The fourth album from Germany’s Thormesis, Freier Wille – Freier Geist, was my first exposure to this band, but that album was on and off my year end list for 2015, though it ultimately didn’t make the cut. The follow up, 2017s Trümmerfarben, didn’t strike me as positively for some reason and I didn’t even review it, but album number six will have no problem ending up somewhere on my year end list.

Thormesis play a form of gorgeous melodic black metal that has some nods to Taake, but throws in some depressive, emotional somber elements (a black metal Sentenced comes to mind, listen to “One Last Tear for Every Burned Soul” and “Deadened Skies”) that come together to form something pretty awesome when it hits on all cylinders. The balance between blistering but melodic black metal, and more somber, rending elements if perfect here, just listen to opener “Sonnen” with its mournful opening gait which morphs into a wondrously emotive tremelo pick blast beat. The pained howls mix with typically German, austere,  clean vocals, also displaying  the balance perfectly.

From there, the next 6 tracks tread the line between depressive hues and searing melodic black metal with typical German efficiently and clinical precision. Whether its second track “Thy Morbid Drunken Ways” and its dour lope and brilliant mid song Ghostbath ish blast beat through personal favorite “Chor der Toten” (that fucking blast beat at 4:07 is utter black metal perfection, if short lived), to closer, the almost 8 minute, pure despondency of “Deadened Skies”, it’s all  superbly done, every aspect. They can transition so smoothly from despondent, piano laden goth plod to rending, wilting black metal  (“Zeichen zum Grund”), and back (another favorite “Lichtermeer”), it’s often breathtaking.

Thromesis have absolutely knocked it out of the park with The Sixth, so much so, I need to go back and check out Trümmerfarben, to see if I missed something and I was way off the mark on how I felt about it, as this is sooooo good, I’m having a hard time fathoming the disparity.

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