I’ve been in a weird mood lately, things haven’t been catching my ear, which can be attested to the mountain of material that I could write about. But I got this promo the other day and I can’t stop listening to it, going on three days it’s been in rotation already. The ‘this’ that I’m talking about is Aussichtslos and their blistering third album Schicksalstotschlag. Say that three times fast… I dare you.

All kidding and my psychology aside, I’m quite taken with this one. It has tons of pomp and circumstance, it’s bombastic and militant. A rousing album that’ll have you trying to sing along (even if you don’t know the language) I know because I caught myself.

“Am hohen Ross” is the first track and it gets pretty quick from the get-go, fast-paced; mid-paced blasting, thrashy bits… it’s literally the fastest song on the album. Near the middle you get sort of an idea of what Aussichtslos are throwing down, it’s here that the feeling and tone of the album are set, mid-paced precision Black Metal, it has a sort of Underground Resistance feeling to it, but then they go full-blown Dissection “Where Dead Angels Lie” towards tracks end.

I have to talk about my absolute favorite track “Brachland”, it starts with a single guitar and drum beat, it’s a slow battle-scarred iron creature. For it’s 5:10 minute run it manages to become a Black Metal Bolt Thrower workout. It’s an incredibly heavy centerpiece to the record as a whole.

“Verwoben” and “ Im Schützengraben” flesh out what I suppose is the first side. Rolling thunder on menacing winds they collide to create a whirlwind of cold as-ice Black Metal, mid-paced so as to meter out total destruction.

I couldn’t help but notice that Schicksalstotschlag has a 60% rating on Metal Archives, it’s a totally unfair rating in my opinion. Black Metal doesn’t have to be thousands of beats per second to be effective, and this is proven in the title track, with it’s evenhanded marching tempo, it’s unsettling and exciting at the same time.

“Infektion” is one of my favorite tracks, it has this thrashy section mid-song that’s pulverizing and those tasty riffs just add to it. “Ein Stück” comes and goes, at 3:39 minutes it’s a bit of a filler. But that’s OK because “Gotteswahn” comes striding in like a fucking king reminding me of the majestic  I album Between Two Worlds, that beat is just locked in. Fortunately they keep the cannonball rolling with “Hochverrat” a 9:13 evenhanded Black and Roll machine that absolutely crushes, as should be the case. It’s the perfect closer for what is a near perfect Black Metal album.

The production is top-notch and each instrument is prominent in the mix, each riff and chord are like tiny knives cutting at your eardrums, it really is a moving experience, capturing a Blood and Honor feeling in a very Austrian manner.

I love this album, it ranks with Kawir, Dissection, and Blaze of Perdition. It’s raw, stripped down Black Metal, it harkens back to the glory days of Satyricon and Emperor with that buzz saw guitar tone.  Schicksalstotschlag is a journey into the heart of Austrian Black Metal like a slower version of Mystic Circle. I definitely recommend this one.

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