay Creepy
Okay, so I love surprises. As I settled down, volume to the max ready for some insane and out of control hyperactive noise to batter my ear drums senseless, I was met by something totally different upon the dark lanes of metal.
Germany’s Der Weg Einer Freiheit are an absolute other level, having built a world of their own. They exist somewhere among the forests and sand dunes (depending how you visualize the kingdom of metal) strictly to experiment with sounds. This is their fifth album, having been active for over 12 years. Labeled as an extreme or death metal band, I hear something far deeper.
Finisterre II acts as an introduction into this edifice of sonic beauty. Gently strumming harmonies accompanied by almost Ron Grainer (Omega Man) or Ennio Morricone soundtrack touches builds you into track two, entitled Monument to where the song continues washing you down gently, yet you sense something is coming over the horizon as the rhythms carefully build, before bathing you with fire as the blasting vocals and violent guitars suddenly smash you in the face with a sheet of glass. Vocalist Nikita Kamprad comes off as an aggressive Dani Filth, fuelled by Relentless energy drinks, but without the theatrical voice changes. In fact the theatrical comes in the wonderful construction, there is the beginning, a brutal middle, then a steady wind down to the end, which ill prepares you for Am Rande der Dunkelheit, wherein awaits madness (and I don’t mean Suggs is going to knock on your door) Named after a book by Barbara Erskine (or maybe that’s a coincidence), whom I haven’t read anything by, but apparently her works has druids, shape-shifting and such. Translated as At the Edge of Darkness, it is exactly how you’d expect it to sound, but by the six-minute mark, the stadium filling extreme metal opera again implodes to harmonies. This album is totally incredible because you have no idea where it’s going to end up!!!
Immortal pulsates with a drum machine beat and old school 70s/ early 80s influenced bass grooves. Again this is a steady build up, revolving into a NIN kind of thing and with sung vocals until the keyboard driven backgrounds amp up then the screams begin. Morgan starts like many of the others, has the breaks into melody, but then takes you into another realm midway. It’s so hard to describe in words because Der Weg Einer Freiheit communicate by music in a language almost ancient that it touches your craving soul deep inside. I cannot say any more, other than Gegen das Licht is just sublime.
There is so much going on behind what should be simple tracks. I think they are unfairly tagged as extreme yet that I suppose opens a whole niche audience to their magnificent crusades through music. They are so far beyond black, death or extreme metal and I guarantee many listeners will choke up and have tears in their eyes due to the fact this is beautiful. 
(5 / 5)
