Ferne Tage
Artist names are often used when someone wants to hide his real identity. In some cases, that might not be enough and the artist decides to remain completely anonymous. There are as many reasons for this decision as artists, but in some cases the history of the band members is the trigger. Ära Krâ is one of the bands, that seem to have this background for their decision, but why do they want to hide their history? Read on to get the full story.
I think nearly everyone will remember the discussions about Der Weg Einer Freiheit which were criticised for having played in a metalcore band named Fuck Your Shadow From Behind, being short-haired and daring to play black metal out of a clear sky. Although the members of Ära Krâ wanted to stay anonymous somewhere the information was leaked, that the other vocalist of FYSFB Adrian Schler is the one doing the vocals for Ära Krâ.
With this background information it really is not possible to listen to the record without any prejudice, especially if you really don’t like core. Der Weg Einer Freiheit shows, that the past means nothing and I decided to give the record a shot. The first song called September starts fast, technical and dominated by death metal patterns, which immediately reminds of the music they played in their former band. I nearly decided to banish the tracks out of my playing list, as there nearly is no black metal in it, but as I wanted to review the record I decided not to do so.
In general, you can’t find pure black metal elements, at least not in their true form, on this record. It seems, that Ära Krâ try to bust the borders of the genre to create some new one. Ferne Tage is a mixture of black metal, metalcore and death metal, whereas black metal includes styles like post-black metal as well. The clearest element of the aforementioned post-black (or “urban”) metal are the lyrics, as you can see crystall clear while reading the lyrics to Odem. As you progress through the record the amount of black metal riffing ascends and this surprisingly fits quite well with the -core elements.
There are passages in which the comparission with Agrypnie imposes on your mind, as the shouts of Adrian (Ära Krâ) and Torsten (Agrypnie) sound quite similiar, but there are some structural/tonal similiarities as well. The major advantage of the record is the bravery they had while composing their songs. As mentioned before, they don’t really like the borders of the genre and so they try to combine many things on Ferne Tage. The songs Eos & Eis and Neuschnee shall be exemplarily mentioned. The first due to the progressivity and the second for fondly using accordion. This is perfected through the crystall clear production and the skillful style of playing their instruments without any failures.
Conclusion
Ferne Tage is a really special piece of music. They try to combine black metal with metalcore which surely is blasphemic, but it seems to work quite good. The steady screams are contrasting the guitar play which is full of melodies and as you get used to the calmer parts there are some blast beats thrashing through the sad, urban atmosphere. The songs are composed quite well and varied, but they need some time to develop. Sadly, after you heard the record several times after this point it begins to fall again. It’s really difficult to rate the album, as there are those disturbing -core elements (in my ears disturbing) vs. the brilliant song structures and ideas. The record is available on the bandcamp page of Ära Krâ so why don’t you judge yourself?
Rating: 77/100
Date of release: 15 April 2011
Ära Krâ – Bandcamp (inkl. Download)
Tracklist:
| 1. | September | 03:56 | |
| 2. | Odem | 05:23 | |
| 3. | Verschlafene Tage | 04:51 | |
| 4. | Neuschnee | 04:25 | |
| 5. | Eos & Eis | 05:29 | |
| 6. | Licht | 05:28 | |
| 7. | Flieder | 06:04 | |
| Total Playing Time: | 35:36 | ||
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- So Hideous, My Love - To Clasp A Fallen Wish With Broken Fingers EP Cover |
- CAPA - Shallow Towers | threnodies
