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Klabautamann: Merkur

02/12/09 || Euthanatos

I’m having a German day. Stricly reviewing bands from Germany, that sing in German. Klabautamann is a way of writing Klabautermann, a goblin that predicts shipwrecks. I don’t speak German, by the way. I’m just really good at googling things. So what’s the band Klabautamann all about? Modernish black metal, you could say. Not gay, pompous and ridiculous like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, but black metal with enough progressive elements to keep you interested. The core is definitely rooted in mid-paced, old school black metal, though, and the band does a good job with it.

There are two fellas here, Tim Steffens, who shrieks and plays guitars and bass, and Florian Toyka, who doesn’t shriek, at least not on record, but also plays guitars and bass. Florian is a fantastic name, by the way. I’ll have you know that St. Florian is the patron saint of chimney sweeps. Yes, chimney sweeps. Look it up, it’s true. That’s fucking metal, if you ask me. Tim’s vocals remind me of Satyr, and that’s a good thing, at least in my book, as Satyr and Emperor Magus Caligula have my favourite black metal snarls out there. There are also some sinister spoken parts, and we definitely need more of those in the metal world. Fucking Vincent Price, man! That guy was the shit. Or Christopher Lee! Christopher Lee just got knighted, and that’s just swell. Lee was the Dracula, plus the guy was in Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. That’s just metal through and through. Yeah, he recorded a Rhapsody album, and Rhapsody is terrible, but still!

Anyway, this band is somewhere along the lines of Ikuinen Kaamos, a bit more morbid and creepy, though. This kind of stuff should be the soundtrack to snuff films. It’s so fucking eerie, but captivating, you can’t help feeling your cock go hard and thinking of dead people. Maybe that was an overshare. Mostly the band stays in the slow-to-mid paced territory, doomy, yet undeniably black metal, but occasionally they’ll go full-force ahead and launch something like “Herbsthauch” on our asses, fast as fuck. That’s actually an interesting song to mention, because it also has some beautiful atmospheric parts in the latter half of the track. This can also be heard on “Der Wald Ist Ein Meer”, the best song on the record, with some righteous clean vocals by Christian Kolf… whoever that is.

I also dig the production on this fucker, the guitar tone is sweet as breast milk… actually, scratch that, breast milk is pretty gross, but the guitar tone is awesome, and Patrick Schröder, again, whoever that is, does a good job on the drums. They are, the drums I mean, pretty back on the mix, but it’s appropriate considering the style. The vocals up front do a fine job of setting the mood. I wouldn’t recommend this to a happy person. Or someone in depression, for that matter, because they might off themselves. If “Merkur” is where the evolution of black metal is headed, then definitely sign me up for the ride. Good band, good record, I hope to hear more good things from these guys.

The cover: Just beautiful. Fuck me, this is nice.

7,5

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Zeitgeister/The End
Website: www.klabautamann.de
Band
Tim Steffens: vocals, guitars bass
Florian Toyka: guitars, bass
Patrick Schröder: drums

Tracklist
01. Unter Bäumen
02. When I Long for Life
03. Stygian
04. Herbsthauch
05. Morn of Solace
06. Der Wald ist ein Meer
07. Merkur
08. Lurker in the Moonlight
09. Noatun

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