Review PORTA NIGRA ‘Weltende’

Porta Nigra hail from Koblenz, Germany and are dedicated to black metal. Even though this genre defines the foundation of the band’s sound, the guys’ new album blends countless other styles into a fascinating mix.

‘Weltende’ is the dystopian title of the fourth record of the avant-garde black metallers and it is genres like death metal, thrash metal and progressive structures that make this release a proof of work that wants to be explored piece by piece.

Thematically ‘Weltende’ deals with war and destruction, which certainly does not make this record an easy listening experience. Rather, it is emotional states such as despair, fanaticism, suffering and depression, which manifest themselves in the new tracks. The lashing ‘Völkerbrand’ can be taken as an example here.

Already the opener ‘Es ist Krieg’ reveals what the listener can expect from this record. A gloomy intro, with spoken words in the background, starts the song before it turns into a raging black metal blast. It is one of the most rabid-like moments on the album on which Porta Nigra manage to accomplish more than simply going full throttle.

The throbbing ‘Verlorene Paradiese’, with its elegant melody line, shows that Porta Nigra also are at home in the realm of moderate pace. Here it is rather the different layers of the song, which take the listener on an exciting musical journey.

The acoustic and calmly held ‘Bestienschlund’ takes things to the next level. The interlude-like piece seems like a short-lived ceasefire; a break to take a deep breath before ‘Die himmlische Revolution’ bursts out of the speakers again with full power.

Repeatedly, it is the spoken words samples that bring the morbid atmosphere of war to the listener, as in ‘Triebgeschwärme’.

‘Weltende’ is an album, which illustrates with its emotional depth the entire morbid brutality of war. Musically sophisticated designed, Porta Nigra manage to create with their songs a morbid and eerie atmosphere that causes discomfort and thus simultaneously captivates the listener.