Schwarzer Engel – Sinnflut

Markus Falkenberg — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 21:00:57 +0000

„Schwarzer Engel“, aka „Black Angel“ is obviously a nice choice for a name for a Gothic Metal band. Also, they sing in German which is not really typical for most bands from our beloved genre. All this struck my interest when I saw “Schwarzer Engel” in our list of albums available for a review. What to expect Was I really in for Gothic Metal, or was this going to be yet another case of totally mislabelling the genre These were my thoughts when I gave the EP an initial listen.

Fortunately “Schwarzer Engel” did not disappoint me. Already the first song reminds a lot of Nightwish. Yes, the male vocalist’s voice is obviously much deeper than what one would expect from Nightwish, but this was to be expected. Also, the deeper voice befits the song quite well, because “deep” is also the direction of the lyrical subject of the song. Falling over board, slowly drowning, becoming fodder for the sea and the sharks, everything is pretty wet in the song and suits the subject of the EP’s title “SinntflutThe Flood”. However, this is also what makes the song surprisingly dark as it romantices the act of drowning in a way that is likely to upset at least some listeners. So no, this is definitely not a happy Party Metal song. Also, better don’t expect any guitar solos, because you won’t get any. Fans of Gothic music are likely to appreciate it, but more traditional Metalheads require a certain openness to enjoy it, or else they will likely find themselves bored out of their mind.

The first song is then followed by a piano solo named “Requiem” which is a fitting choice after song about drowning. It is definitely nice and beautiful, but also slow and does not deliver the proverbial “kick in the butt” that one would expect from a more traditional Metal song. After that we get two versions of the same song, “Sinnflut”. The first version is a club remix that might befit a Gothic club, but which is still a bit too polished for a Metal song. Particularly the keyboard is very distracting over many parts of the song. The other version is much rougher, yet still melodic with simple riffs and accords. You can still hear the keyboard though, but it is much less prominent.

Anyway, how to rate this EP It is good, but to call it a Metal album stretches the definition of Metal quite a bit. Personally, I think it is worth 7 devils, but I still feel the need to caution potential Metalheads to take a listen prior to actually investing their hard earned money.

German – Power Of Metal.dk

Schwarzer Engel – Sinnflut