Ellende – Todbringerin

Stargazer Scholar

Metal and classical music have a lot in common. From direct quotations to arrangements and the general feeling of overarching grandeur, our beloved genre has borrowed heavily from its noble ancestor. However, while a romantic symphony or a baroque concerto are open to reinterpretation, Metalheads are known to be jealous guardians of the original incarnations of their favorite albums. And let’s be honest, more often than not, this stance is well justified. Nonetheless, the artists’ right to amend and reconsider their own creations should likewise be taken into account, leading us to a trade-off that is hard to resolve. This brings me to today’s topic.

Lukas Gosch, the main man behind Austria’s Atmospheric Black Metal stalwarts Ellende, is no stranger to reassessing his legacy. However, Todbringerin, formerly Todbringer, marks the first occasion on which he has decided to revamp a full-length album. This time around, the changes aren’t as drastic as they were on the Triebe EP, but while the reasons behind the endeavor are mostly mundane (the deletion of the original recordings by the former studio, coupled with licensing issues), every note of the album feels like a labor of love and dedication. When I first put on the promo, it magically started to rain outside. Thus, the brief piano intro and the charging opening of the classic “Ballade auf den Tod” were accompanied by the insistent patter of raindrops on my window. A better introduction would have been inconceivable.

Todbringerin is an improvement on every level, but it doesn’t invalidate the awesomeness of the original recording. The compositional foundations remain intact—it is the nuance that matters. Having preserved the beautiful longing of yore and without sounding overly polished, this release benefits from years of refinement and experience. The new production emphasizes the dynamics and allows the instruments to breathe; there’s more texture and detail to the proceedings, and the guitar tone is clearer without losing its engulfing other-worldliness. The vocal performance exudes confidence, glossing over some of the erstwhile minor missteps.

What of the music itself, though? It’s largely unaltered, but in case you’re unfamiliar with the original Todbringer, it wasn’t by chance that I brought up symphonic music in the preface to this write-up. Ellende’s harmonies and melodies are firmly rooted in the late Classical/Romantic tradition, and the polyphonic, multilayered arrangements with subtle orchestral touches grant the album endless replay value. They’re by no means as complex as your Brahms or Schumann, but they are nonetheless very, very tastefully done. It is a masterclass in developing something wonderfully elaborate out of the synergy of simple and memorable components. Just as the new artwork reimagines Vermeer’s masterpiece, Ellende’s music adds an extreme edge to something timeless and lofty: an infinite yearning captured in sound, a rainy melancholy channeled through riffs, tremolos, and leads, with tortured shrieks, dreamy choirs, and whispered poetry. Alternating between mid-paced moments with acoustic passages and blast beats, the album occasionally speeds up, as in the sudden burst of energy in the outstanding “Verachtung” (which remains so faithful to the original as to preserve its cough sample—seriously).

If you’ve never heard this record before, look no further and regard Todbringerin as the ultimate version. If you are attached to the original, I reckon the re-recording is still worth checking out, if only to support this outstanding band and encourage them to create more music. This time, something completely new.

Label: AOP Records (Art Of Propaganda) 

Release date: 30 August, 2024 

Website: https://www.ellende.at/ 

Country: Austria 

Score: 4/5, but only because it’s not new