This is the sixth album from Ellende, a solo black metal band from Austria.
Following on from 2024’s Todbringerin, Zerfall contains 52 minutes of new material. The artist behind Ellende specialises in post-black metal that uses blackgaze elements to produce emotive, mood-focused music.
Zerfall is well-composed and carries a real feeling of being a high quality, well-rounded album. It avoids many of the standard pitfalls I dread encountering – spoken word, pointless interludes, etc. – and instead focuses on creating individual songs that are accomplished examples of polished, emotive, and atmospheric post-black metal. Textured with piano and synths, the album feels luscious and rich. Zerfall is spacious and vast, expanding with expressive nuance across its running time until it fills the airwaves with post-blackened soundscapes that are consistently engaging.
The music has a black metal base that’s rooted in dark aggression and screamed vocals, although this is not the band’s focus. Laced into this are a range of features that soften this harder core, allowing for a nuanced exploration of different sounds and feelings. Whether it’s introspective grace, shoegaze delicacy, or post-rock intricacy, Ellende demonstrate a skilled ability to not only incorporate these components into their overarching blackened framework, but to also give voice to them each individually and fully across the album’s breadth.
I should make it clear here that although Zerfall does have aggressive aspects, most of the time this only manifests in the singer’s screams; the main bulk of the material on these songs is more concerned with melancholic beauty and immersive atmosphere than aggression or heaviness. Zerfall is a layered album of melodic colour. This just means that on the occasions when the blast beats really kick in, for example, they are impactful.
Zerfall has scope, depth, and ambition, and the artist behind Ellende has the talent to ensure that it’s well-realised throughout. There is a cinematic edge to the record; the focus on atmosphere feels organic and natural, captured through an artistic lens that encourages intimate viewing, despite the album’s spaciousness.
This is an impressive record. If your tastes run to post-black metal charged with blackgaze emotion, then Zerfall is an essential start to your 2026 listening schedule.
Wonderbox Metal 