Waldgeflüster – Knochengesänge II (Review)

This is the eighth album by German black metal band Waldgeflüster.

I’m a big fan of Waldgeflüster, so make sure you check out their past releases here, here, here, and here, and my review of their performance at last years Fortress Festival here. Now that’s out of the way, let’s turn our full attention to Knochengesänge II.

This is the second part of a two part odyssey – the first part is simply named Knochengesänge.

The 51-minute Knochengesänge II has been created from the same source material/inspiration/component parts as Knochengesänge, but completely reimagined and rebuilt. As such, it offers a different, but related experience for the listener to explore, one that’s thematically linked to its counterpart.

This is a record that feels weightier than the original Knochengesänge, as if it’s carrying a larger, heavier burden. Although ultimately born of black metal materials, and there are pseudo-black metal aspects here and there, that’s not the main focus of Knochengesänge II at all. Instead, it’s a different interpretation of the underlying emotions that infuse Knochengesänge, and is given life here via an alternative expression.

Knochengesänge II is calmer, more introspective, and overwhelmingly steeped in melancholic sadness. As a rough overview, the music makes good use of forlorn acoustic, ambient, orchestral, and atmospheric elements, and vocally has a singular focus on clean singing. If I had to characterise the album simply, I suppose I’d describe it loosely as folk/melodic/doom metal, albeit with a few caveats to that. Although this is an area that Waldgeflüster have sort of operated in previously, on occasion, Knochengesänge II is largely them pushing their sound into new territories, creating something that has more in common with the doomier, cleanly sung output of bands like Insomnium, In Mourning, and Katatonia.

Despite the different character of Knochengesänge II, you can detect its shared heritage with the main source material of Knochengesänge. This collection of songs is rooted in that other one, but has grown in new and interesting ways and taken on a life of its own. It reveals a different facet of Waldgeflüster, one that’s a well-crafted, well-rendered album in its own right.

Very highly recommended.