I could take my review of Totengeflüster's debut album and change the title and a few details. This German symphonic black metal band, whose name translates to "whispers of the dead" by the way, have repeated same pros and cons on this sophomore full-length album.

"In the mists of transience" is the title in English, and this tale can be about soul-wandering (like reincarnation), but also about vampirism. Anyway you slice it, it can be about dissatisfaction in present existence. The artwork is, again, fantastic and highly detailed, and done by a band member. There's also a boxset released, with a artbook which must look absolutely magnificent. The regular CD version comes in a 6-panel digipak.

The music is about heavy riffs (palm-muted ones sound heavier than open-string, which is not a surprise) or tremolo six-string playing, with occasional lead guitar melody thrown in. The synthesizer work consists of many things. The symphonic and soundtrack-ish elements are built from sound sample banks, I presume, and do not sound too artificial these days. Piano, now that's a must! And also my least favourite element, to tell the truth. There are synth mats, choir sounds, plus Burzum style cold "drop" sound utilized, plus more. Majority of the melodiousness comes from the synthesizers, while I certainly want more of the guitar ones; synthesizer/guitar melodies total up in about 80 percent / 20 percent. The band actually manages to present some heinous soundscapes during the album, the thing that does not happen on many a horror music styled release, or band for that matter. But alas, sometimes this simply misses hooks, and becomes like mass that just flows by.

The vocals are varying. Mostly it is about demonic shrieks from wide, low to high spectrum. Grunts and growls are accompanied with clean low vocals. Sometimes the lyrics are spat out fast, reminding of Dani Filth of Cradle Of Filth. One song is in English, other are in the band's native tongue, which sound good with these kind of vocals. The bass is booming, and doesn't do anything else. The drums... oh the drums... They are the loudest element on the album. While the album lineup features a drummer, I am not sure at all, if it's him or are the drums machine-generated. At least they sound heavily triggered. Every kick drum sound sounds similar, and same goes with the snare and the tom drums. They sound so machiney when some other element is stripped off, as it happens here and there during the album. The cymbals sound better, at least. And because this is extreme metal, there's loads of double bass drumming and fast beats... The sound is simply thundering and too crammed. Calmer interludes and passages in the songs give at least some time for ears to rest.

Generally, while most of the stuff is familiar, here and there we get some things that sound more fresh. But are they really enough? Well, what one is looking for, depends on that. This is one of the stumbling stones of the genre: Who could eject some new blood in? Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Agathodaimon... And the list goes on. While 'Von purpurn blühender Dämmerung' is very much like COF, generally there is this German vibe going on, because Totengeflüster wouldn't be out of place on Prophecy Productions roster. I mean, many of the cornerstones were already laid in 1990s.

If any aforementioned band is in your top bands, you should give this band and album a chance, especially if you like German language. Just do not expect anything groundbreaking, but still, this is gothic/black horror metal crafted pretty well. The 2013 debut 'Vom Seelensterben' was promising, but this second album does not better a lot, or as I feel about it, enough.

Rating: 7- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/17/2018 13:22