Ellende are one of those bands who seem to be able to paint music with alluring depth and vibrancy. A combination of exquisite production and painstakingly detailed song writing have seen them rise above the general drone and grasp shards of wholly ungraspable light. Reworking an older EP (2014) and then seemingly rewriting it as well, ‘Triebe’ stands out as a glowing and eternal fire-lantern perched atop a colossal and awe-inspiring mountain summit.
This is called an EP because it consists of three songs but the running time of over 30 minutes does push it towards the welcome mat of ‘album’ territory. Combining the aesthetics and expressions of atmospheric and ambient black metal, it never once shies away from exploding into the blast-beats and distorted energies of more contemporary black metal progressions. Through these parts, there are echoes of another of my loves, Harakiri For The Sky, as well as more traditional nods to bands such as Ulver and Winterfylleth.
Utterly absorbing and cripplingly introspective from start to finish, this is a flawless and, at times, transcending affair that leaves itself open to criticism fully in the knowledge that there will be nothing other than the silence of the void. In the same way as you wouldn’t stand at the foot of Helvellyn and say that it ‘looks a bit shit’, there is a majesty and a unaffected beauty deep at the heart of ‘Triebe’ – and it’s one that you should wrap yourself up tightly within.
10/10
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