Waldgeflüster – Unter Bronzenen Kronen (Review)

This is the latest EP from German black metal band Waldgeflüster.

Having very much enjoyed 2016’s Ruinen, 2019’s Mondscheinsonaten, and 2021’s Dahoam, I was pleased to see some new material from Waldgeflüster. Although an EP, it still contains a substantial 28 minutes of music; one new song, a new version of one from the band’s debut album, and two covers, (Panopticon and Ben Howard).

The opening song is the title track and treats us to eight minutes of Waldgeflüster’s charismatic brand of nature-inspired black metal. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric and immersive song, fully of melancholic beauty and the spirit of autumnal winding down.

The Pit is a cover of a Panopticon song, originally from that band’s split with Aerial Ruin. Whereas the original was an introspective bluegrass piece, Waldgeflüster rework this into a blackened force of nature. It’s cleanly sung, and resembles a melodic doom song that has a black metal sheen.

Up next is Herbst Befiel das Land MMXXIII. I don’t know the original, but this is an affecting and absorbing song that follows on naturally from the previous one. The final track is a cover of the Ben Howard song Black Flies. Like the Panopticon cover, Waldgeflüster have given this originally acoustic song the black metal treatment, only even more fully so.

Unter Bronzenen Kronen is a very solid and enjoyable release from Waldgeflüster. This is a band that never cease to impress.

Very highly recommended.