3 out of 5

Label: Nordvis Produktion

Produced by: Winterherz (mixed by)

Sticking to the larger splinters of rock and metal, black metal is probably still one of the subgenres in which I’m least experienced. My forays have also mostly been to those groups who’ve shown up sporadically on non-aligned labels, or who nab a notable review or somesuch, suggesting (to me) that I’m likely hearing highlights and not standards. That was approximately how I came to Bergraven – who I’d essentially call grunge rock black metal – and that led me to some of my first “unguided” explorations, by poking at the Nordvis Produktion label.

Waldgeflüster has released previously with Nordvis going back to about 2016; Mondscheinsonaten was their third release with the imprint and their seventh overall, and by the time I dropped in to listen, I was like… maybe I’m experienced in this subgenre after all? Or at least my ears had adapted, as Mondscheinsonaten, for all its howling and rattling percussion and reverb and another black metal standards, sounded downright poppy.

That’s… not the right term. But the group is hailed as shaping the more melodic variants of the scene, and if I sidestep to a genre with which I am very familiar – instrumental metal – Mondscheinsonaten / the band sounds much like a lot of instrumental metal groups from this time who shaved off its edges and produced “pretty” metal music, which I am semi-derogatorily calling poppy… by comparison.

I do like a lot of these acts, but an issue I find with them carries over to Waldgeflüster’s album: a lack of variation. Brought on not necessarily by the content – Mondscheinsonaten impresses with how wide it swings in terms of metal, some folk influence, post-rock, ambient, grunge, etc. – but by a production blanket that emphasizes a glossiness and same-soundiness to all the levels. That’s a purposeful part of the sound to achieve that prettiness, but my ears have so much trouble appreciating it; I tend to hear it as undercutting the potential power of a recording. And it’s a feedback loop: groups, like Waldgeflüster, at least on this album, play into the gloss, holding back on pace and intensity to stay within a certain range.

Past an opening ambient yawn, Der Steppenwolf kicks off, introducing a structure we’ll hear again and again: a very goth, screamy opening that transitions into smoother rock. Yeah, I’ll admit I dig the screamy bits more – allowing for my production quibbles – but on this tune especially, because our ears are fresh, the way the group seamlessly, as a whole, switches into rock mode, with different tempos, different playing styles, different singing, is truly awesome. It just never quite achieves the punctuation I’d want, and also, to my ears, edges into sounds-like territory – sounds like Red Sparowes; sounds like Linkin Park – instead of forging some more consistent cohesion of what’s tossed into the pot.

Mondscheinsonaten, while twisting and turning its black metal into more generally accessible styles, ends up feeling a bit predictable; like baby’s first metal album. But: that can be an awesome thing for getting people into the genre, and the skill it took to blend all this stuff so smoothly cannot and should not be discounted.