En Ergô Einai is the second album from this atmospheric black metal duo from Switzerland consisting of Berg (All instruments) and Fluss (vocals, lyrics) and boy is it good, I mean really fucking good.

Of course, you will only enjoy this as much as me if you really like the shriller melodic black metal stylings of say Vallendusk, Woods of Desolation, Sühnopfer, Vindland, Vvilderness, Ghost Bath and more recently,  fellow Swiss duo Fluisteraars, Bâ’a and Glaciation and one time label mates (Naturmacht) Marrasmieli. Super layered,melodic, crisp, some times despondent black metal delivered in a mostly 8/8 pace with distant hawkish shrieks and some sparsely church-y choirs all come together for a enthralling if painfully short 33 minute treatise on atmospheric black metal perfection.

The 5 songs (between 5 and 9 minutes long), mostly get right to it other than a couple of short intros, and all deliver swirling, shimmering tremolo picked harmonies at largely breakneck speed, with just a few slower majestic segues here and there. The production appears to have beefed up from the rather thin debut, making for a more bombastic overall sound, and the hymnal choirs, though not used a whole bunch do add some regal austerity to the proceedings as heard on “Telôs”.

But every track is a simply killer, completely mesmerizing delivery of the style. I mean opener “Arkanum” has killer melodies galore throughout , sprightly 5 minute mark of “Stein Auf Stein” is simply gorgeous, “Aargesang (Aare II)” is furiously harmonic, “Entelechie” is more controlled and closer “Telôs” uses the choirs (which seemed more utilized on the debut and which I wish were used more) to great effect, with a super peppy late song jaunt to boot, adding to an  already phenomenal song.

While Marrasmieli’s  Between Land and Sky is a shoo in for my year end list, En Ergô Einai will certainly be in the conversation as the year draws to a close.

[Visit the band's website]

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