Forest Metal didn’t fill the RMR crew with praise in 2025. You know, those bands dwelling mainly in the Bavarian and Austrian woodlands. Thorondir kind of made it over the threshold, albeit just barely. But Waldgeflüster got lost in the jungle of their own thoughts and emotions. And – in turn – then lost us. High expectations brutally squashed, that kind of thing.
But hey, never give up hope, right? Ellende are back with new material just when 2026 finally lurches into focus.1 If you recall, Todbringering made it onto our zine in 2024 with a remake of an earlier record. A record that took old, frugal tropes and revamped them in a meatier fashion in a shiny, new record.
So, Lukas Gosch, aka L.G., is back with his newest melancholy piece Zerfall.2 A record brought with limited guest input, featuring Klara Bachmair (Firtan) playing the violin on Zeitenwende Teil I and a solo interlude by one Peter Mairhofer (Norikum) on Zeitenwende Teil II. The to date unnamed P.F. yet again delivered a thunderingly great demonstration of drum power.
In a way, Todbringering already set the scene for future records with its feistier delivery of formerly frugal metal. If anything, Zerfall here wears melancholy and despair on its proverbial sleeve and delivers it with still more oomph and gusto. Red-blooded, meaty slabs on Black, Atmospheric, and Doom Black Metal roll in on tastily tuned tremolos. Hints to the old Gawds ov Black Metal trade places with more melodic interludes. You’ll find instances of the trademark haunted piano raising its mournful voice here and there (Zeitenwende Teil I, Verborgenes Inneres Leiden). And then, suddenly, some sort of ambient/progressive undercurrent suddenly awakens the demons of unexpected Post Doom shenanigans. And that goes hand-in-hand with the other bonus track, the cover of disgraced Jeremy Soule’s song Secunda.
But fear naught, those excursions are the exception, not the norm, and they’re well placed in this potpourri of forceful blackened fare and atmospheric, melancholic musings. Because, on top of all other juicy technicalities, Zerfall also sports a pretty snazzy flow throughout the record. Smooth breakdowns from red-hot metal to ambient parts and effortless transitions between songs (Wahrheit Teil I & II) come to mind. Sparse yet often excellent solos make their appearance, too. Notably, the one by Mairhofer, on Zeitenwende Teil II. A performance that woke the hangover-plagued geezers at the review desk up from the leftovers of too much party ‘n’ rock’n’roll.
After a while, the seemingly genuine anguish and woe really got to us and – in turn – made us check the lyrics sheet. Because, as always, the words thrown at ye through merciless rasps, screams, and half-whispered clears are almost impossible to understand. Especially when some of that is screamed at you in Austrian dialect. But for once, the RMR crew was glad we took the time. Zerfall is one genuine, dark, and dystopian piece. A journey to Despair Central, containing the musings of a tortured soul. Yet another lament of the dead and dying, but one that’s exceedingly well done.
So, in a way, Zerfall feels like a natural continuation, straight up from Todbringerin. The heaviness got kicked up a few notches whenever necessary. It was, however, the smooth production, this almost symbiotic coexistence between acoustic/ambient and the harshest metal that really sold us. A heavy-handed story of sorrow, agony, and torment, fitting the inevitable outcome. You won’t find a single moment of boredom on this record, but it will take several listens to really unearth all the darkly glowing gems Zerfall contains.
Put differently, the record sports complex, heavy fare made for true metal adepts with a taste for storytelling and highly technical heavy music. And that overarching complexity is pretty much the only negative on this disk. Small potatoes, as we say, because the rest is roaringly good.
Record Rating: 8/10 | Label: AOP Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 2 January 2026