Imagine a man with a tortured soul, he’s in pain and hurting. Do you have an image? As soon as the album started, an image formed inside my mind of a tortured man who’s in pain and on a Journey.
On the Bandcamp page of the band, the artists describes the album as :
“Wolf’s Hour” is a journey into the grim hour of fear and ruin, passing strange yet familiar dreams, roaming the eternal wealth of harvest season; a folklore of life, death, and transformation. A pagan’s inner travel through poetry and – ultimately, the shapeless light of spiritual mysticism.
Nahtrunar’s Bandcamp
That description is fitting for the feeling it gave me, and as this man has his journey, I also had mine through the tracks of this beautiful album. This is a review on the new album Wolfsstunde by Austrian black metal band Nahtrunar.
Journey
The album Wolfsstunde contains 6 tracks with a total playtime of 46 minutes.
- Fund
- Odal I (Interludium)
- Wolfsstunde
- Neun Weihenächte
- Odal II (Interludium)
- Alte Heiligkeit
For me, as told above, this album felt like a journey and as such this review will describe the feelings I had during that journey.
Fund
Fund which means finding/discover in German is a good description of the song, it’s a discovery of the tortured man and his feelings. Those feelings are made clear by the icy vocals. This album was my first introduction with the band from Austria, and I’m glad I discovered it.
Odal I (Interludium)
After the discovery (Fund) comes the first interlude with the title Odal I. It gives a mystic and mysterious vibe with the heavy rumble, it gave me a feeling that I was on my way to find something mysterious.
Wolfsstunde
Wolfsstunde or Wolf’s Hour in English. The Wolf’s Hour is the hour between night and dawn. The hour when sleep is deepest for most people and when nightmares feel real. This track begins with a nice and slow pace, but after a few minutes you can feel the man’s pain and agony. What is he dreaming of? What are his feelings? For me, this track gives a feeling of dread that something is approaching, but is it real? Or is it just a dream in the hour of the wolf.
Neun Weihenächte
New consecration nights, that’s the translation of the title of this track. And, as the artists said, “A pagan’s inner travel through poetry and – ultimately, the shapeless light of spiritual mysticism.” that’s precisely the feeling I got with this track. The slow start gives that feeling of a man searching for answers (like most of us do).
An eerie interlude which gave me a feeling of dread that something at the end is waiting for me.
Odal II (Interludium)
An eerie interlude which gave me a feeling of dread that something at the end is waiting for me.
Alte Heiligkeit
Alte Heiligkeit, or Old Holiness in English. Gives of a feeling of hope, and the man who has been in pain and agony is praying to his pagan and old god for advice. The rest of the journey trough this song, that feeling remains, and I hope that this man can find his peace.
Conclusion
This album, like said at the beginning of this review, felt like a journey, a journey with a man in pain in hope for something better. And I hope at the end of the album he found it. I really loved this album and for me, this is a contender for album of the year. But like everything in life, you have to experience this for yourself. You can do so be watching the premiere below:
