With a ring of ancient keys and a cheap, stinking whale oil lantern set aside beyond an iron door this dungeon of candlewick smoke and expensive jenever mulls with the fresh waft of vomit as the gate remains agape at its coughing-hot entrance while Asten, Netherlands-based atmospheric black/doom metal duo Urfaust begin their procession, sinking down slow into their null demesne in the afterlife. No less doomed but now dismantled of any thralldom per their woes, ‘Untergang‘ finds the band feeding back into the lurch where they’d begun, a cursed creature capable of entirely transfixing and unforgettable laments reeling out one last dirge. If nothing else they’ve gone out, given a final listless waltz, upon a decidedly signature plane which doesn’t stray too far aback of their ambitious development within the last decade yet feels like an intense exaggeration of their core Dionysian lawlessness.

Urfaust formed circa 2003 as a solo ambient project headed by guitarist/vocalist IX who was soon joined by drummer VRDRBR after the first demo, then shifting their style toward an abstract form of atmospheric black metal which was tangentially related to black/doom metal eerie and folkloric muse while likewise being oft accused of a depressive/suicidal black metal bent over their first decade of development. Much of the history of the band’d been considered well enough back when I’d reviewed their fifth full-length album (‘The Constellatory Practice‘, 2018) which’d ultimately landed as #12 on my Top 50 Albums of 2018 that year yet in truth my own fandom began back in 2012 when their compilation album ‘Ritual Music for the True Clochard‘ (2012) would serve as an idea collection of what they’d accomplished in their first decade. It wasn’t until later that I’d gone back and spent serious time with their first three albums and by then ‘Empty Space Meditation‘ (2016) hit, serving as one of my favorite releases of that year [See: #27 on Best of 2016]. — Point being that I’ve been a fan of this band for some time and they’ve helped to shape my expectations when it comes to uniquely voiced atmospheric black/doom metal and various experimental nodes beyond the brilliancies of Lugubrum, (early) Bethlehem, Abruptum and such. Their work should be remembered as non-canonical in its idiosyncratic performative value, influential for its atmospheric theme-crafting and abstract in terms of exaggerating into unmistakable singular sentience.

‘Untergang‘ comes as the seventh and final full-length from the band and their second record in the last few years to fall outside of my radar until the week of release. So, it bears briefly exploring the missing link and perhaps the most ambitious release from the band to date, ‘Teufelsgeist‘, as not only the logical upcharge beyond album number five back in 2020 but a conceptual record themed around the stages of intoxication with a focus on unique orchestration. It was also their point of passion to endorse/sell their own custom-distilled gin alongside the synthesizer-buzzed dirges of said album as the duo continued to approach their work with the deeply resonant layers one might find in any recent release from labelmates The Ruins of Beverast. That isn’t what album number seven ultimately brings, opting for a more roughened state of grittiest floating guitar gloom and the pensive, outrageous vocal centerpiece the longtime fan’d want from IX‘s mind and the throat connected. I don’t have the faintest notion as to why they’d end their activity here but I will say that this final album has me admiring its stature from two angles: First as a grimy follow-up to the miseries of ‘Der freiwillige Bettler‘ (2010) as well as a proper wrangling of the doomed and increasingly hypnotic potential they’d brought to ‘The Constellatory Practice‘, an album which hadn’t finished its thought entirely in its second half. That is to say that the sorrowful and deranged crumble of their sound has returned and here it speaks to a black vat of malaise and mournful acts which, of course I’ve found myself entirely tipped into.

A series of fading lights experienced as the high-proof blood drains from an imminent corpse ‘Untergang‘ is collectively a draining sensation, a downward floating psyche heard echoing through the walls of an abandoned wine cave and I suppose this won’t fully sink in until Side B has run off the rails a bit (“Vernichtung”) and the gloom of the album has rattled through the skull long enough. To start the amp-ringing nox of opener/title track “Untergang” pulls the mind back, drags the hackles and the scalp down to a subterranean dwell and perhaps a familiar one if you’d broken into the band’s heinous emotional repertoire with their third album or nearby. That isn’t to say this is a piece of reflection or regression but that we are back in that bleakest place, far from the cathedralesque venting of more recent releases. Keyboards/synth are still an important part of this album but here their subtle haunt is there to brace the cavern with just enough light. Raw guitars and skeletally shook distorted organ-grinding meets the ghostly howls of “Höllenkosmos” just as quickly, showcasing the more laid back and minimal approach of the duo as their obsession with atmosphere and pastiche still proves just as thrilling as their more riff-and-wail mode. Between “Untergang” and “Leere” it becomes more clear that we are getting IX‘s mental register here in many different forms, already displaying admirable variety in what is ultimately a listless, crestfallen eerie thus far.

The mid-to-late portion of the album centers around two key pieces to start, the mind-bending and gaunt faced drone of “Vernichtung” as it plods forth before disintegrating and closing opus “Abgrund” which is undoubtedly the most effective song of the full listen, especially as we fade in and out of consciousness beyond “Leere”. Distant as the vocals are we get the geist within the walls, the daimonian rant in the left ear and the sauntering de-escalation of the spirit-drenched mind as the ~9 minute closer drains on, not only one of the better songs from Urfaust in recent memory but a fitting point of exit even if we’re miles away from the loud and howling weirding of thirteen years ago.

There we rest with the gin-soaked corpse and enjoy it repeatedly, too, as a ~39 minute runtime and an expertly arranged running order make this one of the more approachable and least ‘challenging’ listens in the band’s discography. As was the case with ‘Teufelsgeist‘, I’d found myself leaving the wandering hum and sickly wail of ‘Untergang‘ flowing, the full listen unaffected by atmo-bloat or any too repetitious scenery as I’d left it on repeat for hours on end. Between the well-curated cover artwork and the high standards for design, both audio and visually speaking, this record more than meets the covetable and striking climes expected as a complete LP experience. There’ll be more to consider when the physical item is in hand, if the lyrics are included and such, but for now the thrill of riding the edge of death with Urfaust one last time is just as well the best overall experience of this month and a notable one for the year thus far. A very high recommendation.

*physical editions released August 11th, 2023

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