Review: DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT “Finisterre”

DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT “Finisterre”
Season of Mist records

This is just a fleeting glimpse inside the bewitching black magic box of tricks known as Finisterre, the new album from Der Weg Einer Freiheit.

‘Skepsis Part II’ is one of the five songs that make up this new release from the German outfit. If Der Weg Einer Freiheit are familiar to you then you’ll have some idea what to expect, a dynamic scorched earth post black metal composition, kind of sums it up.

I’ve just sampled the one track so far but taking it as a guide, I think it’s safe to say this album will not disappoint.

Founded in 2009 by guitarist Nikita Kamprad and vocalist Tobias Jaschinsky, Der Weg Einer Freiheit generated much interest with their self-titled debut album in 2009. Unstille (2012) and Stellar (2015) further helped cement their reputation as enterprising and creative extreme metal artists. The third album was significant as it was the first with Nikita at the mic following the departure of co-founding member Tobias.

As for ‘Skepsis Part II’ Nikita explains:

“In comparison to the quite complex and progressive instrumental ‘Skepsis Part I’, ‘Skepsis Part II’ is a more straightforward composition, in which epic melodies are aggressively building up until the doomy grand finale. Ultimately, we consider both parts of ‘Skepsis’ to be connected and forming one extensive musical piece.”

So as Nikita tells us, Part II of these two five-minute aural attacks features vocals, and suitably strained and serrated they are too, sung of course in their native German.

Finisterre is the Teutonic thrashers’ fourth studio release and its thrusting shards that veer between dynamism and despair enter the kind of Spartan terrain inhabited by the likes of Dark Funeral and Wolves in the Throne Room. Judged on this sneak preview Der Weg Einer Freiheit have once again kept the black bar at a height beyond the reach of many others.