black metal
Ok, I almost made a little mistake there. The first time I wanted to listen to this album, I loaded it into my media player and pressed play. After the first, brilliant, song was over, I suddenly heard something familiar. It fitted right in with the rest of the music, like a dark instrumental intermission. But soon it became a bit too familiar and for a few seconds I thought Zeit had copies pieces of one of my own tracks. I was already preparing to ask them about it when I noticed that this was not a Zeit song, this was an actual remix of one of my own songs, one I had not heard in two years or so. My media player was still shuffling. So I tried again and now I want to make an intro for Zeit.
Zeit is a German trio that produces doom and sludge inspired black metal and quite frankly, I have to say that these are currently my favorite black metal act. I got acquainted with them a few years ago, when they sent me the awesome 'Trümmer' ep. Since then, I have been following them, plus they play at a fictional festival in my upcoming book. So yeah, you can bet your ass that I was looking forward to this full-length debut.
'Verzerrt' opens the album in a highly convincing way. Blast-beats, haunted screams and flesh tearing riffs almost immediately blast through the speakers before the band drags in the earlier mentioned sludge and doom influences. 'Rand' follows that example, and so do most of the other tracks. 'Nichts' begins with a weird riff and somehow turns into on of my absolute favorites in this genre, an epic piece of blackened doom.
I'm especially fond of the level of variation on this album. Sheer speed is alternated with crushing doom and vulgar sludge riffs. Then there are some other strange, surprising riffs, like the one at the end of 'Trüb'. You don't hear that kind of guitar play everyday. I can't put my finger on it but it's unique and certainly worth checking out. Zeit clearly shows that they're not afraid to cross the borders of their genres and in my opinion, that is a good thing.
I think Zeit fits quite well in the current black metal scene. They can stand next to bands like Alkerdeel and Wiegedood, two Belgian bands who blend black metal with sludge and a raunchy, filthy atmosphere. Just listen to the mainly slow but pulverizing 'Welter' or the cold but immersive 'Kalt'. Or better yet, listen to the entire album. Get your hands on this gem because it's one of the most interesting extreme metal albums this year.
Serge
Zeit is a German trio that produces doom and sludge inspired black metal and quite frankly, I have to say that these are currently my favorite black metal act. I got acquainted with them a few years ago, when they sent me the awesome 'Trümmer' ep. Since then, I have been following them, plus they play at a fictional festival in my upcoming book. So yeah, you can bet your ass that I was looking forward to this full-length debut.
'Verzerrt' opens the album in a highly convincing way. Blast-beats, haunted screams and flesh tearing riffs almost immediately blast through the speakers before the band drags in the earlier mentioned sludge and doom influences. 'Rand' follows that example, and so do most of the other tracks. 'Nichts' begins with a weird riff and somehow turns into on of my absolute favorites in this genre, an epic piece of blackened doom.
I'm especially fond of the level of variation on this album. Sheer speed is alternated with crushing doom and vulgar sludge riffs. Then there are some other strange, surprising riffs, like the one at the end of 'Trüb'. You don't hear that kind of guitar play everyday. I can't put my finger on it but it's unique and certainly worth checking out. Zeit clearly shows that they're not afraid to cross the borders of their genres and in my opinion, that is a good thing.
I think Zeit fits quite well in the current black metal scene. They can stand next to bands like Alkerdeel and Wiegedood, two Belgian bands who blend black metal with sludge and a raunchy, filthy atmosphere. Just listen to the mainly slow but pulverizing 'Welter' or the cold but immersive 'Kalt'. Or better yet, listen to the entire album. Get your hands on this gem because it's one of the most interesting extreme metal albums this year.
Serge
